I was changing my oil, and found this:

Any ideas what happened? Im thinking a blown headgasket......
Any TSBs for me to take to the dealer tomorrow or known issues??

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h84/FlyFlip420/PICT0192.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h84/FlyFlip420/PICT0191.jpg

Don't see any picture flip.

Oh I saw the post asking for a "weird mechanic" so I thought I'd drop by. :lol: And I have no freakin' idea what your problem is. Looks yucky, though.

:food-snacking:

REally?? No pics????

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h84/FlyFlip420/PICT0192.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h84/FlyFlip420/PICT0191.jpg

I see 'em just fine. There's some yellow stuff in the thingy. :D

I see 'em just fine. There's some yellow stuff in the thingy. :D

Thats why your my mechanic :bouncy:...I love when you talk about the thingy

i dunno about the yellow stuff in your thingy, but man your engine is dirty.

What did the oil look like? If it's the headgasket, the oil would have been milky. Also, are you loosing coolant?

Oil looked great, and no coolant smell or anything....thats what I dont get....

i dunno about the yellow stuff in your thingy, but man your engine is dirty.

:yeah: damn that engine bay is dirty

Still don't see the pics, probably my computer. It was made after the abacuss but before the calculator. :mad:Any how.
Water in the oil?:hmm:

Click the links in my bottom post on the first page.....

YEs, I know the engine is dirty....the whole car is dirty, its winter here ;)

winter here too, but my engine bay never looks like that:thepan:

You also didnt just get 5+ inches the other day and work from 8am-9pm all week cuz all your employees are sick ;)

Robo...Im thinking the same....Going in first thing in the morning...

I remember a TSB about something like this in the cold...cant remember it though...

You also didnt just get 5+ inches the other day and work from 8am-9pm all week cuz all your employees are sick ;)

Robo...Im thinking the same....Going in first thing in the morning...

I remember a TSB about something like this in the cold...cant remember it though...

My employees suck too....I feel your pain.....:hitstick:

what ever it is...looks like it took over rest of your engine compartment...especially your master cylinder resivoir ;-)

You also didnt just get 5+ inches the other day ...

:food-snacking:

You also didnt just get 5+ inches the other day and work from 8am-9pm all week cuz all your employees are sick ;)

Robo...Im thinking the same....Going in first thing in the morning...

I remember a TSB about something like this in the cold...cant remember it though...


Damn do, you took 5+ inches in the butt!!?? Well, I guess you should be glad that those Chicago flamers have small weiners!! BWAHAHA!! :crybaby::eek:


Just messin wit ya Mike! Your engine bay is hella dirty dude! Clean that shit up! I get all the snow you guys get and my shit dont look like that!

There was a TSB about some valve that freezes in the extreme cold on the 3.2 and causes the oil to not circulate I think.... Check with Brent.

You also didnt just get 5+ inches the other day

Ummmm, I think this is the wrong forum to talk about that sort of stuff. I wouldn't be bragging about that either, but hey, that's just me. How ever ya wanna swing dude.:shhh:

umm... what is all that yellow shit in your oil?

Check your PCV system. It might be moisture from blowby.

I suspect that is the 3.2 engine, and the pcv valve was stuck. Chicago??? cold weather, etc.

Correct??

Do a search here.

I knew it was something like that.....Ok...thanks I couldnt remember what to look up...is the PCV valve...Thanks Guys...

From my experience a certain amount of that milky yellow sludge will form in the oil tube and bottom of the oil cap on most new vehicles. It is epecially common in cold climates and in vehicles that are used for short trips where enough heat isn't generated to eliminate condensation in the oil. When my thermostat was pooched in my 3.6L I'd get that goop forming on the oil cap, once I got the t-stat changed and the car started to fully warm up it disappeared. I've never seen quite that much and assume you've got something else wrong such as the PCV valve, but a bit of that stuff is pretty normal.

How that's there 3 pages of jokes, it's probably your oil cooler Apparently when they go bad they let oil and water mix. Check your radiator too, there may be oil in there.

Happened to me.

I don't think it is the oil cooler. Your coolant system runs at 15 psi, you oil system runs at 80-100psi. If the cooler was leaking you would have oil on your coolant system not coolant in your oil. I would drop the oil, put fresh stuff in and take it to the dealer. I wouldn't drive it with the oil looking like that. I have never seen the level come up that high either. Drop it and see how may liters you get out of it. They might have put to much in????

Take the guess out and get real answers.
http://www.blackstone-labs.com/free_test_kit.html

:D I wouldn't risk continuing to drive the engine without knowing what the problem is (long term.) Get the oil tested, and it'll tell you exactly what caused it to turn yellow like that. My guess would be dexcool in the oil.

Warranty = take it to the dealer; it's their problem. :D

When the engine shuts off the oil pressure falls to zero and the cooling system maintains a pressure of 15-18 psi, that can cause the coolant to slightly mix with the oil and do that.

Check the coolant overflow, see if there is any oil in it, as noted above the oil will leak into the cooling system during engine operation and vice versa after shutoff.

Otherwise you could be looking at a head gasket issue, but I don't think it is as common as the oil cooler failure.

Thanks for the professional input, Bill! :D

NP, I have seen other cars have PCV systems that do that.
To be honest I am not sure what that engine uses for PCV. I don't know that I have ever seen a 3.2 do that from a PCV issue.

Well I just looked and taught myself about the PCV system on that engine, that big black thing in the center of the upper intake works as the crankase ventilation system. I guess it could be gummed up in there, but as I said, I have never seen that. I would suspect the oil cooler long before I'd do anything to that, at least check it out.

If you need help or any pics of removing the oil cooler I can help out. I am replacing mine with an external one right now, just sourcing all the parts that I need. So far I have got most of the parts needed, and about $200 cheaper than just the oil cooler price itself. PM me if you need more info.

Thanks guys.....the car is at the dealership and I have a Lucerne :( There loaner dept. was closed so they called enterprise......Damn, I wanted a new caddy!!!

Thanks for all the help, I will post what the problem was....

I think a better question would be WHY is the oil to the very top of the oil fill cap. Something is definitely wrong here!

I think a better question would be WHY is the oil to the very top of the oil fill cap. Something is definitely wrong here!

yes something is wrong, but oil is not at the top of the neck....thats the sludge, or buildup thats up there.....Im not sure if due to heat it rises or what...will have answers hopefully tomorrow:banghead:

Im hoping that somehow my 97k mile engine got ruined, and they have to replace it with a new or like new one:lildevil:.....But I doubt its ruined at all:suspect:

hows that lucerne treating u? like those fender ports much?

It gets into the filler because of evaporation and temperature cycling. It likely looks much worse inside the engine.
It is fixable if it hasn't gone on too long.
Something like that can kill some older engines.

It gets into the filler because of evaporation and temperature cycling. It likely looks much worse inside the engine.
It is fixable if it hasn't gone on too long.
Something like that can kill some older engines.

Thanks for the words...Im going to be very touchy when I find out what they did to fix this.....With 97k miles on it, I dont want the engine to be damaged and then find out 1k miles after warranty is up:eek:

I HATE THE LUCERNE!!!!! I like the fender ports, I really liked that car when it came out, on looks alone....after seeing the interior, and driving one, they blow. You feel EVERY bump, and when you hit one, it feels like the suspension is made of rubberbands and the car shimmys side to side as well. Could be very used but I hate it. They first came out after I got mine, and I thought they looked cool....but its still a Buick and I would never buy one....well except maybe that SUV they have...I just saw one in a parking lot and it looked SICK

Flip, you're not old enough to drive a Buick, ahaha. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they get your baby fixed good as new. :yup: (A new engine would be teh shizz.)

My 02 Dakota 4x4 used to do that every winter (even with mobil1). On the dakota, the oil fill tube is right at the front of the engine, and gets not much heat to help disipate the issue. This will go away in the spring. its frozen oil vapour....but I would think in the CTS that area should get heat from the engine......


ps - send the snow north!!!!!!!

I would consider a little bit if slime to be normal, condensation... foam. That is far beyond normal.
That car is broken. They should be fixing it up.

They said that due to the weather here, and my driving 4 miles to work and back, that the heat is not having a chance to dissipate the condensation. Im supposed to watch it and verify. One of my friends, Brian Bucklin is an engineer that developed the CTS and he too said its normal, but to watch. He said if it was summer time, he would be concerned, or if I drove 20 miles to work and back, but its just not getting hot enough to push it thru the PCV valve. The best thing is that Brian said that since its documented that even if after the warranty if theres a problem, he can get it taken care of :D

That sounds okay. Keep an eye on the coolant reservoir, if oil gets in there it will float to the top.
Did they clean anything up? If they cleaned it then it will make it easier to monitor.
That sure looks like a lot of water to me.
But then again, I am here... they are there.

Ya they cleaned it all up. I think it was alot too, but what they say does make sense, Im still a bit skeptical though....so Im going to be watching like a hawk. The other thing is the coolant resv. and the oil looked absolutely perfect.....so who knows...

too bad the lucernes gone now [tear] ...i know how much you loved it :crying:

What is the texture of it? It looks likes a foam of some sort.

Is it's location in the tube, which is cooler than the engine overall, or down into the engine?

Another possibility, it's residue from the block or head casting that didn't get cleaned out before assembly. It melted in the engine heat and deposited where there was a cool spot, the oil filler tube. Same suggested remedy as above.

Let us know what you find, it's fascinating.



Do you high rev your engine? If so, it's likely oil foam and indicates breakdown of the oil.

Are you using GM Spec oil?

Obviously, it's deposited out of the vapors in the crankcase. I definitely would clean out the fill tube, and change the oil using GM spec oil. You could take a sample and send it off to a oil testing place, but that takes a bit of time and some money. You say you aren't loosing oil or coolant, so take the least expensive step first.

I've seen a lot of water in the oil situations and I've seen plenty of condensation issues with a bit of foam on the cap. ALWAYS check the dip stick to see if you have milk or foam in the crank case. I've NEVER seen anything like that considered build up. I'm with Ewill. That shit ain't right. When did you last change the oil? You have quite a bit of miles on her so I could see a long period of build up...but even then. That is a HUGE amount of foam for condensation. Wierd. Strange color too. Must be the fluid they use now.

Mac and cheese without the mac??

Your problem is caused by the OVERLY DIRTY ENGINE COMPARTMENT! jk :P