Water In the Oil

Several years ago I suddenly observed milky oil. Not Good I thought. However, could not locate any problem, certainly not what I expected. No Oil in the water. No oil heavy usage. No oil in the exhaust. Changed the oil (used full synthetic, Royal Purple for years, but can't afford it anymore & now run Castrol full synthetic). Oil ran clear for several changes over several years (apx every 3-4K). Then recently I was out of town & had my wife drive it to a local very good mechanic shop to go ahead & do the oil change this time for me he found the water in the oil. (this happened within a week as my wife checks the oil meticulously on this). He checked the engine out, compression, everything & could find nothing wrong. He changed the oil & it runs clear now again. Any thoughts on the mystery guest?:dunno:

:roflmao: I have seen similar things with other vehicles back in the days before "Global Warming". :roflmao:

Seriously, how has your humidity been lately? When was the last time the CCV system was thoroughly serviced?

Moisture will collect in the crankcase, and a poorly maintained CCV system will make things worse in high humidity periods.

Also, how is the engine's operating temperature? Running too cold will also make things worse.

Joe,
Engine seems pretty good & appears at reasonable temp. I initially wondered about the humidity as it had been really, really horrible about time of incidents, more than typical in the area. I asked the mechanic about that too along with new oils & he said no way, but you have me thinking if you have seen it before. It certainly crossed my mind as everything I do is pre-GW it seems & I have forgotten more of that than the latest will ever reveal.

Moisture in the crankcase is normal. Comes with the atmosphere, and is a normal by product of internal combustion engines. Most of the moisture is removed when the engine is run at normal operating temperature for regular periods of time from the heated metal and oil.

I used to live in Santa Cruz County, CA. Rains there used to be damn heavy, and lots of fog. When conditions were right you would see a lot of that kind of moisture on the engine's dipstick.

That is logic behind the "3-months or 3,000 miles" change interval. In about 3-months the moisture content increases and starts to form corrosives in the oil. Of course modern oils are better, but why take chances.

Ah, very good. & that explains why one man once told me about 25 years ago that he did not trust the synthetics (as you see I use them), not because they were bad, but because many folks went & waited 7-10k before changing just because it was synthetic & could last that long. Of course not withstanding the moisture & debris issue.

When you first start the engine up there is ambient air in side, so if it is humid outside it's also humid inside. When you first start it the humidity condenses out from the heat and it ends up in the oil, no big deal provided you are going to run the engine for at least 25 minutes so the oil gets up to sufficient temp and has the time to cook off the moisture, but if you don't allow for that the moisture just stays there and builds up over time, The more moisture you have in the oil the longer it takes to cook or boil off. Interesting thing, start the engine up cold, let the temp reach operating temp then shut it off, open the hood and check the dipstick, the oil will still be cold or luke warm depending on time of year.