What's up with this oil cap?

[burn_your_money]

It's from a 2000 Impala... made by...uhh... VW with a 15L TD engine

[guy plain]

 was it sitting parked for awhile???

[maxfax]

What guy said, and what's the rest of the oil look like??  Does this car make a lot of short trips as in not up to temp..  3400's are rotten for intake gaskets taking a poo and dumping coolant in the oil.. It happens sometimes on the 3800 as well..  From what I can tell that one is a 3800?

[burn_your_money]

3400. It has a lot of short trips and regularly does not get up to operating temperatures. The oil stinks like gasoline and there was some fine shavings on the oil pan magnet.

I'm hoping that this is just condensation and not a coolant issue.

She changes her oil 2 times a year and hardly does 5000 kms in that time.

[maxfax]

3400. It has a lot of short trips and regularly does not get up to operating temperatures. The oil stinks like gasoline and there was some fine shavings on the oil pan magnet.

I'm hoping that this is just condensation and not a coolant issue.

She changes her oil 2 times a year and hardly does 5000 kms in that time.

I would say that's the issue right there..   You would have noticed it in the oil if the intake gaskets were bad, and usually that shows up a lot worse on the cap..  Take a look at the front corners of the engine..  Where the intake meets the head just below the VC you will be able to actually see the gasket and often times if they are going they will show signs of coolant weeping out...

[burn_your_money]

Ok that's good to know.

I've told her to take the car out for a 20 minute drive at least every 2 weeks and to try and avoid idling and short trips. Hopefully it will help.

Should it go on an hour+ trip to get the moisture out of the crankcase or will the oil change have taken care of that?

[maxfax]

 Chances are good that there is some moisture still lurking in there.. There's probably more scum like was on the cap lurking on the bottom of the intake and valve covers..  Even if there isn't any in there, a good trip (Italian tuneup  ) probably wouldn't hurt the thing..  Might pay to check out the PCV just to be sure it isn;t full of crap..  Just pop the valve out of the VC with the engine idling and make sure there's vacuum there..

You sure that's a 3400??  Looks like a 3800 exhaust mani in that one pic....

[guy plain]

 my mom had the same thing in a newyorker...i drove it to vancouver... 5 hr trip and it cleared up.....ran the bag off of it to....it didnt do it agian ......just a couple years of short trips with it and the bottom of the oil cap looked like a sambuka milkshake...(didnt taste the same tho) lol

[JessaBug]

I had this on my 2.0L New Beetle. At the time, I was driving around 5k miles a year and most of my trips were very, very short so the car wouldn't get up to temp. Once I cleaned up the cap and drove the car a bit more, I never saw it again. Keep an eye on the coolant, but I wouldn't be too terribly worried about it at the moment.

[nathan_b]

did a vc gasket on an aba that was so bad, inside of valve cover was rusted to shiz

[R.O.R-2.0]

my golf oil cap starts to look like that if i short-trip the hell out of it..

[burn_your_money]

You sure that's a 3400??  Looks like a 3800 exhaust mani in that one pic....

You win, it's a 3800.

Would the PVC have any effect on the gas in the oil? I'm leaning towards a leaky injector but these silly gas monstrosities are confusing to me. I can already smell gas in the fresh oil and it's only got 500kms on it.

She has agreed to drive it for longer periods of time, and there has been some reduction of the yellow stuff on the oil cap already.

[maxfax]

You win, it's a 3800.

I'm kinda embarassed that I could ID that over some VW stuff..  But then again I guess you gotta consider what I have more time under the hood of..   

PCV issues usually don't cause gassy oil problems..  Especially in that short of time..  When they are plugged you usually get oil consumption issues..  Especially oily residue in the airbox/throttle body because instead of the oil vapor being sucked into the intake and burned, the vapor pushes out the breather...

The short tripping could have something to do with gas in the oil..  Although if she's driving it more....   Does it have any driveability issues??  Misfire, hard starting, DTCs, poor fuel economy,just plain running rough? 

The injectors on these are pretty reliable for the most part..  IF you have access to a fuel pressure gauge it isn't too awfully hard to check for a leak though.. Cycle the key a few times to pressurize the system, then take note of the fuel pressure..  Shouldn't drop more than about 5 psi in 10 mins..

[maxfax]

One other thought, the fuel pressure regulator..  It's on the end of the fuel rail for the bank of cyls near the front of the car, close the throttle body..  With the engine running, pull the vac line off of it, and see if it pees out the vac port at all...

[burn_your_money]

Does it have any driveability issues?poor fuel economy? 

LOL It's a GM

I'll look into those things. Thanks