Oil Cap Gunk!!!!

Jon Eaton

Test Drive
Location
Richmond
Hello all, I have a 2002 XE with 155,000 on it and ran into a few issues the last couple of days. First off I noticed my x is running colder than normal which it has been staying below 32 these last few days in VA. Next I was topping off my oil yesterday and noticed white gunk on the cap. Of course i paniced and figured my head gasket is going or gone. I checked my radiator and added maybe a quarter cup to it just to top that off. My oil looks like oil and antifreeze is still green. Now I've read that short trips can cause this reaction in the winter, I drive maybe 20 minutes to work on way and don't drive to far normally throughout the week and with my X not getting to the middle spot on the guage am I not getting the engine to the proper tempature to burn excess moisture? Or am I screwed? I think my thermostate may be stuck open which may be causing me to run cold but with the 12" of snow getting dropped on us this weekend I likely won't be able to swap that out until next weekend. Sorry for being long winded but this has me worried and this is the last thing I need right now. Thanks in advanced for any input.
 

KChurch86

Banned
Founding Member
I had this issue as well after a week or 2 of nothing but 2 or 4 mile trips in cold weather. I panicked and thought head gasket, too.

It's a normal occurrence with short trips in cold weather...the engine doesn't heat up enough to burn off the naturally-occuring moisture, so you wind up with sludge on the filler cap.

I highly recommend changing out your PCV valve. Less than $10 (probably more like $5, I honestly forget, it's been a while) and maybe 10 minutes of your time. I wrote a how-to here on XN on the job, if you can't find it let me know and I'll get to a computer so I can post the link.

Welcome to XN, by the way!
 

Jon Eaton

Test Drive
Location
Richmond
Thanks for the welome and reply! What are you thoughts on it running cold, stuck open t-stat sounds like the culprit to me but I'm not sure?
 

KChurch86

Banned
Founding Member
Ah right, forgot that bit. Yeah, I'd guess the thermostat may be stuck open to cause the lower running temperature.

If you have a coolant concentration checker, go ahead and test the coolant and see what your freeze point and boil-over points are. Engine coolant that is too strongly or too weakly concentrated can cause inaccurate temp. readings, but I'd suspect the thermostat is more likely to be the problem.

Out of curiosity, how long have you had the truck and has the timing belt/water pump job been done yet?

Sent from my VK410 using Tapatalk
 
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