water in oil, seeking advice. Thanks!

[chromatin]

1991 pontiac grand am, 2.3L I4 160 hp version, 116 k. Healthy engine as far as I know. I only own it for the last 16k during the last 2.5 year range.

Currently it has Maxlife synthetic 5W30 for ~ 8 month and ~ 3000 miles. At least 80% of the first ~2500 miles of this ~3000 miles were on highway of 70+ mph. The last 330 miles were extremely local in this freezing winter in Colorado. Short trips. Oil probably never went to operating temperature, although coolant temperature probably did, accordingly to the coolant temperature gauge.

Last weekend I noticed something looked funny on the dipstick but couldn't tell for sure because of darkness. Today I saw it again and confirmed it's water in oil. This model of engine does have a blow head gasket problem, according to msn auto. But I don't think mine has this problem, at least for now. The exhaust looks very healthy. Coolant level remain the same in the last 2 years. No overheating. The engine remains good and strong.

Where do you think the water come from? Just from the extremely local driving? What to do next? I know first thing, changing the oil ASAP. But that probably won't be done until next weekend, unfortunately.

Do you think how much harm has been done to this old engine?

 

[alreadygone]

Does oil itself look cafe-au-lait? Or just buildup of crud that dipstick is scraping out of tube? Have you pulled oil fill cap and looked at what's within sight on top of head? These engines are also notorious for "sweating", condensation in internal areas.

Bob

 

[simple_gifts]

Why don't you get a UOA when you change the oil; the test will give you a reading on glycol and a general sense of the health of the engine.

 

[pajim17057]

I've noticed this in my nissan sentra. When it is cold and I park it outside. If I check the oil before it is started. There is white gunk on the dipstick. If it is parked in the garage there isn't any. It made me nervous for a while because I had a cracked head last july. So if you arn't loosing coolant you should be fine. A uao can't hurt thought. Just to be safe.

 

[chromatin]

This engine does not have a separated oil fill tube and cap. The fill cap is built in with the dipstick in one long unit. Too bad I can't see the oil inside at all. Judging by the length of the dipstick, the oil is very deep inside and a falshlight didn't help.

Here was what I saw today. First the dipstick has a knob on the bottom (what for? I don't know) and this knob has quite some yellowish crud. Same yellowish crud above the oil level indication holes here and there. I could clearly see that around the yellowish crud, there were two liquids, oil and something did not mix well with oil, supposedly water. The oil around the level indication holes looked rather normal to me, actually.

So Bob, is this thing "sweating" and kind of normal for this engine?

Will probably do a UOA after changing the oil.

Thanks for the information and help, guys. Any other thoughts?

Quote:

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Does oil itself look cafe-au-lait? Or just buildup of crud that dipstick is scraping out of tube? Have you pulled oil fill cap and looked at what's within sight on top of head? These engines are also notorious for "sweating", condensation in internal areas.

Bob

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[RedDart]

Generally when you have coolant in the oil the mixture resembles a chocolate milkshake in color. Has your coolant level been decreasing over time with no indication of an external leak? If so and your oil level has been rising, you might have coolant leaking into the engine. Do you see the mixture on the dipstick after you drive the car and get it thoroughly warmed up? If not, it might just be heavy condensation due to short trips or extreme humidity conditions. My

is that a UOA is needed to fully assess your situation. Through a process of elimination you should be able to figure out what is happening. Good luck!

 

[Roy Gutfinski]

You've got some condensation in your oil from the combination of cold and moist air conditions you've had in Colorado the past few weeks. Not a real problem but I would check the oil appearance after doing 25 miles or so with the engine up to temperature.