Hi,

Newish owner of a 996 and I need to add oil. I opened the oil fill cap to see yellow "jello" like material near the top where the cap screws in. There isn't any more down the rest of the tube. Does anyone know what this is? Should I be concerned or take any actions?

Thanks.

 

it's from water condensation that builds up under the cap. It's normal. the car needs to be driven more.

 

Need to take the car on a long drive to get the engine temps up for an extended period. Short drives cause this build-up of gunk.

 

Thanks- with the weather getting better in Northeast, looking forward to more driving!

 

Probably ought to consider an oil/filter service to drain/remove the oil that is probably pretty heavily contaminated with water. When I lived/drove in the midwest I had my then new 2002 Boxster's oil analyzed and with around 4K miles on it from new the analysis found around 7% water. That's about half a quart of water.

The problem is the engine and engine oil just don't get hot enough when driving in cold weather. And driving on the highway doesn't help. I'd drive 75 or so highway miles to visit my parents then around 75 miles back home at least once a week sometimes more often than that and still the big water build up.

Running around town with lots of stops, idling, with brief acceleration up to 25mph or thereabouts will eventually have the coolant hot, unless you have the A/C on in which case the radiator fans run all the time and the coolant will never get as hot as it does under the same driving conditions with the A/C (and at least initially) the radiator fans off.