9kBeep

right before i headed home friday morning after work i checked my oil and the dipstick came out with lightish brown bubbly/ really thick gooey oil. wiped the dip stick off and stuck it back in and it came out the exact same. nearly the entire stick was covered. there was a little residue or normal oil near the bottom but not much...

oil was changed less then 2000 miles ago at a mobile 1 place. 5-20 was put in.

i know water can do this to an engine which i would assume meant low compression, but the oil REAKED of gasoline. like VERY badly. so i am a bit puzzled as to why that it. right before i left i added abouut half a quart of gtx 5-20 just for peace of mind. i had to drive home from school (iowa city) back to the northwest suburbs of chicago which took a better part of 4 1/2 hours due to snow, checked it right when i got home. and it looked exactly the same, i figure if it were water it would have burned out by then. obviously any dealer will be closed saturday and sunday so i wont have a chance to get it looked at until monday.

but what do you guys suspect may be the problem?

RX8Soldier

iTrader: (24)

a 5 second search revealed this thread https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discussion-3/if-your-oil-dipstick-smells-like-gas-21416/
Click the link in my sig to find out how I did it

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

*facepalm*

9kBeep

haha i like the tutorial you left, although im already ahead of you. i searched and i already read that thread along with 2 others. there has yet to be an answer that conviced me of what the true problem is. some people said its from flooding the engine, minus i have never flooded my engine, another said after hard driving the foam goes away, not my case. took it for a few redline laps and its still the same. some people say its because of the cold but its 35 outside when i tested, i dont think thats cold enough to cause this.... not saying that thats wrong, im just wondering if there is any new news on the subject people have learned yet

RX8Soldier

iTrader: (24)

it could be caused by flooding, bad plugs/ coils, even the nature of the engine.
Have you had the chance to check your plugs and coils?
What's the maintenance history of your car?
miles
mods
etc
These answers may help to diagnose...

lateralus

iTrader: (1)

Not sure on the gas smell, are you sure it is coming from the oil and not from somewhere in the engine bay?
As for the brown gooey oil.....

Do an advanced search. Search titles for the word "dipstick" and TONS of thread will show up on this topic. Here is a link to one ---> https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tech-garage-22/brown-ish-goo-oil-dipstick-165012/

Also, look at the New and Potential Owners thread.---> https://www.rx8club.com/new-member-forum-197/new-potential-owners-start-here-202454/

Either scroll down to Specific Issues, or do a search on the page for the word dipstick. You will find this briefly discussed there.

I am almost positive 35 is cold enough for that to be the cause.

9kBeep

thank you lateralus, i tried the general search with "foamy oil" and it pulled up nothing relevent, so i figures an advanced search would yield even less. the last forum i was on must have had a terrible search function?...

my car, 2005, 56,xxx miles, completely stock, always had oil changes every 3000 miles, as for the coils/plugs/wires, i have yet to change them but i bought the car used, the dealer did not tell me if they were changed by the previous owner or not. but im going to assume there still stock

9kBeep

ok after reading the threads supplied i obviously can see that this is a rather common problem. so i am sorry for creating a useless thread. i understand the annoyance when people do this with out searching. i did not know the rx8club.com:google thing so thank you for that. i tried the search on the forum and like i said it came up with nothing good so i ust figured it was a crappy search engine like so many other forums that i have been on. once again thank you for the quick responses..

RX8Soldier

iTrader: (24)

hey, you learn something new every day! Thanks for stepping up to the plate and admitting a fault. Hope this forum can show you even more now

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

*facepalm x 2*

it took me 10 seconds and I found everything u need.

people have been spoiled by Google Wayyyy too much, what happen to common sense these days?

*facepalm x 3*

lateralus

iTrader: (1)

Haha no problem..... Yeah I have never had any luck with the regular searches. But plugging a key word into a search of titles usually winds up finding some helpful threads.

Had you added any oil since your last change 2,000 miles ago? And were you able to get a good enough read on the dip stick to see around how full it was? Just wondering since you added a half quart and overfilling can cause some problems... But if you hadn't added any in 2,000 miles then it was probably low enough that a half quart wouldn't have overfilled.

9kBeep

thats what i figured, it has been VERY cold lately so no i have not checked the oil since the change, i know call me lazy! but i assumed that after 2000 miles a half quart couldnt hurt, i was worried i was going to overfill though because there is no way to tell how much oil is actually sitting in the oil pan. it is solid goo about half way up and chunks of goo and foam from there up to the top.

i am interested as to how you guys read your oil levels if most people encounter this problem. do you just "guess, and add a tad of oil here and there"?

pistonkilla

well, if you know your engine and your driving habits its not to hard to estimate when and how much you need to add. a lot of us encounter this same problem when the temps drops. you just need some experience in regards to your driving habbits and how often you need to top up. just give it some time.....the young padiwan is learning he is

Tiler02

If the dipstick was insulated, Would that stop the problem?

Mazurfer

No................

Beodude

iTrader: (3)

While I definitely get where you are coming from, it can be beneficial to have problems brought back up to the top of the forum. I've been doing a lot of reading (read the whole premix thread... Ugh), and I hadn't come across anything about the bubbly oil.

So for me, I'm glad that people don't always search. Keep good stuff at the top... Usually.


The "Blah blah intake, blah blah exhaust" does get kind of old though.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

that means u should learn how to search.

carbonRX8

iTrader: (1)

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

people these days ...

9kBeep

i understand where you are coming from nycgps, saying that people should utilize the search function and all. but having more threads relevent to a subject does make it easy for other people to find exactly what they need to find when they are using the search engine. and so far you have posted 4 times into this thread and none of which have at all been helpful... and i know your probably going to come up with some witty response like all the hard asses on forums do and go call me a "noob" and this and that. but in all reality you just make your self look like a jack ***. im sure you do know a thing or two about our cars seeing as your also in the rx7 scene, but if your not going to be helpful, dont post. nobody cares you have 14,000 posts.... its an online forum. get over yourself

to all the other who did help thank you.

Mazurfer

My response, Carbon's, and nycgps were all in response to Tiler on that last one........no you.
Stick around awhile and you will become enlightened! <--- as not to confuse....these above two sentences are NOT related.

9kBeep

well if thats the case i understand a little bit better than. i just didnt want to say anything mean to the guy. although i would love to see an "insulated dipstick"

your comment itself was obviously directly related to that specific post. and your answer was very fitting lol

carbonRX8

iTrader: (1)

CALL TeH WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMBULANCE!!!!!!

9kBeep

lol another internet big shot

carbonRX8

iTrader: (1)

Damn straight! {puffs chest}