Well, it's about 12* C outside and I just came back from school. School is about 5 minutes from home. I started my car up and drove it home and hit vtec a few times when it just warmed up. So I did my usual weekly fluid inspection and overall check on my engine. So I checked the oil and it was right on the full mark. Then I took off the oil cap and checked the underside. I don't know why I do it, but I'm pretty paranoid and I always give my Z6 a full weekly check-up. Anyways, there was some brown/tan foam and I new it was oil foaming. I checked my coolant level and condition and there is no sign of coolant lose or oil in it. The engine has never overheated, so I'm 99.9% sure it's not a blown head gasket. Anyways I wiped it clean and sure enough it was just foamed engine oil. Now my question is why did it foam? My guess is the oil was still cold and the 6000rpm driving just foamed it a bunch. Oh and the oil is exactly 2 months old with 17xxkm on it. Any idea what's going on here?

 

foamy oil = coolant in the oil

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by doublejz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">foamy oil = coolant in the oil</TD></TR></TABLE>
or poor oil

 

17xxkm on like the crappiest oil still shouldnt foam

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by doublejz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">foamy oil = coolant in the oil</TD></TR></TABLE>

I don't know cause it never came back. I cleaned it off and drove on the highway and really took it on a spirited drive and it never came back. I checked oil condition in the head and it is fine. I have no white smoke coming from the exhaust, never heated up past the halfway mark on the temp gauge, and I haven't had to add coolant ever since the swap back on sept. 1. It's always been halfway between max. and min. when at operating temp. I'm gonna check the condition of the spark plugs and piston head tomorrow. If there all clean then I'm gonna be pissed. Might even do a compression test to make sure.

 

Well I just took another look at my oil and it's clear and honey like in color. It's not "milky-ish" and I don't know what that was all about. I'm going to pull the spark plugs tomorrow and see what there looking like. I'm also going to keep a very close eye on the coolant level and record any drastic lose. If I have time tomorrow I might get around to doing a compression test. From what I have been taught, this is the best way to see if a head-gasket is bad. Any thoughts on that?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by doublejz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">foamy oil = coolant in the oil</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

what oil are you using? If you had coolant in your oil, it wouldn't just clear up like that so i think you're fine there.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by coquitlamEG &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what oil are you using? If you had coolant in your oil, it wouldn't just clear up like that so i think you're fine there.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thankyou coquitlamEG! I'm finally dealing with someone with some actual knowledge. I know what ya mean though on it just clearing up. I'm going to bring it to my tech. school (in class now to become an auto tech. ) I just find it weird that it went away cause if it was coolant it wouldn't just go away. It was for sure oil foam and just oil. I use Castrol GTX 5w-30. The oil is only 17xxkm old and it's only looking like honey. Still very clear and not durty at all.

Nice to see another B.C. dude around here .

 

Lucas oil additive does that. Happened in my b20/vtec.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Truman001 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Lucas oil additive does that. Happened in my b20/vtec.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Does Castrol actually use Lucas oil additives? If so, I never knew that. I'd imagine it's not very good to have foaming oil. I think it was a combination of cold oil and high rpm's. I think it basically "whipped" the thin oil cause I'm using 5w-30 so the five weight when it was cold prolly didn't help and just made it easier to foam? I don't know, but I would like to here anyone else experience with this or knowledge about why oil foams. Thanks to the people who actually helped me . I searched foaming oil or oil foaming and came up with nothing, so this threads all I got so please keep it at the top.

 

Which tech program are you in? I took the honda program at BCIT a few years back. Anyways, their are a few things that can cause oil to foam. Overfilling your oil is one and sometimes it can just be caused by a funky batch of oil. All motor oils contain some form of anti-foaming agent. It is possible to receive a batch of oil that either didn't get enough of this agent, or it just didn't work properly. I would definatly change your oil as soon as you can. Foaming oil can cause lubrication problems and possibly leave you with a spun bearing

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by coquitlamEG &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Which tech program are you in? I took the honda program at BCIT a few years back. Anyways, their are a few things that can cause oil to foam. Overfilling your oil is one and sometimes it can just be caused by a funky batch of oil. All motor oils contain some form of anti-foaming agent. It is possible to receive a batch of oil that either didn't get enough of this agent, or it just didn't work properly. I would definatly change your oil as soon as you can. Foaming oil can cause lubrication problems and possibly leave you with a spun bearing </TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm taking the auto tech. course at UCFV here in Abby. I checked the oil after making a run from my house in Abby to Mission Race Park and back. I let it sit for 5 min. and checked the oil. It was a little under the full line and had no foam at all. I'm still not sure why it foamed, but I'm guessing the oil additives are almost depleted. I'm going to change my oil now so it will last me all of nov. dec. and jan. before I have to change it again. Then I will not have to worry about changing it till winters over. A spun bearing would totally suck, so an oil change is next on my list. Just really confused as to why it came a went so fast and hasn't come back. I'm gonna check tomorrow morning when I get to school and see if it foamed again. Should I switch to synthetic? From what I have read, synthetic oil doesn't foam very easily and has extra additives. Might go synthetic and toss the Fram oil filter cause word has it they suck.

 

moisture in the oil, doesn't mean your coolant is leaking in your oil, this usta happen to my Chevy all the time

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Slow_CvC99 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">moisture in the oil, doesn't mean your coolant is leaking in your oil, this usta happen to my Chevy all the time</TD></TR></TABLE>

How did moisture get in there? It was cold and rainy all day though and for the last couple of day's. Just curious as to how the moisture get's in? The oil cap is brand new and doesn't leak or anything. Any idea how it get's in there? The oil must have done it's job though if water was in there cause it cleared up quick. I'm still gonna keep an eye on my coolant level, cause I'm even more paranoid now . I'm thinking of switching to Castrol Syntec 5w-30 and using Purolator oil filters. I'm sure my engine will thank me .

 

moisture can get in fluids just from getting hot and cold and hot and cold etc. Like water coming out of an exhaust...

 

I think it's was moisture from condensation due to the weather. It happens all the time, but I think in your case, you only went for a short drive and the water didn't get a chance to evaporate from heat. After you drove the car and got the engine nice and hot, the water evaporated from the oil and it returned to it's golden color.

 

Wouldn't hurt to go synthetic, and use an OEM oil filter, FRAM is junk. Mobil 1 Sythentic 5W-30

 

the additives in your oil arent good for that cold of weather

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by postman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the additives in your oil arent good for that cold of weather</TD></TR></TABLE>

It's 5w-30 so it's perfect for where I'm located. I went to school today and talked to my auto tech. teacher and he said it was moisture. He said the reason for it having lot's of moisture is I drive no more then 5 min. a day, back and forth from school and home. It just didn't have the time to heat up and evaporate and the moisture keeps building up more and more. I also don't drive it on weekends to so for the most part it's short trips and sitting there. There was a little bit extra moisture this morning, but I took it for a nice long drive and it's all gone . It was for sure not my head gasket as it would not clear up by itself. I even did a vacuum test on my Z6 and it was dead on 18 psi of vacuum . I guess I shouldn't have assumed the worst, but it's the last thing you want to see. Anyways, thanks again to all the people who helped as I'm happy it's all figured out . Now it's time for me to get back to building my turbo .

 

Modified by CardDealer at 3:19 PM 11/16/2006