Condensation or coolant on oil filler cap?

Hey folks. Anybody have any experience or input on this?

See attached photo.

Oil cooler AND head gasket were just replaced (ouch!)... 99% of the time, my wife starts the truck, doesn't let it warm up, drives for 5 minutes, and shuts it down. Oil on dipstick looks perfect. Removed filler tube, so I could look down into the engine - oil in filler tube and engine look perfect.

I'm thinking what I'm seeing is condensation on the cap, rather than a bigger problem.

What do y'all think?

 

This is a common non-issue.

 

Starting the engine and not letting it get to operating temp, then taking really short drives and shutting it off very often will eventually become an issue.
She'll ruin the cylinder walls that way and possibly introduce moisture and condensation into the head and block which will start to corrode things.

 

Okay, thanks. Lesson learned! We'll change the driving habits!

 

Motor mayonaise!

 

This happens often in the rust belt. One cold winter I did a lot of short trips, less than 1.5 miles where the engine never reached operating temp and mine was a lot worse. Even when my daily work drive was 7 miles one way I would occasionally get a little of the milky/creamy stuff. Just drive more often.

 

If I were you, I would change the oil and probably get on a 3k mile/6 month oil change interval.

 

My truck had this when I bought it with 200k miles. I cleaned it and it never came back. I’m at 330k now.

I have a lot of highway miles for sure but I also have a lot of idling too. Not sure what the direct cause since I haven’t observed it since.

 

If the oil cap looks like that, imagine what the underside of the valve covers look like. Probably the entire valvetrain. Just sayin'

 

You would think so but most likely I don’t believe that would be the case. I had my engine disassembled about 100k miles after I cleaned my cap and my engine was very clean.

 

Yeah... Well... This is a week or so after doing the whole head gasket and oil cooler thing, so all that is beautiful right now. Even though my wallet is not.

This morning, I took the filler tube off so I could look down inside with a flashlight. Everything looked great, nice clean oil. Oil on the dipstick looks perfect... The ONLY place I was seeing the "chocolate milk" crap was on the filler cap.

I will definitely keep an eye on it, but going to make sure the wife warms up the truck before the 5 minute drive across my town of 800 people, AND run it up and down the highway for 10-15 minutes every few days. Hopefully I won't see this crap again.

 

I wish I'd have posted this here a month ago!!!! Probably would have saved me $3.5k

 

Normal for short drives.

 

Welcome to TW..

 

Mine used to always look like this until I changed jobs a few years back and started driving a longer distance.
That's normal for a lot of short drives.

 

Totally normal in colder weather and driving short distances. Nothing to worry about.