Engine Oil Colour.

[JonB]

Over the past week, I have been able to smell on occasion a fume like smell in the cabin of my car, mainly when going at a slow speed. I have had a look under the bonnet of my car and cannot smell anything there.

Today I checked my oil level to see if my car was burning oil; it's not. However the oil was a yellow like colour, which is not normal. Is it just because the oil is old? It's been 8,500 miles since it was last serviced and is due soon. However I thought that old engine oil generally just went a dark colour?

Car in question is a Citroen C1, 998cc 3 cylinder.
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[carvell]

Yellow oil usually means that coolant is mixing with the oil, which is probably pretty bad news.

But judging by the age of the car (I assume it's new ish?) it should be unlikely.
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Yamaha TDM 850

[MattHirst]

If you take off the oil filler cap, can you see mayonaise? (technical term i know )

If there is water/coolant in the oil then it creates a gungy yellow sort of goo, which sort of resembles mayonaise.
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[JonB]

I just had an attempt to take off the oil filler cap, but couldn't prize it from the engine. Will have another go in a while.

The engine has only done 18,500 miles and is less than 2 years old. If there is coolant mixing in with the engine oil, is that covered under warranty?
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[10 pence Short]

[SoND]

Is 8,500miles not quite a lot between changes?
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[carvell]

This is a car, not a bike.
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Yamaha TDM 850

[JonB]

10,000 mile service intervals.
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Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it?s worth.

[stinkwheel]

[Finglonga]

[JonB]

[Finglonga]

[S1KE]

do you only make short journeys in the car?,

my gf had the same "mayonase" in the top of her corsa engine,

mechanic said it was because she only made short journeys to work , told her this like 3 times, then it started to over heat all the time, then we had to replace the head gasket
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[JonB]

I make a few short journeys, but mainly do over 5 miles and I expect about 3,000 of the miles were conducted on the motorway.

I managed to open the filler cap and there was no mayonaise like substance whatsoever. The oil and internals looked quite healthy from what I could see.

My housemate who knows quite a bit about car mechanics reckons what has happened is that the garage I bought the car from probably put in some really cheap oil to get the car out quickly and so it is going off quicker than decent oil would.

I think I might just get it serviced earlier and insist on decent oil.
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Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it?s worth.

[Kickstart]

Hi

The oil shouldn't go off like that. If it was like a yellow mayonaise I would go along with saying it was water from condesation from short journies (it will take FAR longer than 5 miles for the oil to get up to temperature).

Have you topped the oil up at all?

All the best

Keith
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[JonB]

No. I just the oil level on the dipstick and it is already at the maximum. Maybe I should describe the colour a bit better. It is still a dark colour, but has an orange.yellow tinge to it. The oil is still fairly translucent. if it wasn't a blizzard outside, i'd take a photo.

If it is condensation, will a complete oil change sort it? will there be any long term damage?
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Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it?s worth.

[Kickstart]

Hi

Water in it (ie condesation) would result in an oil / water emulsion which would be pretty opaque. A very tiny amount of water in one place might give a yellow streak to the oil.

Not likely to do any long term damage, but probably worth going for a decent run to clear it out if it is a built up of condesation.

All the best

Keith
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