• The site migration is complete! Hopefully everything transferred properly from the multiple decades old software we were using before. If you notice any issues please let me know, thanks! Also, I'm still working on things like chatbox, etc so hopefully those will be working in the next week or two.

water in oil filler neck

M

m1sterb0b

New member
So, my car has had some problems for a little while now, small ones that have been easily avoided for a while which, of course, have caused some other issues. One issue that started up that forced me into wanting to fix all the issues has me scratching my head! About 2 weeks ago my check oil level light comes on and I realize my oil is a quart and a half low again (pan gasket leaked bad (one of the issues that caused another issue)) and it was easily avoided by just putting in a quart and a half every 4 weeks! So, I pop the hood, take the 2 spare quarts I have in my trunk and take off the oil filler nozzle. Upon taking it off I see yellowish white dots all over it, and automatically figured it was antifreeze. IT kept getting worse and worse, and would have to take it off and whip it out with a rag to clean it out. To avoid spinning a bearing, I got the gaskets and other stuff and decided to fix all these problems I been having with my car with my girlfriends brothers help (he works at a concrete place and has access to the garage, which has a pit and chainfalls on trolleys). We took the upper intake off (no antifreeze sitting there so the plastic intake isn't warped), took the lower intake off, cleaned all the antifreeze out, took an air compressed sprayer and sprayed mineral spirits all over everything to get out the little pieces and the crap, cleaned up the surfaces, put on the gaskets and put it all back together. Already had the oil all drained, so after putting everything back together we put a heavier duty oil in it (made for the cement trucks) and ran it for a little bit and emptied it. We had to replace the oil pan gasket (that was a bi**h), so we left it empty, replaced the gasket, replaced the oil filter, which when we took it off and emptied the fluid out of it, it had cloudy oil in it, the pan that time didn't appear to have cloudy oil in it, and replaced the pan, and put the same oil in it, ran it for a little while emptied it and put oil in it one more time (oil to keep in it for a little while). Well, here's the issue: when getting ready to put in the final batch of oil, I noticed the yellow dots all over the filler nozzle! I had soaked them both in mineral spirits and wiped them dry and they had no dots on them anymore! ran the car a little longer and it had more in it!

I took the nozzle and could dump water in my hand from the beads of water all around the inside of the filler nozzle! took a clean white shop towel and stuck it in there to soak it up and it looked more like the color of the oil, and smelled like oil, and I don't think it smelled like antifreeze. If there IS no antifreeze leaking into the oil, what would cause it to form this condensation or whatever it on the inside of the filler nozzle? is there anything I can do to prevent it or is there something potentially broken that needs replacement that's allowing moisture into the oil?
 


how much condensation? a little bit is just fine, but if its collecting a lot then you have problems.
 
a lot! enough that at least 50 - 70% of the filler tube and cap have a cloudy yellowish residue on it! It can't be antifreeze, we cleaned everything up real well and installed the gaskets correctly!
 
will try! All I know at this point is I take off the filler tube, and I can see like a steam come out of the valve cover and I look at theres yellowish whitish stuff all on the inside of the cap and usually enough water to drip out as well! I'll try to get a video of it tomorrow with my cell phone!
 


did it in this order:

emptied fluid
took off intakes
sprayed down with mineral spirits
poured some oil on the oil slosher thing and push rods
put valve cover gaskets on
put gaskets/intakes back on
filled with oil (heavier oil meant for cement trucks (used it in case there was some mineral spirits left in the system))
ran till thermostat popped then let cool down
emptied oil
took off filter, oil pan cleaned everything sprayed bottom off with mineral spirits, replaced gaskets pan and put on new filter
put in the same heavier oil ran it till thermostat popped
emptied that oil and put 5w 30 in
 
Have you pressure tested the cooling system?

I'd have to assume IF all of the gaskets sealed properly and its still leaking coolant into oil then you have another more serious problem.

A few years back we had a 95 Lumina. Was leaking oil and coolant badly. Paid to have the intake gaskets done which helped. too bad it also had a cracked head :( I junked the car a month later.
 
^^^^ good idea, go to autozone, put down deposite on loan-a-tool item #9300, take home, put on rad and pump up to desired psi (whatever your cap says) see if it bleeds off the pressure internally....see if that tells you anything.
 


that tool just pressurizes the system then shows if its leaking? what kinda tool is that? never knew they made one! how much would the deposit be and do I get it back when I return the tool?
 
I have also noticed some moisture under my oil fill cap. I hope it is just some condensation from a lot of idleing and really short trips.

It was really cold (sub-zero) when I noticed it. I let the car idle 10 min or so before driving and most of my trips are less than 10 miles.

Upper and lower gaskets have both been changed with in the last few years.

Do the rest of you agree it is just condensation? I am battling a cold, but the droplets do not smell like anti-freeze. :th_scratchhead:
 
Depends on the price at the store. My store is 75 bucks. And yes u get it all back. It can be usefull for finding leaks sometimes. Let's u pressurize the cooling system and see if its bleeding off....
 
m1sterb0b said:
that tool just pressurizes the system then shows if its leaking? what kinda tool is that? never knew they made one! how much would the deposit be and do I get it back when I return the tool?
Click to expand...

Google : Stant 12270 30 Pound Cooling System and Pressure Cap Tester

I've always just used my dads. Honestly never thought of doing cooling system work without one. Seems like it would be kind of difficult :)

It comes in really handy if you have the system drained previously from doing work. Pump the system up to 15-17psi with only air and go eat for half hour or so.
Usually if a system can hold 17psi of air for 30 minutes or so I call it good and filler up.

Having air in the system alone typically makes a system more likely to leak and will make it hiss rather then just leak fluid.
 


yea ive been meaning to buy one, they sure are handy. but since i work at an autozone, its really easy to just borrow one from work and im a cheap ass lol
 
So, I been too broke to rent that tool from autozone but I thought I would come on here and post some more recent information that I've discovered!

Was drivin home today and the low coolant light popped on again! I don't see any spots in the snow and I definitely don't smell antifreeze, so I'm assuming that since there's that much moisture in the oil filler neck and my coolant is low again, that its going into the oil! How else could it be getting into the oil, if its not the intake gaskets? I may be jumping the gun, and it could be leaking elsewhere, but I'd like some suggestions on where to start looking if I could get some!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top