Low daily driving mileage = getting yellow/gold gunk ???

[Tominizer]

Newbie here !! We have a 2001 3.0i X5 (auto) with 90K km. My wife only puts on 8 km per day tops with her new job location. Recently I've started noticing a bright yellow/gold gunk in the oil................. on the end of the dip stick and under the oil filler cap. Is this a sign of a bigger issue or is the golden gunk a sign of not burning off the condensation?? I'm not noticing any white smoke from the tail pipes, or over heating issues, etc.

I thought condensation in the oil resulted in white gunk, not yellow/gold.


Thoughts ?!?!?


The other thing I've noticed is HEAVY corrosion and buildup under the oil cap. It's bad........... why is this happening?? I have an Audi A6 with a LOT more mileage and the oil cap in MINT.


Thanks in advance

[motordavid]

Yo T...
There are a couple real "wrenches" on the board, so they may
offer a better diagnosis, but I think you are on target:
condensation collection and that moisture is seperating out
from the oil. Probably caused by those 5 mile commutes and/or
a clogged crankcase breather.

I'd do an oil & filter change and go drive the sumbitch on
occasion.
GL,mD

And, welcome to TheX5Board

[AzNMpower32]

Originally Posted by motordavid

Yo T...
There are a couple real "wrenches" on the board, so they may
offer a better diagnosis, but I think you are on target:
condensation collection and that moisture is seperating out
from the oil. Probably caused by those 5 mile commutes and/or
a clogged crankcase breather.

I'd do an oil & filter change and go drive the sumbitch on
occasion.
GL,mD

And, welcome to TheX5Board

I agree. Change the oil, then find a nice open road. Put it in Sport mode, and floor the SAV, making sure you're coming close to redline as much as possible. Then at the next corner, watch for anyone else, then nail the sucker through the corner like the BMW it is. Repeat for 15 minutes. After that, try to wipe the smile off your face

[ncx]

I agree with the above.

Welcome to the community!

[chris_barry]

Originally Posted by AzNMpower32

I agree. Change the oil, then find a nice open road. Put it in Sport mode, and floor the SAV, making sure you're coming close to redline as much as possible. Then at the next corner, watch for anyone else, then nail the sucker through the corner like the BMW it is. Repeat for 15 minutes. After that, try to wipe the smile off your face

This is what we used to call a "thrash tune". Good for cleaning the plugs on italian cars.

Chris

[noncom23]

:xoutpost:

[JCL]

I agree with MD on the condensation, but not with others on taking it out to do acceleration runs around the neighbourhood. Especially in winter, even though Toronto is warmer than usual this year.

Change the oil, then take it for a long highway drive. You need to get it up to operating temperature, and hold it there for a few hours. The objective is to build heat, not revs. It is worth checking the breather to make sure it isn't clogged, but the goop is an expected byproduct of too many short trips.

After this routine, change the oil again. Then, make sure that you get some regular highway trips in with all the short trips. The engine simply doesn't warm up in 8 km.

Jeff

[The Cleaner]

I have seen this on a couple 3.0 engines including my X5. On my X5 it was more Green than Yellow. It was primarily when it was cold and it would collect on the bottom of the oil cap. I never did get to the bottom of what it was, but I suspected water. After pressure testing my cooling system and compression to eliminate a serious problem I did a couple other things and it has not returned in about 20k. The first was to replace the oil cap, the seal was worn and moisture could enter there.

The second was to check the secondary air pump for moisture. It’s located to the left of your engine a plastic tank with a hose going to a valve on the exhaust manifold. There is a vacuum line on that valve and if the vacuum line is broken the valve will let moisture into the EGR system and that has the potential to introduce moisture.

Finally I change the oil to BMW LL04. The only oil available in the USA that I can find that is BMW approved with that spec is Elf. I have not seen this since I did those things. I can’t tell you if they solved the problem or the problem naturally went away.

Good Luck.

[the head]

do an oil change and thrash it a bit if problem persists could be a leak in head or intake gaskets allowing coolant into the oil have dealer pressure test to check for low compression or leaking gaskets

[Zulu95]

I once had this issue on a Vauxhall Viva. They put out a diagram of a plate to deflect airflow away from the valve cover area so it would get hotter and boil off the moisture that caused the problem. I would say a good highway drive once a week or so should cure your problem.