Topic: Mayo in the oil tank.

[grumpy]

So I have the oil/water emulsion thing going on in my oil tank: Quite a bit of mayo on the inside of the oil tank cover & dipstick.

It's been pretty friggin cold here lately. 23deg when I walk out the door at 6am to go to work.
I thought 45 minutes on the freeway at 75mph would generate enough heat to vaporize the condensation and get it out of the oil. Guess not. 
Does it seem right that the motor never gets warm enough after 45 minutes at speed? OK, so 23 is pretty cold but it's about 50 on the way home. It should get warm enough clear the condensation at 50deg air temp, no?

Makes me think that I need to put some sheet metal across the front of the motor to block the wind and retain some engine heat.
I mean, crap, that water needs to get the hell outta there. I really don't want the motor & tranny to rust from the inside !!

Thoughts??



 

[Duke McDukiedook]

Hotter plugs in the winter time?
You are not running an oil cooler, right?

[matt mattison]

It would probably run warmer just sitting at idle. If you chose to idle it, your going to occasionally take it for a quick spin to clean off the plugs. Change the oil regardless.

[ekpent]

Almost hate to ask the dreaded question but what weight oil are you running in the colder weather ?

[Dream750]

Do you have the crankcase and breather hoses routed correctly? As these condensation vapors need to vent to the atmosphere. If a valve cover breather hose is incorrectly connected to the oil tank then the condensation / mayo problem becomes very evident in cold weather. This is because the crankcase condensation vapors are now collecting in the oil tank resulting in excessive mayo deposits.

If a full oil change is not possible, then you could “sweeten” the oil. That is, drain off a quart or more from the oil tank and replace with fresh oil.  As wrong as this may sound, it saves both time and money while keeping the oil quality within specification. A used oil analysis (UOA) typically supports this method.

At any rate, this should keep you going until warmer weather and/or a complete oil change can be accomplished.

[Deltarider]

Even a blocked carter ventilation tube can cause this. My marine diesel had it last summer when - due to a sprung waterhose - there was so much water in the bilge that the carter breather couldn't do it's job. I didn't need to change the oil and after half an hour of normal operation the mayo was gone.

[grumpy]

answers

yeah, hotter plugs. Denso x22
no oil cooler
10-40 dyno oil
I think the breathers are routed right. They appear to follow the diagrams in the manual.

I see a little bit of mayo at the bottom end of the one that comes off the top of the valve cover so that one seems to be venting OK. Same with the one that come off the oil tank.

I wiped off the mayo from the cap & dipstick, drained & refilled the tank, then did a fast hi rev blast through the hills (it warmed up to about 60deg). The motor for sure got up to full operating temp. Produced a small amount of mayo on the cap.
It's supposed to be up to 70deg tomorrow afternoon (still low 30s in the AM). I'll do a full oil change after work & see what happens.

Maybe low 20s is just too damn cold w/out a fairing?

[Duke McDukiedook]

Pull those breather tubes to make sure they are not blocked by crud or stuff. Something is not letting the water burn off if the engine is otherwise running OK. I don't have any mayo problems down to the 20's here with regular temp Densos as long as I don't take too short of trips.

[grumpy]

Mekka Lekka Hi-Mekka Hiney Ho.

(OK. Thx)