Potential Water Leak?

[Iahawkeye]

My envoy may be misbehaving and i was wondering if someone smarter than me might be able to chime in. A couple of weeks ago, I pulled off the oil cap and noticed that the inside of the cap looked milky. I immediately checked the oil and it looked fine. I cleaned the cap off and did not think much about it. A week later, I changed the oil. It came out looking normal, black, and no sign of antifreeze that had been mixed. However, the oil cap looked milky again.

I called dad who said that it could be condensation not being burned off since it is winter and my wife only drives it across town to work and is not getting it hot enough. That sounded good to me. I drove the envoy 200 miles last weekend and sure enough, the oil cap was clean. Fast forward 4 days and the oil cap looks like this:



Any thoughts? Is this something to be worried about? The envoy is our main driver and the motor has 189,000 miles and I would like to hold on to this thing for a time. Thanks for your input!!

 

[Wooluf1952]

I believe your father is correct.

 

[bags529]

Saab's and Volvo's also do this it has to do with condensation and the PCV system. Just the way it is. If your oil on the dipstick is good and clean and your coolant level is consistent it's condensation.

I freaked out the first time I saw it on my Volvo, and also saw it on my nephews Saab.

The engines and electrical systems remind me very much of the Volvo and Saabs also. My guess these were designed during the time that gm owned or partnered with Saab.

My Volvo is close to 250k and I hope to get around that out of the TB!

 

[Playsinsnow]

I had a Mazda that I put 215k on with conventional oil. It would appear that way later in it's life. I run synthetic now and have never seen that again. It is almost expected in high use in cold temps. Synthetic oil doesn't. At least mobil1 and cheap malwart brand doesn't.


If your fluid levels are stable and consistent, no worries.

 

[Iahawkeye]

I believe your father is correct.

I am finding that out more and more as I get older.

Thanks for the input. I just wanted to see if anyone else was having similar issues. Looks like I might sleep well tonight. Thanks again.

 

[kickass audio]

Thats all the milky color you get? thats nothing compared to mine. When i take my cap off, usually just before it needs to get the oil changed at 3k miles (yes I know I can go longer with how much oil an i6 takes but I don't) it is about the same color as milk. It first alarmed me but after seeing plenty of other people on here talking about it and that its not a problem I don't worry about it anymore. Just check the dipstick and ensure that is okay like you did assures you that the engine is not mixing antifreeze in with the oil.

 

[IllogicTC]

It's actually a fairly common "feature" of this engine. Mine does the same thing. My last vehicle also did it but because of an actual coolant leak, she was beat up when I got her and I just beat up more on her. On this platform, it's best to monitor the engine oil at the dipstick and compare with what's found on the filler cap. Monitoring coolant levels can also be an indicator if you suspect you've found something nasty on the dipstick.