Cause of build up of white milky substance in oil

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Several members of the Land Cruiser forum have noticed white milky substance in there oil fill cap. Normally see it with cold temperatures short trips but others don’t see this happening. typically it’s 0W 20 synthetic any thoughts would be appreciated
 
Condensation build up. Not uncommon to many vehicles that are in cold weather and short trip.
 
It’s condensation, and you’ve already discovered the reason for it; short trips that don’t allow the engine and oil to fully warm up.
 
It’s a large volume in the sump, it will take a while to warm that much oil up and flash off moisture. It’s not the oil, it’s the service which sounds “severe”
 
Originally Posted By: ZZman
Condensation build up. Not uncommon to many vehicles that are in cold weather and short trip.


Yep, and on some vehicles if you remove the oil filler cap you can see some of that collected moisture crud there because the parts on the valve cover usually run cooler and cause moisture in the crankcase to condense and collect there.
 
My 17' Outlander Sport has been doing this all winter. I drive 10.6 miles to work (all city streets) each day. Tiny bits of white under oil filler cap.

Going to start taking it on an hour drive on the highway once a week.

Using 0w20 Magnatec by the way.
 
Not ever letting the engine get to a 192*F water temp will do that.
It's usually people who drive in cold weather and never let their engines warm up.
 
With appropriate precautions against dirt ingress, you could take your oil filler cap (and, optionally, the dipstick) out at the end of a run and put them somewhere you'll see them when you use the vehicle again. (e.g. / i.e. the dashboard). That should help.
 
Look for this type of ooze when buying a used car. Check the oil with the engine cold. (make sure the seller hasn’t warmed the engine prior to your inspection) if coolant is mixing with the oil (via the head gasket or elsewhere) typically the water and coolant will form a dirty milky like slime that will rise to the top of the oil in the pan. When you extract the dip stick look for this milky ooze at the top of the dipstick. Sometimes it may even smell like antifreeze. Much harder to detect after the oil has been circulating thru a warm engine. Easy to check on a cold engine
 
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