Are you using coolant? If you had your heads off maybe some got in the crankcase when they were removed.
If you are not using coolant and it's not showing on the dip stick.I wouldn't worry much about it. If it's on the dip stick,I would change the oil and accomplish a coolant pressure check. You can rent the pressure gage from Autozone or most auto parts store.

 

Perfectly normal.We have even had TSB's on some of our engine models to add some insulation to filler areas if customers complain.It will not hurt your engine in any way.

 

My guess is that when he cut a hole in the valve cover and added another breather he screwed up the integrety of the E.G.R. system. The engine is pulling in cold moist air from the outside and as the engine heats up water is condensing and mixing with your oil causing it to turn into sludge. The system is supposed to be sealed an by adding a breather the engine vacume is now pulling in cold wet air. Dave

 

I'm not sure on the specifics of the filter setup. My understanding was that he machined the head for it, and it's way back behind the cover. Here is a link to a pic (can't post directly for some reason).

http://i552.photobucket.com/albums/j...ownload070.jpg

 

If short trips is your normal routine, you need to change your oil/filter much more often. Water in oil is tough on bearings. Otherwise, drive longer distances (get the oil temp up) to burn off the moisture in the oil.

 

I drive to work everyday about 15 miles and let the temp come up to at least 110-115 degrees before even leaving the driveway in the morning....even when it's only down in the 40's or 50's. I tend to baby the car a bit until it earns my trust... Seems it's losing more trust than gaining these days though...

 

Okay.... Checked the oil and no signs of coolant in it at all. That's good... Also, ran the hell out of the car and no spikes in temp (in fact, it runs cold, only getting up to about 176 or so at the hottest and that's after being on the highway running hard and getting off of it sitting at a light for a time. The car seems to run fine. I've cleaned the cap thoroughly and will watch for a recurrence of the stuff. Maybe it was just old junk in the cap?? Anyway, I'm going to keep an eye on it.... I'll keep everyone posted...

 

No spikes in the coolant temp is a good sign.

Do you have any oil residue in the coolant reservoir?

 

I read somewhere on the forum it is recommended that you get the oil temps above 200*F from time to time to prevent condensation from staying in the oil.

 

 

This is my 2 cents worth,, I have been around cars for a long time, rebuilding and racing, What I would do is,
Flush the radiator well, Change the thermostat and cap, Recharge the radiator with proper anti-freeze. and then after driving for a couple of weeks ,, recheck it.

 

I personally would have done a pressure check on the cooling system.
That would had eliminated any doubt if there is a leak and watching it.
That's just me. I don't like ifs and maybe. I guess I inherit this from a career in the commercial airline industry.

I do agreed with C5Wolfe,The extra cold moist air from the outside doesn't help. Special for southern states where the humidity is always high.

 

Or intake gasket.

 

Why won't you do a coolant system pressure check?

 

Plan on doing those things, but I've been debating whether or not to keep the 160 degree thermostat. I don't know that I run it hard enough on the day to day driving to justify the cooler temps...but, I haven't run the car like it is in 100 degree weather yet either. I asked elsewhere, but wondered if changing back to the stock thermostat would crump my current tune or require a retune..... Seems I've other issues as I just ran the car a bit at temp and I've got enough oil POURING out of my breather/filter that my builder put on the car to cause a bunch of smoking and I could VISIBLY see it pumping out after I pulled into the driveway and opened the hood... It looked like my engine was bleeding and enough that being a nurse, if that was a human being, we'd fast track to the operating room stat!!! I had rechecked the oil, coolant, cap etc. and everything looked fine, so as someone recommended, I took her out and ran her....both on the highway and hard pulls on back streets from a slow roll..... Should there be that much oil coming out of the car? If not, I think I may have some serious oil control issues.. I don't understand as the builder told me everything looked fine when he was in the engine a couple of weeks ago and apart from today, I've barely run her at all....so I definitely didn't break anything....

 

That 160 thermostat is possibly contributing to the condensation issue, especially during winter months...

 

So can I just switch thermostats and see what happens, or will this affect my tune so much that I'll need to have it altered to suit the stock thermostat??

 

The LSx is a dry intake. I've had mine off and no coolant runs through it.

 

Your complete pcv system is missing,this takes us back to the wet fresh air thing.
Also who know what else the mechanic has done to the car if he was willing to eliminate the pcv system.

 

15 miles should be enough to get the engine oil up over 180 degrees F, so I doubt that is the cause. In older engines, a bad PCV valve would result in excess moisture in the oil. It looks like your PCV system has been altered - not something I would do.

Another clue: the oil isn't getting hot enough to boil off the moisture.