Coolant in my Oil? maybe?

[mdocod]

When I pull my oil fill cap off when the engine is HOT, I notice a small amount of smoke/steam (something kinda smokey/steamy) looking come out. Is this normal? Seems to me I shouldn't have oil just burnin, I have noticed this on and off for the last 10k or so.

I replaced my PCV valve recently- though, the old one seemed to be in ok shape (it clicked when I shook it), no significant change in the smokeyness.

I am considering having a used oil analysis done sometime, and running an ARX treatment soon to help clean out the engine. I just want to get an idea ahead of time if this "smokey/steamy" lookin stuff rolling out might be a result of coolant in the oil or not- cuz if it is, I want to find out what possible culprits and solutions there are before I switch over to slightly longer drain intervals and pure synthetic oil(GC).

Reason I am suspecting coolant, is that it does seems to "loose" coolant to somewhere at a slow pace- but I have never seen any cooland drops from the vehicle.

another question: Would it be wise to get a used oil analysis done with oil that has some addatives in it, and is a mix of 2 oils(delvac 1300 and delo 400). (for the heck of it, I tried a 15oz rislone add anytime, 15oz valvoline high milage addative, and just yesterday, the valve ticking got really loud so I put some seafoam in to help loosen things up a bit, (it helped quiet a bit). Or should I drain this oil, and put in some conventional for about 2k and send some of that in for analysis.

I've never done a used oil analysis before, not sure where to have that done here in the colorado springs region.

 

[unDummy]

Year/make/model/engine?
A little blowby steam/smoke is normal when opening the oil fill cap.

When it doubt, UOA now for the purpose of detecting antifreeze!

Oil is collected and mailed for analysis.
See the "support sponsors" forum.

One of my cars lost coolant for 2 years. It was a leak that never leaked enough to leave puddles. The coolant would evaporate quickly so I never could find the leak. My coolant leak disappeared after replacing 1/2 dozen hoses, a dozen hose clamps, and the thermostat/oring.

 

[mechtech]

All sorts of blow-by vapors are in the crankcase.
When the engine is off, there is no PCV to purge them.
It's a pretty normal thing to see.

 

[mdocod]

ok cool, I guess maybe I never noticed it before, though it's probably always done it. (now that I am a bitog nut, I am constantly looking and listening and checking and blotting and maintaining, and recently, going on GC hunts, lol.)

it's a 1995 isuzu rodeo with a 3.2L SOHC V6. Holds just shy of 6qts oil. rolled over 175k yesterday. original engine and manual transmission, still runs strong and shifts fine, just has the infamous ticking and oil consumption that isuzus are known for. (about 1qt/1k, has always been about that, less with synthetics though).

I guess it would be best to get a used oil analysis just to make sure- because I was thinking of going up to 5k oil change intervals on GC with Pure One filters.


Can't decide if I want to switch my Suzuki swift over to the GC as well, or stick to the Mobil 1 Extended Performance 5w30. Reason I'm going to go GC in the rodeo- is that I heard that 0W30 synthetic is the prefered oil for the ticking problem(helps clean out contaminants and increase flow to the auto-adjusters), as long as I need to buy 0W30, I might as well use GC!! (not to mention, I was able to find 39 quarts at $4.39ea in the last week or so, excellent deal for a pure POA synthetic when compared to the price of Mobil 1.)

 

[mdocod]

Just ranting:

So.. I use the rodeo as a pizza delivery vehicle, it saw 30,000 miles in it's first year since I bought it. I live out of town now so I have a 20 minut+ drive to get anywhere including work, so I don't have to worry about my engine not being brought up to temp.

My shift, is 3 days a week, 12-14 hours a day. (friday-sunday).. so pretty much- my engine is warmed up on my way to work, and stays hot all day, seeing about 120-150 miles of "in town" style driving a day.

My feeling is that- even though I see a lot of miles, since they are primarily with the engine already hot, my miles are less "hard" on the engine. even though I do drive it rather hard.

At 175k now, I am crossing my fingers on this engine, really would love to see 250k before I have to have a savings ready for the rebuild, hehe, switching to the GC for awhile should help things out. After I do a few intervals on the GC, i'll see if I like it, if I do, i'll continue my hunt for GC. (39 quarts thus far).

hehe, ok, /rant off.

sorry just felt like saying some random stuff, any comments welcome.

 

[Al]

I would do a used oil analysis on your next batch of oil since you have soo many additives in there now. I would go with say a 3K run with a good conventional oil and do a used oil analysis.

Are you adding a fuel surcharge for Pizza delivery ??

 

[mdocod]

quote:

---

Are you adding a fuel surcharge for Pizza delivery ??

---

hehe- papa johns pays me $0.80 per delivery, averaging about 4 miles per delivery, so they more than cover gas, though, they really don't even begin to touch the cost of owning and operating a vehicle. this is where *tips* come in.

Tip your delivery drivers- it's their car that's getting abused to bring your pizza. hehe.