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I recently changed the oil on my "new" truck for the first time and damn near had a heart attack when I pulled the oil fill cap off and found this. You can see the oil filler tube in the background.
The first thing that came to mind was a head gasket or some other type of "internal bleeding." After some research on various Toyota forums, I found that this is not unusual for Toyota 4.0 engines in the winter that are subjected to short drives (I drive my truck more than 6 miles maybe once or twice a week.) The reasoning is that water vapor will reach the oil cap (the high spot) and condense because it's also the coolest spot in the engine (the plastic tube sticks out.) This then mixes with oil vapor and emulsifies into baby poo. I watched the oil drain from the pan and there was no indication of water contamination. Coolant level is good and the coolant is clean. Nothing on the dipstick or the dipstick tube (which isn't as high and also resides next to the exhaust header so it's not as cold either.) A good portion of the poo is crusty indicating that it has probably been there awhile; perhaps since the truck was new (it's an 05' with 48k miles) The previous owners had service records indicating they never did the oil changes themselves and therefore probably never saw this. I'm going to send a sample in to Blackstone next oil change to be sure and maybe get the cooling system pressure checked. Have you guys ever experienced this on any cars you have owned?
No, don't think it's any of that. Just the nature of the beast. Short trips and cool temps. Truck runs perfectly. Like I said, I'll have Blackstone do an analysis of my oil next time I change it.
Wow, yeah that would have me alarmed too, but considering that the dip stick and oil from the pan looked ok I would say the story of condensation jives, but dam it seems like kind of a poor design. Wouldn't think a modern Japanese motor would have that issue. It hasn't even been a typical cold winter, 40-50's is hardly extreme.
See it all the time with vehicle do a lots of short trips or stop and go driving in winter time.The Engine never get to fully warm up operation temperature.Don't worry a about it.Just change oil.Clean out the cap.Take the car to a long trip.The pcv system will clean it out in just in few trips.This is same reason the car got rust out exhaust system due to never get all the condensation out of exhaust due to short driving cycle.It will also get valve stick due to car never run on high rpm.And the valves never get chance to rotate on high rpm to self cleaning on valve stems.We normal do this call HIGH SPEED TUNE for the customer.We change oil,change spark plugs and run car in low gear and driving it to close engine redline.Drive it for 5-10 miles will do the trick.Or drive it like a s2k
I work graveyard so for the most part my truck's longest drives occur at 11:45 at night and 8:00 in the morning which are obviously not the warmest parts of the day. If it is nice and warm outside, I don't drive my truck! The oil was last changed in late August and we've had more than a few cold nights since then. There is also no traffic (even in the morning because I'm headed east) so the truck just cruises at 60 MPH in 5th gear at 1,700 RPM and never really warms up. I'm going to keep it cleaned out as suggested and reduce my change interval from 6 months to 3 months in the winter just to be safe.
Don't worry about it. I see it all the time in the shop(Toyota). Condensation. It's normal during these times. From the looks of your engine you have the 1GR-FE. I see it all the time for your engine. Short trips can mess your engine up. Not giving it enough time to warm up all the internals.
02-24-2010, 02:40 PM
Have you ever seen anything like this?
You can see the oil filler tube in the background. 
The oil was last changed in late August and we've had more than a few cold nights since then. There is also no traffic (even in the morning because I'm headed east) so the truck just cruises at 60 MPH in 5th gear at 1,700 RPM and never really warms up. I'm going to keep it cleaned out as suggested and reduce my change interval from 6 months to 3 months in the winter just to be safe.
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