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[Lstuart93]

Hello,

I have a 2003 3.2 V6, checked the oil today and it doesn't look good! Extremely thick cream at the filler. The car hasn't used a drop of water but there is a smell of petrol.
The engine only has 75000 miles on it, could it be the piston rings are knackered?
Has anyone had this issue before?


Thanks, Lee

[Doctor Gollum]

A couple of points...

1. Extremely unlikely to be headgasket unless seriously abused and neglected.

2. How much do you use the car?

3. Some oils 'mayo' much more readily in the Omega. Castrol being a case in point. Genuine VX/GM oil doesn't seem to do this.

4. Change the oil every 5,000 miles (or annually if mileage is less), not the 10-20,000 suggested in the service book.

Get the engine nice and hot and change the oil and filter.

Repeat a week later and report back. 

[Lstuart93]

I use the car daily but only do around 10 miles, it has had a miss fire recently when cold though.

Oil was done about 10K ago so will try changing it and see what happens!

Cheers

[Lstuart93]

Is it worth putting an engine flush product through once the oil is changed the first time?

[Doctor Gollum]

Wynns flush for the first change, and lifter treatment with the second.

10 miles a day is as much a part of the problem as the oil.

Ideally you need to double that as you're currently not getting it hot enough for the condensation to evaporate.

Do the pedal trick (there's a guide) and report back re the misfire.

Probably moisture or camcover gaskets or a combination of both. You'll need to clean the breathers too (again a guide) because if there's that much in the cap, the breathers are probably blocked...

This has probably blown the camcover gaskets from crankcase pressure. This in turn allows oil into the plug wells which is probably the cause of your misfire.

All of which falls under the regular Omega weakspots.

Basically there's 10 ish items that will require doing between 80-120k miles without fail. Breathers, coil packs, camcover gaskets being three of them

Plugs are probably due a change on mileage as well...

[deviator]

I would suggest oil cooler first, before rings/head gasket.

[Doctor Gollum]

Treating the engine maintenance with a modicum of respect and regularity will allow them to run to 300k miles with minimal fuss. 

[Doctor Gollum]

I would suggest oil cooler first, before rings/head gasket.

Nonsense. 

Failed oil cooler puts oil into the coolant, not the other way around due to the pressures involved. MarkDTM gave a decent explanation how/why a few years ago 

Basically oil goes: Sump-pump-filter-cooler-galleries-sump.

So it isn't physically possible to get water in the oil from the cooler

[dave the builder]

The oil cap filler neck extension comes off pretty easy to clean it up and avoid dumping mayo into the head 

[jb]

change oil and filter for a good 10w40 such as GM own and not Castrol.
Remove the fill neck and place the yellow cap direct in the cam cover. The fill neck encourages mayo build up.
If you only do 10 miles pr day change oil every 6 months to avoid moisture build up/mayo

[cam.in.head]

yes standard symptoms of short journeys.

mine only gets used 2 or 3 times every other week and does 3 mile to and 3 mile from work and gets a similar build up.
as dave says easy enough to remove filler neck to clean .

check oil on dipstick .(and oil level)

occasional misfire ( after doing pedal test ) is most likely water in plug wells due to dripping from under scuttle or can be oil too from leaking cover gasket.

[biggriffin]

As others have said, Drain the oil, get either a GM 10/40 semi or a quality fully syn 5/30.  I used 5/30 fully syn from euro car parts, in my3.2.   I still use the same oil in my Saab.

 The 3.2 produces a lot of condense in the engine and needs good mileage to burn it off,  they don't like shopping mileage.

[Raeturbo]

Just to add these cars are very
 rewarding to drive, take it for a good hard drive at least once a month 30/40 miles It will pay you back👍

[Nick W]

That's pretty normal, especially considering your usage.

Worn piston rings won't cause it, and that's a rare fault on a modern engine. These head gaskets tend not to fail, and don't cause this symptom when they do. Oil coolers do fail, but the oil leaks into the cooling system.

I would:


Do an oil and filter change. I found using 5w30 instead of 10w40 made mine much noisier, and even more prone to leaks.
Remove the filler neck, clean all the gunk off it and the cap, then screw the cap directly to the cam-cover. Use a funnel to add oil.
Check all the usual areas for oil leaks. These engines are normally filthy as they leak from a number of places. Sorting the plenum, breathers and cam covers should be considered necessary for any new Omega acquisition.
Fit six new plugs an inspect the rest of the ignition system - that's probably your misfire. Another Omega 'feature'
Replace the thermostat so it gets up to temperature quickly - it's a modern engine, and it should be hot.
Do a longer run more often.


That list ought to reduce the amount of mayonnaise that the engine produces. Some won't cause any problems, and you just live with it.





I don't see any point in the really short oil changes for petrol engines recommended here, but I'm in a minority.

[Doctor Gollum]

Changing the oil more frequently will reduce the amount of mayo produced as it will have less time to accumulate.

Personally, I used to change mine every 10k miles, but because of the usage, that meant every 8-12 weeks. Some days were over 250 miles, so it was barely ever cold...