How do we spell relief.........Synthetic oil

The explanation I keep seeing is that the dip tube ends up being a cold zone which encourages condensation and since there's little flow in this area the water eventually overwhelms the adsorptive abilities of the additives in that small bit of oil. I am wondering if it would be worthwhile to install some type of insulation around the dip tube where it is exposed in the engine bay.

Temperature in the UK has gone above 5 degrees centigrade and most of us have noticed that white sludge has totally disappeared. I did also change to Castrol GTX Magnatec semi-synthetic, but I think that's just a coincidence.

Either way, the problem has just disappeared.

well i to have this stuff in my oil im just glad to see it is a common accurance i got real worried for a minute.

best forum out there keep the good threads coming

Weird gunk in my oil!
 

I just left the gas station where I filled up my 8. I checked the oil, but there was a lot of beige gunk (kinda like grease) all over the dipstick! I've never seen oil do that before and it didn't seem normal to me. I cleaned off the dipstick and put it in two more times and it still had some of the gunk on the dipstick (there was oil on the dipstick too of course). Sorry I don't have a picture, but I want to know if anyone knows what in the world I'm talking about? Have you ever seen this before or guess what it could be? I am a complete non-car expert (computer nerd), so please don't laugh if its something silly. Thanks.

This might help

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...light=milk+oil

Hey thanks expo1. I had done a search, but I didn't really know what to search for. I should have tried milky dipstick or something else more perverted sounding. :) This thread can be closed now, since this topic has been covered.

LOL :D

The emulsified dipstick problem
 

Having just hit winter over here in Germany and not visited the site for a while due to tours in sunnier climes. I found the emusified oil on the dipstick and immeadiatly checked the coolant, but it was fine, so I visited my Mazda dealer in Monchengldbach. Old father time came out and had no idea what was up, I did mention the fact that it could be condensation but he said "nein". After reading the problems you's guys have had it still worries me.
If the oil becomes slighlty emulsified surely that means that integral parts of the engine are coming into contact with water making rust and hot spots, also if the wankle design burns oil then surely emulsified oil is burns the water off into the CAT thus rendering it kapoot!!!. I would be interested to here what anyone else thinks.....It still won't stop me getting another one next year. :confused: and many thanks

Basically, everyone seems to agree that it doesn't hurt the engine at all. Most say that taking it out for a long drive will help get rid of it. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Mine looked bad this time last year (as it does again this year) - i drained the oil last year and it looked fine. All the water and carbonate emulsion seemed to be limited to the dipstick tube.

I did have my low coolant light flicker for about 5 sec last week though... so I'm a bit concerned but not real concerned as the coolant level looks pretty good < shrug>

I've only seen it on the dipstick once. Never again though. If I remember right it was in the summer and really hot out. I had been running the piss out of the car too, so I thought that that may have contributed.

New theory on oil froth?
 

I did a search and didn't find this...

From the CarTalk website:

"A word of caution: Be careful not to overfill your car’s crankcase with oil. If you put in too much oil, the engine’s crankshaft can actually come in contact with the oil. And because the crankshaft is turning at several thousand revolutions per minute, it can quickly whip your oil into a froth — like the steamed milk that sits on the top of a cappuccino. Why is that bad? Well, the oil pump can’t pump froth very well, and as a result, it can’t get oil to the parts of the engine that need lubrication. The result . . . a hefty boat payment to your mechanic."

What do you think?

We don't have crankshafts. Our eccentric shafts aren't covered by the oil pan anyways. No oil comes in direct contact with it other than what is purposely injected into it. Our oil pans are merely reservoirs for oil with no moving parts anywhere inside. This can't happen in a rotary. Don't worry about it. I still wouldn't overfill it though.

Mine does the same thing. Even after driving all day.
A few in and outs for the dip stick and all is good.

Good old RG edumacating us unwashed masses..... :)

Probably the result of bad muffler bearings.

Um, chrome reverse muffler bearings. It could have been the falikan rods too.

Damn it nojooc, who you calling old?!!!

I think I'm the unwashed masses. :eek: I think I smell fine though. :p

Major Problem?
 

Hi Guys I have a question. I now have 1100 mi on my RX8, I checked my oil Yesterday before going on a 300mi trip and saw that there was like a white liquid on my dip stick. I am thinking coolant I checked that and it seems ok. I don't know all that much about the Rotary but conventonally this means there is a problem. Is this normal for the RX8 or should do I need to bring the car in for repair.

Thanks
Greg

Do a search... I think its normal

Search for "Milky Oil". This is basically condensation brought on by short trip driving, especially in cooler weather, where the oil doesn't get hot enough to boil off water vapor in the crankcase. Give it a good run which gets everything up to temperature, then check it.

Sorry, old(er) :)

frothing usually, apart from the crankshaft, is caused by condensation in the block, or oil that exceeded 250 degrees, or a lack of being at operating temp during several power cycles

Ugly Stuff in my oil.
 

Sorry if this is a cold weather issue, and already posted but i have not seen it yet.

I checked my today. Last check was two weeks ago, before it got cold and snowy in chicagoland. I pulled out the dipstick and its covered in a brown foamy/milky like crud. The first few checks it was at the bottom of the dipstick. Then it was only in the middle. Some pictures below. Is this serious? Do i need to get into the dealer? Or should I stop freaking out?

BTW the oil was changed at 5000 miles early october. I now have 8800 miles. And the car is running fine.

Seems there was a thread that this was caused by overfilling the oil...

coolant?
 

looks almost like what I'd expect coolant in the oil to look like. I don't think the oil should look like that ever. I'd go to the dealer.

Trevor

looks like water/coolant. I would have the oil analyzed and then take it to the dealer, hey any car can have a problem, anything is possible could be water, maybe a long road trip or change the oil and see if it comes back, assuming it passes a block test and no exhaust gases are detected in the coolant.......

When I fill up I bring it up to about 7/8 full. Moisture could be a possibility.

Thanks for the feedback.

I had this last weekend ( emulsufied oil on the dip stick) and had the car in for 16000 km check up a couple of days later, asked about this and was told it was normal , so long as it was just on the dip stick. Somthing to do with condesation in the dipstick tube .

Yea this happened to me last winter and I got all excited, there are several old threads here about it from back then - the dealer and Mazda both said it was 'normal' even though it looks scary :eek: and weird, kinda suckie, but what ta hey - it did stop as soon as the weather warmed up. Does make checking the oil level next to impossible though - and it's none to easy on a warm day.

Guess best to forget it and life will go on - happily - just another no biggie in the end - NTM the warranty will cover should it ever be proven a bad thing.

This normal. It is just water vapor mixed with oil vapor that has condensed on the dipstick. This happens when the car is regularly driven for only short distances in cold weather. It eventualy goes away if the car is driven for a while allowing the heat of the engine to burn off the moisture.

Some have suggested driving a while with the oil filer cap off allowing the water vapor to dissipate.

Very normal for this car

https://www.rx8club.com/search.php?searchid=274515

Yellow grease in oil?
 

My GT has 4000Km on it, so I haven't pushed it very hard yet - still breaking it in.

I checked the oil today after filling up, and noticed that the dipstick had what looked like yellow grease on it. It was at the top of the dipstick, and down near the other end in the oil. Is this normal? Doesn't seem like a good thing to me.

I haven't changed the oil yet (only at 4000Km so far). And I haven't had to top it up at all. The oil level is still in the middle of its measuring range.

Any ideas?

Condensation.....
 

It's quite normal, the dipstick tube stays relatively cool, and any vapor in the sump condenses into that 'yellow ice cream' you see.

Sometimes appears inside the filler cap, too.

S

Yup, it happened to me last year, and I expect that it will happen this winter as well. The problem is that the engine oil is unable to heat to operating temperature when the ambient temperature gets to around twenty or below (farenheit) no matter how far you drive. Water is always condensing into your oil, but under normal conditions, it is evaporated off when the oil reaches operating temperature. Since it can't get to that temp when the ambient temp is too low in winter, the water gets beaten into the oil and makes vaseline, which is what the greasy stuff is. It isn't very good, but it is a normal part of this car.

Actually, you will probably notice that in the single digit temps (farenheit), the temp gauge may not even be able to get to its normal position in the center of the operating range.

Haze:

I'm glad you brought up the fact the oil isn't getting hot enough to get rid of moisture in the winter. We have seen too many threads about the "what's the gunk/slime/cappucino/froth/cream/etc. on my dipstick?" question.

I'd like to add, if any of you have the 6-speed with two oil coolers, and put your hand on one of the coolers after a 15 or so mile drive when the temp is below ~30 deg. F, you'll notice the oil coolers are barely warm. (at least compared to a similar drive in the summer)

I'm curious, is this cold temperature, condensation in oil phenomenon as prevalent with RX8's with auto transmission or std. output, 5-speed in other markets, (one oil cooler) or in Australia? (doesn't even their H.O. model have one oil cooler?)

Thanks for all the replies guys. This is the first car I've noticed this yellow gunk in the oil. Mind you, it's the first car I've had with two oil coolers. I guess all the short trips I do doesn't help either.

My last car had a turbo which made things extremely hot in a very short period of time.

Would partially blocking one of the oil coolers help let the oil warm up a bit more? You know, like how the semi-trailers put a cover on their grills in the wintertime?

Covering an oil cooler is a darned good question! I was just thinking that myself, but I think that I might do a little reading in my repair manual about how the oil system works before I try it. Of course, there is also the radiator to contend with.

The most real difference between this car and a standard reciprocating engine, as far as this cooling question goes, really has to do with the lack of engine mass. The primary cooling system in a car is actually the block. The block gets heated and becomes a heat sink both drawing away heat and, when the engine is turned off, retaining heat. It balances the heating and cooling effect in most engines, but the rotary has traded that effect for a very light weight engine with very little mass. Hence it runs warm in summer and cool in winter.

It seems to me that lowering the cooling ability of the engine in winter is probably the right thing to do to make sure that the engine is able to run at its operating temp, which is the best place for an engine to run.

Well, all that said, I am sure that there are people, for whom this is not their first rotary, who will tell me why this is a stupid idea. There may also be some threads on this, so I'm off to do a search.

Oh yeah, short trips are a partial reason that you are getting vaseline in the oil because again you aren't reaching operating temp. Try to take the car on a long drive somewhere, when you are going, and get it really warmed up, and it should be able to evaporate off the water in your system making all right with the world again.

Yes, cover the cooler partially.

The main thing is you are NOT warming up your car long enough.

Comes fromcondensation creating moisture/ water in your oil.

Please cover it up and warm up longer.

Origanally from the coldest place on earth, Minnesota.

Okay, I've put a couple pieces of cardboard in front of the oil coolers to partially block them. They don't look pretty, but this is a functional test.

Funny that I should be seeing this problem, as it hasn't really gotten below freezing around here much. For you folks in really cold areas, you must see this yellow sludge a lot more.

I would NOT cover the oil coolers. As far as I've been able to make out from these threads, the "gunk" is a localized issue that is only happening at the dipstick and maybe the filler neck. The oil inside the engine and sump is hot and is not full of this stuff. The combination of position and lack of "flow" into the dipstick tube is what is resulting in locally cool temperature allowing this to happen. I would not compromise the cooling system just to combat this cosmetic issue. If I had this issue and wanted to try something I'd first try wrapping some type of insulation around the dipstick tube. Something that can take the heat, of course. This might keep the temp high enough to avert the condensation.

substance on oil dip stick
 

I checked my oil yesterday afternoon and noticed that there was a chocolate milk looking substance on the dip stick. The oil level is about 3/4, and when I cleaned and rechecked it, whatever "it" is wiped back onto the dip stick. any ideas as to what this is or could be?

i'm not driving too aggressive lately, only city driving to and from work - no highway. thanks to Hampton Roads, VA weather we've gone from mid 60's to low 20's in the last few days.

Do a search! Many, Many threads discussing this phenomena. The general consensus is that it is basically a bit of emulsified water-oil and nothing to worry about. If you do a lot of short trips, that can exacerbate the problem.

Sounds to me like you are talking about the condensation that collects near the upper end of the dipstick during colder weather/ short drives. If it is condensation, don't worry about it. Do a search and you will notice many people posted the same complaint last winter.

I just went through this recently. Check out
https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?t=47802

weird stuff on my dipstick
 

hey guys, i had a mazda shop do an oil change on my car about a month ago. i checked the oil today and when i pulled the stick out, it had this gooey yellow stuff all over the stick. does anyone know what this stuff is? perhaps mazda puts something in the oil or am i starting a new plague for car engines? LOL!

ah NM! i found it in the search engine. i was searching it all wrong and i found my answer.

I appreciate the feedback.

WF - thanks for the link.

Saw a website where this was a common thing for RX-7 too. Don't worry. Be happy. :)