Emulsified oil in breather hose

[Bones]

Whilst I have the transmission on my '78 SC out to replace it I decided to refurbish and detail the engine. Everything seems very good for a 145,000 mile engine but I found gooey yellow sludge sat in the oil breather hose. Does anyone know if this can be expected given what the breather does, I doubt the hose has been changed from new. The oil left in the engine is clean and looks almost like new.

[Bill Verburg]

Its normal, clean what you can out.

[Bones]

Cheers Bill, do you think that stuff ever gets pushed through the system . Normally my car gets used as a fast road car only so it always has plenty of tempearature and enough heat I would have thought to prevent this emulsifying from happening. However this winter my car for reasons of preparation for an engine drop has been only started to move it in and out of the garage maybe this has increased the level of moisture in there. Overall though I'm glad you said you think it's normal as that was my initial reaction but I wanted a second more experienced opinion.

[Grady Clay]

Bones,

Bill is right, it is normal. However, If you have the opportunity to get it up to temperature that is very desirable. The goo is emulsified oil and water plus other undesirable (some corrosive) stuff. The more you can get up to temperature and oil changes, the better.

Why the engine drop?

There are some important “pre-drop” things you could/should do.

Best,
Grady