Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

Richie stated in another thread that he noticed a white waxy substance on his engines dipstick. Same material observed on mine . This is always present regardless of engine manufacture and the oil used . Only seen on snow throwers so I am pretty sure it is temperature relatsd. What is it and does it cause any trouble?

Marc 

Hi Marc,

Thanks for creating a new thread on this one  I'm sure it has to do with condensation but the fact it happened so quickly after my two hour servicing, it made me really take notice.  In fact, the Mobil One oil has only about 40 minutes run time on it.  What I did is go right to the source, early this morning, rather than email Toro since the snowblower itself is fantastic.  I look at this strickly as a Tecumseh issue, so I emailed Tecumseh directly.  I gave them all the information for my engine including model number, build date, etc.  I also mentioned the surging problem I experienced after running it for about 25 minutes that lasted for less than two minutes and corrected itself somehow.  I made sure I explained to them that my snowblower is brand new with only a few hours on it so they don't get the impression its old and simply needs a carb rebuilt or something.  If they get back to me, I'll be sure to let the forum know about it.  Thanks.

this is moisture/condensation. mixing with the oil dino or synthetic will cause a white wax type film. normal and harmless. if you look under your oil fill cap in your car sometimes you will see this also.

Knee,

Moisture or condensation in the oil, what does that do for lubrication? Clearly it's in the sump of the engine.

Richie, I'm not so sure it'sin the sump. I have never seen it when I change the oil. It always appears in my experience on the dipstick metal and on the walls of the plastic dip stick tube. It kind of plates out  at the interface of hot and cold surfaces where oil is present.

Marc 

Is it almost foamy lokking?

the moisture try's to escape up the dipstick tube. almost like steam and causes this. it is not enough to cause a problem. if you were to let your snowblower run for 4 hours in the snow everyday you most likely would not see this. when it is cold out and the engine gets hot this happens. we only use the snowblower enough to create it and then they sit again untill the next time. we dont use them long enough to burn it away. if you have a car that you only use for short trips in the winter say under 5 miles to work and back you will see this under the oil cap. i have it on my car and my wife has it. now if you drive some distance to work then you will not have it because you get hort enough to burn it away.  the first time a noticed this was on my wifes new car which came from the factory with mobil 1 and has no dipstick just a fill cap, im sure some of you know what brand car this is, i found it under the cap and called service right away. it was explained to me by a tech. i then looked under my cap again a newer car only driven 3 miles to work and back, same thing. my buddy who has the same car as me and drives 25 miles to work does not have it. nothing to worry about.

Please smell the oil on the dipstick. If you smell gas, then you have gas in your oil. If this is the case, you need to drain it immidiatly and fill up your crankcase with new oil!

Marc,

When I did the first oil change I didn't notice any of the goo coming out of the drain tube, so you may be right.  If it isn't in the sump then my next thing to do is look at the O-ring seal on the dip stick.  I do tighten it down sufficiently, but maybe that thin O-ring seal isn't doing its job.  I may have to find something to help it seal.  I wonder if a very thin amount of vaseline rubbed on it will make a difference.  I'll have to find out if petroleum products will deteriorate it over time.

Richie I really don't know if you can keep that stuff rom forming in cold weather. I just would like to know what it is!

Marc

Moisture,condensation mixed with oil. GET IT ?????mml4 wrote:

Hi mml4,

Sometimes this accumulation on a dipstick is referred to as "mayonnaise" & is actually a form of sludge.  At times it can drag the dye out of some motor oils & actually take on an orange or red tint.

While it looks nasty, it is just the unavoidable crankcase moisture coming out of or combining with the oil at the surface & condensing on the dipstick or fill tube cap.

Usually, in a vehicle, this condition is an indication of short trips where the crankcase oil is not heated up to full operating temperature of 180-200 degrees F & hotter to drive out the moisture.

Blue

Hi Blue-

Assume you are Blue99 from the other forum!! Still refer to your treatise on synthetics from time to time!

Marc

Yep, Marc, it's nice to see all the old gang from WTB here on the new Abby's forum.

It's come a long way in just a couple of short months & has achieved most of the features of a full fledged forum!

Blue9R wrote:

Hi Blue,

That is exactly how I'd decribe it and exactly what it looks like