Emulsified oil on my oil fill cap - E430
 

Hi all:

First post. I have a recently purchased 1998 E430 with 47,000 miles and it seams to have emulsified oil under the oil fill cap. I have cleaned it, but it comes back.
I searched the post and found that it could be just water vapor or the crank case breather elements are plugged.
I have not seen any loss in coolant. It has about 6,000 miles on this oil change
Any ideas?
Has anyone heard of a 430 needing a head gasket or head problems at 47,000 miles?

Thanks for any and all.

They all do it somewhat. You need to make longer trips, to fully boil off condensation. I would recommend more frequent than FSS oil changes.

Very true what Steve has to say. It's a build-up of condensation that manifests on the cap looking (oftentimes) like mayonnaise. If you go to the Popular Mechanics.com website, then go to the automotive section, somewhere in there, there is a brief question about a filler cap with white condensate on it and then the mechanic's answer. You may have to do a search for it under "oil cap mayonnaise" or "condensation on underside of oil cap".

Or do a search here under "motor snot"

Yes, the 112/113's are all famous for this in cold weather. If you remove the engine cover, you'll see that the oil cap attaches to a plastic extension piece, which in turn attaches to the metal valve cover. The plastic extension and cap are a bit cooler than the surrounding metal parts and is a colder spot for the condensate to collect than the hotter metal parts.
A long drive will eventually get rid of it, and also the return of higher ambient temps. I wouldn't worry about it in the least or change your oil changing habits.

Gilly

Brad E430

Wish you could have seen my VW Jetta.
During the winter, you could scoop several spoons of white guck out of the valve cover every week.
I blame it on a poorly designed PCV system.
I also noticed, even on a ccompletely warm engine, the valve cover would still be very cold.
Eventually VW came up with a band-aid solution, some kind of vacuum/electric solenoid spliced between the air intake hose and the breather hose connected to it.
It would shut the PCV system in a completely closed postition with ignition key-off.
These symptoms, as pointed out by others, will disappear when the weather warms up. ;)

Thanks for all your help.
This clears everything up.
I guess I'm just use to my beloved W124 and haven't had time to get use to the E430.
Thanks again.

Nice car! Mine does the same thing.