Hey guys,

I switched to Mobil one synthetic from regular 10w30 around october or so. (I was burning out the regular stuff after like
5 runs) Ran about 15 races at the track, and drove maybe 200 miles and the cars been sitting in the shop since. Start it once every week or two for about 2 minutes.


I drained the oil out today and it was like milky. Almost looks like
antifreeze in the oil but, it doesn't appear to be..

Does the synthetic break down into that color? or was it because I did not flush the regular oil out? I don't seem to have any head gasket, overheating, coolant loss problems or anything to that effect.. I might have to rip the motor down to check tho.

It doesn't "smell" like antifreeze is in it, and it doesn't seem to seperate.. So I dunno.. First time with the synthetic guys.. Any ideas?

-- Joe

 

Nope synthetic should look like normal oil when you drain it. Sounds like you have antifreeze in your oil. I had the same problem when I had a bad intake gasket.

 

I was thinking that but I wanted to get some opinions. It looks more like milky wasted gear oil than antifreeze in the pan tho.

I've blown up a million motors in my years, but this doesn't appear to be blown up. Thing runs perfect.. Maybe the cornor of the gasket is leaking? i dunno..

Thanks.

Hopefully someone else will have experienced something similar before I rip the intake off.


-- Joe

 

Milky oil is oil that has water in it. You could get water from condensation if your engine doesn't get hot enough to boil it out.

 

That could be possible. I switched to synthetic in october for the last races of the season. It was fairly cold out, and at the time I had setup a toggle switch on my fans, so I was running around 180` most of the day, only hitting around 200-220 once or twice.

Now, since then, like I said the car has been in my shop, usually sitting being worked on, or watching me work on other things. Started to move in and out, but never getting that hot.

Perhaps the intake gasket went. Odd tho, newly built motor..

Perhaps its something else, or something worse..

-- Joe

 

I'd suspect condensation... it only takes running the engine once or twice without a full warm-up to do that to the oil. Then if you run it for an hour or so fully warmed, it will clear up.

 

When I was a teenager, my grandfather told me how to find out if antifreeze is in the oil.Usually it does look milky, but if there's any doubt,taste it!
Polypropylene Glycol is poisonous,so only try a little.If it's antifreeze,you'll be able to taste it for days.
This is old-school I know,but it will be obvious to the taster if it's coolant.
(not recommended for those with a refined pallet)
-Rich-

 

I was thinking that a little bit.. Hopefully thats all it is, cuz i just bolted on the vortech and i don't wanna ruin the bearings in that..

Perhaps everything will be fine.. We'll see.. Thanks for the response. If any one else has any suggestions, I appreciate it!

-- Joe

 

Warm up the engine, turn off and do an oil/filter change. The run the engine again. If it is milky, then you have a slow coolent leak. It does sound like you have a coolent leak. Sorry.....

 

I let it run for a little while today with some new synthetic oil, shut it down, ran it, shut it down. Doesn't seem to have any water in the pan.. Hopefully it was just condensation.. I'll keep you all posted.

On another note, vortech superchager is a pain in the *** to install..

-- Joe

 

Is your PCV system working properly? You have to move air through a warm crankcase to get the moisture out.

 

Hey Vader,

My right side PVC is connected to the plenum, and has vaccume.. (allthough, I'm not sure how this is gonna work now under boost?)

My left side Breather was hooked up to the throttle body (which I realized last night the throttle body I've been running is junk and has no vaccume on that port at all even at WOT, but its relocated to the induction peice as per Vortech instructions so now It shouldn't matter).

So.. What do you think?

Thanks!

-- Joe

 

Actually, the "propylene" glycol is non-toxic.

It's ethylene glycol that's toxic. A few laps will kill a cat, but a slight dip on the tip of the tongue won't hurt you and should have a sweet taste.