I have a cream colored foam in my dip-stick tube and inside the oil filler cap. I first discovered this in the depths of a verry cold Canadian winter. The advice from the board was that it was caused from water in the oil. The source of the water was determined to be condensation as the coolant was clear and never dropped in level.

Now it is spring... temperatures in the 40's during the day... and I have changed my oil a number of times but still have the creamy foam. Yesterday I removed the oil filler cap and hose that gos to the breather... the hose was filled with foam. So I opened the breather and removed the filter element and plastic holder that the hose from the oil filler cap attached to. I took out the filter element and found it was saturated with creamy foam. The plastic holder had about an inch of the same creamy colored foam in it. So any vapours venting through the hose to the breather would be blocked and I assume would be forced up the dip-stick tube.

I replaced the element and cleaned out the holder and hose. I wiped the oil filler cap clean as well as the dip stick. Drove the truck a bit and checked the oil. Seamed to have a lot less foam on the dip-stick and nothing on the inside of the oil filler cap. So do I assume the water vapours are now being vented proberly now? Have I done any damage by having the vent blocked for 3-4 months?

P.S. The truck has 180,000 on it and runs strong.

 

stop using cheap oil.

invest in quality oil like Pennzoil or Castrol. this kept hapening to my cars when i was using that low-grade crap.

its basically water that foams up.

 

Big Red: I think it was me that told you about your problem before. I gave you a link to my thread that I had in the Oil and Lubrication forum. Anyways, I still have some of that on my truck as well. The crankcase filter (the one that goes from the oil cap tube into your air breather) on my truck is all messed up. I am going to replace it again (for the second time in 6 months). At the same time I am going to clean the white, creamy stuff off of the hoses and oil filler cap. I don't think it would hurt anything. My truck has 142,000 KILOMETRES on it and it still runs GREAT! Doesn't burn a drop of oil between changes since I got it 6 months ago. I wouldn't worry about it, just keep an eye on your engine oil and make sure you don't see any engine coolant in your oil! Good luck!

-Matt

 

I have been using the dealer installed Motorcraft brand oil... I don't know what brand it is but doubt it is "low-grade crap" oil.

 

hrm.. yeah Motorcraft definetley isnt cheap.. i think beast might be on to something tho about venting

 

I always thought that is a sign of the engine not getting hot enough?
Alot of short trips can cause this. Do you do any highway driving or do you just drive mostly around town?

 

That is a sign of the engine not getting hot all the time (taking short trips). Now with it getting warm, Red and I should not be having the problem anymore.....here's til next winter.......

-Matt

 

It is possible that you have a leak, and you are getting coolant in the oil.
my $0.02

 

Big Red and I have already been through this. My coolant level never goes down and I do make frequent short trips. That is why I have this problem. I wish it didn't do that. I have had a few vehicles and have driven them the same way and they didn't do it, oh well.

-Matt

 

I get this as well, the condensation seems to build up in the airfilter box and come down the breather hose. If I take my breather hose off at any time and give it a shake it will always disperse water. A common response is that there's a coolant problem but it just seems to be how the engine runs, I've given up worrying about it.

 

when i lived in cleveland o and drove a new 1967 vw beatle i had foam on filler cap.no leak there I guess it was condensation

 

Just an update folks.... since I cleaned the filter box and hose... replaced the filter element, the foam has vertually disappeared! Good news! Dip stick is clean and so is the oil!

 

That's my project for this weekend. Hope I have the same results! Nice job!

-Matt

 

Guys, I usually stick to the Big Bronco forum but I read this thread and I had the same problem recently.

I had some kind of fluid leak that covered my oil pan and trans oil pan from the driver side.....so I popped the hood and saw the alfredo sauce dripping down from the air box onto the wheel well.

So I popped the airbox open and whoa.....here is what i saw


A wet air filter and a saturated PCV filter.

My dipstick was squeeky clean and I kept checking it....I was paranoid.

I removed the airbox to valv cover hose and whoa!!! It looked like a clogged artery!!! Thick creamy foam inside the entire hose!!! I removed the new valve cover breather cap and only had residual water and cream.

I removed all and cleaned the cap with degreaser and fuel. Same with the Airbox. I used the left over hoses from my goodyear high miler hose kit to make a valve cover to airbox hose (silicone repels water or moisture).

Once all fit I threw away the motorcraft paper filter and dropped in a cleaned and oiled K and N.

All is working well, no signs of creamy stuff in the dipstick or oil....and no stuff in the oil cap.

I'll check again when I take a trip on the weekend. I use royal purple synthetic oil and take short trips on a daily basis.

Coolant in radiator or catch tank shows no signs of oil either.

 

Big Red - I have a friend who was doing all very short driving, just minutes at a time; & he was also running his engine on propane which generates a lot of additional condensation.

He had all your symptoms & was sure he had a blown head gasket or cracked head. After a strip down & all the testing, he found the same as you - just cold temps & short run-times that weren't burning off the condensation in his crankcase.

A cold thermostat or faulty PCV valve would worsen the problem.