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[polilara]

So, -22 degrees, cold start and then some smell and smoke. When back home I saw both sides of engine wet of oil dripping to exhaust etc.

I have cleaned breather some times but last time perhaps 5-10 years ago. When nowadays just driving short distances in the city the oil fill cap is full of mayonese so it is clear that when this goo freezes oil is leaking out. Three questions:

1. How to prevent the mayonese, is it a question of oil, I used Mobil 1 5W50
2. Are my cam cover seals gone now, I mean after cleaning of breather are those still leaking, is it worth testing or should I be prepared to change them srtaight away?
3. Is there a "set" or list of parts what needed when cleaning breather.

[STEMO]

https://www.omegaowners.com/forum/index.php?topic=90653.0

Yours will probably have the extended plenum

[polilara]

Thanks, ok, guide was there, did not find first, yes extended one. Are gasgets gone?

[jb]

Best solution to the mayo problem is to remove the the oil fill elbow and screw the yellow cap directly into the cam cover. And use gm 10/40 semi syn.

[Doctor Gollum]

Best solution to the mayo problem is to remove the the oil fill elbow and screw the yellow cap directly into the cam cover. And use gm 10/40 semi syn.

Actually not entirely true. Driving the car far enough for the engine to actually get up to temperature to evaporate the condensation is much more effective. Removing the filler tube might visually solve the problem, but the condensation, and therefore mayo, is still there. Genuine GM 10/40 is significantly less prone to mayo than other oils.

Breathers should be checked at every oil change.

So in summary,

Change the oil regularly, check the breathers at every oil change and drive the car more and for significantly longer.
So

[cam.in.head]

this is true.
plus leaving the proper oil filler tube in place means that any emulsification tends to just collect in this tube and can be easily cleaned rather than it building up under the cam covers.

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

Yes gaskets will probably need replacing. When you remove the cam covers the gaskets will probably have hardened anyway.
If by some chance they are still supple and pliable it might be worth cleaning everything up and giving them a try, but this is unlikely in my experience.

[TheBoy]

Its unlikely you will get away without replacing the gaskets.

Some oils definitely absorb more moisture - Castrol being especially bad - which doesn't help the breather situation.

As Doctor Gollum suggests, very regular cleaning of the breathers, both the box on the plenum and the Y piece rubber pipe at the back is beneficial.  I used to do mine every 3 years (but its relatively mild in the UK, plus mine tended to rarely do trips of less than 25 miles), but if you are in colder environments or do shorter journeys all the time, maybe annually is a better option.

[polilara]

Thanks a lot for all. It's time to take plenum off and proceed. I have small coolant leakage somewhere which can be checked at the same time. Then to GM oil...