Oil in Front of Throttle Body

I pulled part of the intake today to change the spark plugs, and I found some oil in front of the throttle body. Presumably came from the vacuum line from the passenger side valve cover (?) that's just behind where this attaches to the throttle body. Is this normal, or cause for concern?

I'm aware the PCV system releases some oil, but that's on the other side, right?

 

it can be be bad, does your truck throw smoke on idle? also have you gone offroading a lot , specifically on an angle?

 

it doesn't look good. is there more oil further into the intake?

 

No smoke that I've noticed. I haven't taken it off road yet, and I doubt the previous owner ever did. The oil is slightly overfilled right now, if that makes difference. I plan to let some out soon to bring the level down to the max line on the dipstick.

Do you mean towards the air filter? I don't think so but I didn't look very closely. Or past the throttle body?

Edit: I should add this oil is brown. The oil was recently changed, and the oil on the dipstick is still golden, so I don't think this was a recent sudden release of oil. I've driven it around 1000 miles since I bought it, and it doesn't seem to be using oil.

 

lets go with the basics before blowing this out of proportion,first I would change the pcv valve and engine filter both which can cause blowby , also offroading at an angle can cause blowby and burning of oil . Thats why i mentioned it

 

PCV hose on the driver side valve cover goes to the plenum downstream from the throttle body. The fresh air vent hose attached before the throttle body has no check valve. Airflow in the vent hose can be bidirectional depending on throttle position and engine load/speed. That's the reason for the oil.

 

its suppose to burn , right?

 

An oil separator/catch can will prevent this accumulation

As stated above by 3jon22a, it’s oil residue from the PCV system.

OP, what is the mileage on the truck? It’s really somewhat normal with the PCV system.

 

129k miles. I'll check/change the PCV valve today.

 

Mine is doing it last time i cleaned the TB. 60k and plenty of offroading.

 

Here is mine, https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/radium-engineering-dual-catch-can-setup.765646/

 

It's fine, just clean it out and keep driving

 

Oil that gets through the intake and into the cylinders will burn off. Some residue will be left in the throttle body, so clean it every 60k or so.

 

Is this only a problem on the V6 engines?

 

Calm down everyone. It's normal, everything is fine, no need to start replacing things. If you start pulling intake tubes off every car you see you'll find some oil there on all of them.

it's normal residue from the pcv system, clean you throttle body ever 50k-100k and life will be fine.

If you're a highway driver you'll see less and if you tow/haul or otherwise spend decent time with the accelerator firmly planted, you'll see more.

 

FWIW I cleaned my TB about a year ago at ~30k miles and saw none of that.

 

no

all engines do this. It’s normal operation for the PCV system

 

Looks clean, but yikes $400+ for that setup!

 

I learned something new here today.

 

Look at the J&L oil separator