Yellow Sludge around Oil Cap

[bajohntrini]

Hey guys, just wanted to start out by saying I absolutely love this forum, it has been so useful to me with all the problems I've had with my X5 since I've owned it for the last 2 years. I love it and it's been a good car for me, especially for all the mileage I put on it.

I have a 2004 X5 3.0 (245 000 KM on the OD) and just this week I've notice a yellow sludge around the oil cap when I went to do my routine check and top off of oil (I don't lose much oil at all, just seems to burn up half a quart every few thousand kms so I'm pretty sure I don't have a leak). I've never seen this before, and wasn't there when I changed my oil about 3000 km ago.

I've been reading around and it sounds like it could be a variety of problems, so I just wanted a little input.

I live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and it has been pretty cold for the last month or so. Apart from a little "choking" when I first start her up in the mornings (it's about -20 C all night) she runs awesome. I've been in the habit of checking the coolant levels lately too because last month I had to replace the alternator and in the process and accidentally pulled out the clip that holds the heat exchanger onto the radiator and lost all coolant. I fixed this and filled the coolant back up and did my best to bleed, but I find every few weeks I need to add a little bit of coolant to her because the red stick falls below the level of the top of the cap. I've just assumed this was because I didn't completely bleed the system and whatever air pockets come to the top once in a while.

Now that I have this yellow sludge on the oil cap tho, it has me worried because I've read about the coolant mixing in with the oil? Could this be the case? How would I find out for sure?

I've also read that the CCV can need cleaning/replacing, would these symptoms have anything to do with that? My X runs perfectly all of the time, not rough or anything, especially when she warms up.

I'm hoping this problem is just due to condensation in the engine (I take many short trips and it's been very cold here for the last month) and tomorrow I plan on taking her for a run for an hour or so and then changing the oil when it's hot and cleaning that sludge up. Is this likely to fix my problem?

The only other issue I've noticed is after driving for a while, when I come to a stop at a red light or whatever, I smell a faint burning, can't tell what it is, could it just be this condensation burning or what else could it be?

Your help is very much appreciated, I've searched around and I'd just like a few opinions of what you guys with experience think it is.

Thanks very much in advance.