pulled my pan off to find this swirl type thing going on. doesn't quite look like its coolant in there to me, what do you think? im leaning more towards it being assembly lube since the engine is brand new, or maybe even teflon thread sealant from the head bolts. opinions are welcome, thanks.

 

Condensation. Water in the oil. Engine running too cold or you have a small coolant leak somewhere.

 

 

Is that metal shaving in the oil pan? If so, you could have major problems beside s coolant leak.

 

yea whats all the dots in the pan above the oil?

 

I would guess that the "metalshaves" are water bubbles from condensation / coolant leak. It looks like that

 

Bubbles.

 

ya they are just bubbles. but it looks like i've got more condensation than im supposed to, is it normal? im not losing any coolant, and my oil level stays the same

 

When did you change the oil last time, and filter ?
That isnt normal, you shouldnt have water in the oil not so you could see it anyway. If it was my car, I would check it out. check for coolant leaks, exhaust smell in the coolant resovoir. Change the oil and filter and run it for ~month and check the oil again and see if its back..

 

If you aren't losing coolant, then you have one of two problems, or a combination of the two

- Engine is running too cool - when this happens, the oil does not get hot enough to make condensation (that collects after you shut off the engine) evaporate away, so it just stays in the oil and builds up.

- Engine isn't being run long enough - the engine needs to be run for a good long while from time to time to get everything nice and hot, which really helps alot to keep the oil clean. Too much short-trip driving doesn't let the oil heat up enough, and stay hot long enough, to evaporate all the condensation thats been collecting.

This is why cars with lots and lots of highway miles often have a spotless engine internally, and always has clean oil, whereas engines that are in just short trip, run around the city cars are usually always "filthy" internally, like yours likely is.

Basically, you just need to run it for a good long while more often to get the oil nice and hot, and make sure the engine operating temp is 180* minimum... should be closer to 200* if its still stock.

 

engine is definately not stock specs are in my sig in my original post. i am only currently in my tuning stage, so my engine doesnt see very long run times, the longest being 10 mins or so from driving it up the street and back just to get some datalogs. usually when im tuning i will do maybe 5 or so runs of 10 mins each, and thats not everyday, so i think you might be right, that its not hot enough long enough to remove all the condensation, i am using a 180 stat, and engine temps usually are around 200-205 acording to my datalogs.

last time i change the oil was in november '07 and i put maybe 15 hours run time on the engine since then, with less than 50 miles on the odometer. but the oil is fresh right now, just changed it today, along with a new 1-piece pan gasket and new rear main seal, but not started yet due to a starter issue, should have it fired up in a couple of days.

 

Looking at your sig. says you have a 383. this means that the pan rail on the block had grinding done for clearance. This is also where the coolant flows at the bottom of the block, and some times under pressure the block will seep. look for a clean, brown or rust starting along the pan gasket. Machine shops use a black tar looking block stop leak for this. If that is the problem your opions are few. New block, Short block fill, or use the stop leak which is the only one that keeps the block in the car. I would run the motor more checking the oil for signs of water before junping the gun yet.