Junk in my oil?

[Greg L]

So I did a oil change in my 1951 GMC IL-6 over the weekend & decided to check the oil in the pan that came out. In the first amount of oil that was dispensed, I noticed a tiny, little bit of white streaking mixed in with the oil....like someone made a vanilla swirl in the fudge. The remaining amount of oil that came out at the end had me concerned: some kind of oily clump, about the size of wadded pocket lint, was within the oil. This was by no means hard or gooey...just loose & clumpy, like an old piece of sock or sawdust from inside the oil pan. My guess would be that it was a piece of cork from a gasket somewhere. Any thoughts? The new Rotella seems to hold up well (drove 10 miles in 90 degree+ weather yesterday) MH

 

[m2200b]

Older engines used cotten materials for some gaskets like the rear main rather than rubber. Sounds like some of that packing breaking up.

 

[427Z06]

quote:

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Originally posted by Greg L: ...(drove 10 miles in 90 degree+ weather yesterday) MH

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So far this year we've had 50 days of 90+ days, 22 of which were 95+, 2 which were 100+...and we just started summer.

 

[GMorg]

Greg L wrote: "like someone made a vanilla swirl in the fudge." Did you see an oil/water emulsion? Water sinks to the bottom of the pan. I can't think of anything else that would look like vanilla swirl.

 

[michaelc80]

It does sound like moisture. I tend to get the same thing on tractors of that vintage (with similar engine technologies). At least for my circumstances, it's usually moisture that builds up inside the engine. I see it the most in the winter when the engines don't get up to operating temperature to burn it off.

 

[LarryL]

You could try going for a long drive, every now and then.

 

[Greg L]

Thanks for the posts! I'll drive some more & probably do an oil analysis with Blackstone at some point. MH