Take a look at my oil cap.... I've read where the 210's will accumulate moisture under the oil cap because that area never heats up enough to burn off the moisture, BUT....is this normal??? I wiped off a bunch of the goo from the bottom of the oil cap before I took these 3 pics. Yes my wife short trips this vehicle, she only works 3.2 miles from where we live, but is this what I should expect to be normal???

I guess if this is normal is there any way to combat this build-up of moisture aside from changing the oil every week? I'm running Shell Rotella T synthetic 5W-40 in the engine because I was planning on 3K mile oil changes, I just changed the oil 1400 miles ago...

Thanks all,

Dale

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86 Nissan 720 P/U - 285K miles and counting!!
91 Volvo 240 - 218K miles and still going strong.
00 Mercedes E320 - 111K miles and lovin it!!!

Wow....I think I might run a pressure test see if it didnt have a bad head gasket.

I dont follow the gassers much so maybe it is typical for them. My diesel is black as sin when you pull the oil filler cap.

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Terry Allison
N. Calif. & Boca Chica, Panama

09' E320 Bluetec 77k (USA)
09' Hyundai Santa Fe Diesel 48k (S.A.)

At the very least I'm going to do an oil sample on it just to see what all is in the oil. We just bought the car several months ago and I haven't done an oil sample on it yet, after seeing this it just moved to the top of the list of things to do.

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86 Nissan 720 P/U - 285K miles and counting!!
91 Volvo 240 - 218K miles and still going strong.
00 Mercedes E320 - 111K miles and lovin it!!!

It isn't that unsual, but I have to admit, that is the most accumulation I have seen before.

A lot of short starts and stops where the engine never gets hot enought to get rid of condensation is why.

Go take the car for a good hard drive and get it hot. Then change the oil and filter. As Larry Bible says: Change it hot, change it often.

Haasman

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'03 E320 Wagon-Sold
'95 E320 Wagon-Went to Ex
'93 190E 2.6-Wrecked
'91 300E-Went to Ex
'65 911 Coupe (#302580)

that's gotta be something more WAY serious than just condensation from stop&go driving. get her checked out asap

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Current cars:
2001 MB E55 AMG
2003 Honda S2000
2000 Honda CRV

Gone but not forgotten:
2004 BMW 325i 5sp sport
1999 BMW 540i sport
1997 MB E420
1995 BMW M3 coupe

Your car isn't warming enough at 3.2 miles (are you sure it isn't closer to pi miles, 3.1416?). You should change it more frequently due to the water buildup.

I would consider getting a different car if that's all it's used for. Some four-banger that only holds 4 quarts of oil will probably do better (on your wallet as well).

that's crazy, my commute is also really short but never had issues like that with any of my german cars

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Current cars:
2001 MB E55 AMG
2003 Honda S2000
2000 Honda CRV

Gone but not forgotten:
2004 BMW 325i 5sp sport
1999 BMW 540i sport
1997 MB E420
1995 BMW M3 coupe

Sorry that the truth hurts, but it's condensation in the oil. It even happens to air-cooled motorcycle engines where it obviously can't be coolant.

Note that different engine designs can make the froth more or less visible on the filler cap. The 112/113 seems to show it more than your old box.

From another forum:
>>Chrysler actually has a tsb about this concerning the 4.7. What you are seeing is most likely probably just condensation. Chryslers "fix" was to put some kind of baffle in the oil fill, hiding the milky appearance. <<

And:
>>Guys - In an internal combustion engine there is always water formed. It is a byproduct of cumbustion heat. It the winter and cooler weather it tends to build up in the system more than in warmer weather do to short driving habits not allowing the cold engine to thoroughly warm and evaporated the moisture formed out of the system. Also look at the frost line formed on a fuel tank at the fule level. this same thing happens in the engine. This frost melts, what does it turn into? Not oil. In the summer on high humidity day you can also see moistion form on metal or even on your garage floor or teh dew on the grass. Same phenomina (sp). In the summer it doesn't take as long even though the moisture is still formed but not to the extent that it is in the winter due to the metal not being as cold and the quicker warmups. It has alway been recommended to shorten oil change intervals in teh winter with short trip driving. Synthetic oils are not immune to this either. I don't understand why every year we see posts with 'I see white smoke from my tail pipe'. This is a natural in the winter colder weather. vapor and water dripping from the tail pipes. It is formed in the engine along with the warm air hitting th cold on the way out causing condesation and turning to water. A good deal no. but normal with not a cure in the world but frequent oil changes when driving short trips or making sure to drive long enough to evaporate all this out of the system. This is also most mufflers have a small hole in them to drain out this water to help prevent internal rust from forming.<<

In cold weather and short distances that is normal for your car. During the warmer weather (above freezing) the white gunk normally doesn't appear.

If it were my car I would take it for a 30/45 minute drive instead of changing the oil. I run Mobil 1 0W40 year round and only have the white gunk problems during the freezing weather and short trips which don't occur very often for me since I have a 60 minute commute to work.

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Ray
1998 Mercedes E320, 200K Miles
2001 Acura 3.2TL, 178K Miles
1992 Chevy Astro, 205K Miles

I think I'm going to try having my wife drive my old Volvo 240 for a while and see if it happens to that one. It's better for me because I'll take the benz and use it for my 27 mile commute...

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86 Nissan 720 P/U - 285K miles and counting!!
91 Volvo 240 - 218K miles and still going strong.
00 Mercedes E320 - 111K miles and lovin it!!!

Not to get too far off-topic, but crankcase ventilation issues are nothing new to MB. Finding more efficient ways to ensure adequate/complete ventilation at lower temperatures has always been a challenge. The M272/273 engines use a camshaft-driven centrifuge which seems to work very well. The recommended oil change interval is 13,000 miles for these engines, and so far so good. The new OM642 V-6 diesel engine has a heating element in the vent line to speed things up at low temperatures.


This is very common on M112 engines, for the reasons mentioned by several other members. I see it every day. IMHO, the crankcase ventilation system on this engine doesn't work quite as well as the M119 engine in your car. The good news is that it's easy to fix. Clean all the goop out of the filler cap assembly, and make sure the engine reaches normal operating temperature every time the car is driven. A couple of "in-between" oil changes won't hurt either.

Thanks for all of the advise. I just finished cleaning all of the goop out of the filler neck and will be doing an oil change on it tomorrow. I know I'm not using the correct approved oil but that's only because I was planning on changing it quite frequently. Tomorrow I'm going to switch from the Rotella to 10W-30 M1 that I bought several weeks ago. I don't know if it will help any with the condensation build-up but time will tell. I'm going to run the car to work and back for several weeks to see if longer trips help it, if it does then I'll let me wife take it back over and see if the M1 helps any with the build-up. My guess is it won't, so FREQUENT oil changes is probably my only way out on this one.

Again, I thank you all for taking the time to write me about this!!

Dale

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86 Nissan 720 P/U - 285K miles and counting!!
91 Volvo 240 - 218K miles and still going strong.
00 Mercedes E320 - 111K miles and lovin it!!!

Dale

I used to have the same issue with my Volkswagen Jetta ( new in 1997 ), and VW said: " Completely normal, it will stop when springtime arrives ", ( which it always did ). I knew it was a lousy design PCV system.

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2007 C 230 Sport.

For what it is worth, this happens wih my 1998 E320 as well. It only happens in the winter when it is cold enough such that things condense in the oil fill cavity. My car has never been on a trip shorter than 40 miles in the 100K miles on the car.

The only difference in warmer seasons is that the sludge swirls around in the crankcase until it ends up in the oil or gets ventilated. I clean it out every week in the winter and forget about it the rest of the time, other than to change the oil reasonably frequently to get the crud out of the crankcase.

I believe that it is piston blowby accumulating in the crankcase, that either condenses in the oil fill upper tube, blends in with the oil, or is ventilated. Either way, it is not desirable, but not terminal, just a chronic condition of the model.

don't listen to those unfounded ideas about having to change your oil so often, its crazy, what you have are sludge yes your internal engine mechanical system needs to be checked, you might have a compression problem, give more data, does the openning area blow out oil when you run the engine while the cap is off?