Quote:
Originally Posted by Doru
Having the mayo visible on the dipstick or on the oil cap is not good. When you see it one has 3 alternatives:
- Once you reach operating temps, put the car in tiptronic, and downshift, driving close to 3000 rpm's for 10-15 mins (do 2-3 stints). This is if you don't have a highway close by, and you're stuck in city driving (you won't break the speed limit)
- Warm her up, then do an oil change. This is if the above method has failed, due to a high mayo contamination of the CCV - the mayo "might" not come out, but it's an honest effort to chase it out with some fresh oil. Chance are 50/50 (my theory)
- Do nothing and pray you will be OK (slim chances).
The quick warm-up method works best, combined with tiptronic downshifting and driving at higher rpm's. This can be during the work-home commute, no problem. And you don't have to do it every day.
0.02 |
I did something similar on the last oil change this spring; I took it for a long drive, city and highway (it's a manual, so driving at ~70 mph has the engine speed at about 3500 rpm) to make sure the engine was at operating temp. Just before draining though, I added a half can of Sea Foam to the crankcase and let it idle for a few minutes, hoping it would help remove any remaining moisture, and hoping it would help melt any remaining cheese. I didn't see any since then, but then again we took it on vacation last month & put about 2000 miles on it. It's about due for another oil change, and I'll probably do the same treatment. I've read though that even after the most thorough attempts at getting all the cheese out, there is usually some remaining under the valve cover in the little nooks & crannies; the only way to get it all is to disassemble and manually clean. I might do that some day, maybe when I feel the need to tackle the VANOS reseal, but not today.
I still think there ought to be some way to get an air/water separator inline with one of the CCV pipes, or maybe a canister with some kind of desiccant in it. I know the best way to keep the cheese at bay is getting the thing good and hot on a regular basis, but as long as we live where we do, and my wife is the primary driver of the thing, it's just not going to happen.