milky oil on dipstick!

[ep7360]

My series 3 109 with a 5 main bearing 2.25 engine (76,000 miles) has reciently been showing a slight sign of moisture in the oil (milky). My coolant level doesn't apear to have dropped, my power level seems to be good, and I haven't been wading through the Amazon. The spark plugs also are burning clean although the engine is smoking more than usual (blue smoke).

I know that normally when water mixes with oil in the sump it usually means bad head gasket but, no white smoke, no coolant loss, and no sign of oil in the coolant?

I thought maybe there is another cause that I am not aware of.

[rovertek]

if you are not using coolant, condensation can occur if the crankcase is not venting properly, condensation can cause the milkey residue.....

[ep7360]

Re Milky oil on dipstick

I poured a can of stop smoke/seal into the crankcase and drove the rig around 50 miles checked the oil and the milky residue is gone! The only other thing I did was replace the distributor with one with a Petronix ignition module(which increased the mileage from 14.5mpg to 17.5)

Anyway, it appears that I don't have to pull the head after all!!!

Thanks for the input! I will post any new results and or dilemmas as soon as they occur.

[Donnie]

Make sure that UR engine is breathing right, air must enter & be pulled thru the crankcase and be consumed in the combustion process..Not sure about yours but most engines in the '70's had a pcv valve and air entered either thru the oel fill cap or a cap on the valve cover and was pulled into the combustion stream thru the PCV valve...I'm speaking generically, though...some one WILL correct me. please............................Donnie

[KSMTAW]

Hello,

I had simmilar white milky stuff around and in my valve cover breather on my late IIA. It was just condensation. My commute was only 5 miles and this milky stuff only occured in the colder times of the year.

The engine needs to warm up and get to operating temperature to allow the condensation to evaporate- Which leads to what the other replys talked about, venting.
I cleaned the wire mesh that is in the valve cover breather and made sure that the line was free from obstructions from the oil fill tube and air cleaner PCV lines.

I also bought a radiator muff from Rovers North. I bought it about 8 years ago and it is still in good shape! fadded, but in good shape.

Good Luck-
Todd

[ep7360]

re milky oil

I pulled my breather and found it very caked with oil. I soaked it in kerosene and will let you know the results.

Thanks again!

[ep7360]

milky oil follow up

Well, after soaking the breather and driving the rover a few hundred miles, the oil is looking fine. It must have been that extremely dirty breather that was not allowing the engine to breath.

Thanks for all the great advise!