hey guys, i just finished building my engine and was running a 2ply buddy club headgasket. i thought i blew my headgasket and didn't think anything of it since it was aftermarket and just replaced another. Well, it looks like it's blown again so i thought that's wierd?
Reason i thought it was blown was because the oil was smelling wierd, i had to top up my coolant resovoiur and i wsa geting this crazy yellowish/white foam/froth all over the valve cover and oil cap. The thing that didnt' make sense to me was why my oil was not looking like chocolate milk.

after the 2nd headgasket i thought something was not right. I called the machine shop that preped my head and asked if they checked the head was straight before giving it back to me. They said it's not the head, he's saying that it's condensation. He said usually due to the pressure built from bad pcv or excessive blowby. I'm pretty sure clocked the rings all right and did the brake in like i stole it, alternating rpm's. I'm not recirculating the pcv back into my intake manfold like oem style. I have one of the BR racing oil catch cans that vent off the back of the block and valve cover, to the can then vent to atmosphere.

Anyone know where or what the heck this foam crap is?

 

Pics?

Coolant is clean? Have you done a leakdown test to completely rule out the headgasket?

 

i'm uploading as we speak

 

when i saw this stuff i thought for sure i blew my headgasket but the actual oil when i drain it, does not look like chocolate milk? looks just like regular oil.

oh another note i live in -20C or -4F temperatures...that might effect the condensation and your analysis of the situation. Thanks guys

 

That looks like a head gasket man. That's a lot of milkshake. Break out a leak down tester to make sure.

Or just start the car up for a minute, shut it off and open the radiator cap with a rag over it, if it sounds like a refreshing Pepsi when you open it up, you got a leaker.

 

coolant is clean it's green/blue, did not do a leak down test yet. Just did a compression test and it was 225/225/225/235psi across

 

If it was just condensation or residue you should not have to keep refilling it up with coolant. I would do as stated above. Leak down test

 

Just saw that you live in freezing conditions...lol. Condensation is probably the issue.

 

On a side note, does the car overheat? Have you checked under the oil cap after a long drive? I usually see some residue under my oil cap after letting the car sit over night but I never see it after a drive so the car is up to normal operating temps.

 

since it was first start up i'm trying to fix up the the bugs, there could be other bugs/leaks. i thought that too...why am i adding coolant, then i saw some coolant residue from the tb fast idle to the tstat housing hose. i wish i had all new coolant lines but....you just use what you have.

thanks for the input

 

thanks Manny, so you are saying that is normal?
i don't ever recall ever seen that froth/foam before in any of my engines? i suppose i rarely look under the cap when i do oil changes.

i'm just paranoid, spun bearing from lack of lubrication would just suck. i suppose i could take some oil for a oil analysis.

 

no over heating issues what so ever

 

It could be now that you have a breather can. The only real way to rule it out it that leak down test.

It seems like a lot of froth man, but I can't say it's not normal in those temps man because it never gets that cold where I'm at. I've only ever seen the ol' milkshake when a head gasket was leaking.

 

thanks Manny i'll have to get that done.
hmm...now that i think of it i do feel some pressure from when i take off my oil cap, i wonder if there is some blowby or something? again....i need todo that leak down test.

or maybe something is clogged on my pcv system? causing the pressure to be trapped then condensation occurs?

there is a lot of froth, when i did my first headgasket, looked like something poured a frothy capacino all over the inside of my valve cover. Or just went to down with lithium grease all over

thaks again for your guys input....much appreciated.

 

this GTO forum is making sense
http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/showthread.php?t=283533
hah thanks for not saying search is your friend
Google is my friend


because my PCV system is open to atmosphere it is letting moisture into the crank case and allowing condensation to happen?
hmm... what a waste of a buddy club headgasket...there goes 100bcuks down the tubes. i hope this is the mystery. 100bucks for knowledge

any other ideas??

 

what brand of oil are you using?

 

Are you sponsored by Starbucks? Looks like your motor is a cappuccino froth maker :p

 

The oil is a 5w30 conventional oil from honda out of their bulk.
Was using cheap conventional oil for breakin. Its at about 5000kms now.
Hey, fellow cdn. Are you guys pretty cold in the east too

Thanks for the insight guys

 

Hehe funny guy
But seriously this really freaks me out, specially the lack of lubraction leading to a spun bearing
I'm doing another oil change tomorrow. Heh only 500kms/ 300miles. That would suck to do an oil change every second gas fill up during winter

 

not sure if this helps, but my friend has a spec e30 car that gets moved in and out of his shop every day, since the engine/oil never warms up enough to "burn" off moisture it gets frothy from condensation.

 

cool, so you are saying it looks pretty much the same thing and that's normal for e30's?
no danger to the engine?
man, when i took off the valve cover that froth was all over, was seriously gross.

 

If your engine oil never gets up to operating tempature (over 212F), the moisture in the crankcase will never "boil out"...
If your sure the engine is staying at operating temp enough, it is probably the steam just condensing as it vents to your catch can...
This doesnt explain having to add coolant though...
How much are you having to add?

 

yeah totally doesn't help the adding coolant thing . forgot to mention the e30 is about 60miles north of san francisco, so even in cali this sort of thing can show up under the right conditions

 

man, i should check my civic some time, i never warm it up and only drive like a mile lol

 

Lucky i do have a oil temp and pressure gauge in my car. I get up to 180-190F but doesn't go much higher than that. One thing, i just got a full size rad too

As for the coolant i just added from the min to max on the coolant resovoiur today. I'll monitor it and see, i hope id on't have a coolant leak somewhere, possibly 2 issues going on here. coolant leak and this condensation issue. I sure hope it's not the headgasket. I'll do my oil change tomorrow and keep watching it though.

thanks for your input pyro