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Dear Tom and Ray:

I have a 1991 Taurus SHO with 51,000 miles. Last week I had the oil changed and the attendant advised me that my old oil appeared "milky." When I asked him what that meant, he could only offer a shrug and a blanker look. The car seems to be running perfectly. It uses almost no oil between changes and has had its oil changed every 4,000 miles since it was new. Is milky oil bad? -- Greg

Tom: Could be bad, Greg, or could be nothing. Most likely, it's nothing.

Ray: It's hard to know without seeing the extent of the milkiness. We often see a milky, caffe-latte-like substance on dip sticks or oil filler caps. If that's what this guy was referring to, then it's just the result of the condensation of moisture inside the engine.

Tom: Water vapor is a by- product of combustion. And inevitably, some of it ends up inside the engine's crankcase. And if you do mostly short-distance driving (which we suspect you do, since you have a 1991 car with only 51K on it), the engine never really heats up enough to evaporate and purge that water.

Ray: If, on the other hand, all five quarts of oil came out looking like a cappuccino milk shake, then you may have much more water getting into the engine. And that's probably coming from a cracked head gasket, cylinder head or engine block. And that would be bad.

Tom: But with your low mileage, I suspect it's just normal condensation and nothing to worry about at all, Greg.

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© 1998 by Tom and Ray Magliozzi and Doug Berman Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

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