noticed this recently, is this something I can get rid of for good or prevent?
or something to live with? left is top of air cleaner...

 

Does your engine get up to operating temp ? Do you only drive short trips ?

 

I always let truck fully warm up and do drive mostly in town...

 

My 53 does that on short trips only driving . I use to do a lot of short trips .I noticed it then .Just sits in the garage now...

 

Does this gunk show up on the dipstick? It looks almost like water in the oil.

 

no, nothing on dipstick but oil...no smoke and runs good

 

It looks like rust is forming on the breather tabs, which isn't likely in an environment that's mostly oil, hence my opinion about water. There's probably a fair amount of condensation inside the valve covers which would be dissipated when the engine is run on long trips, but I'm not sure how the moisture could get churned into the oil without it showing up on the dipstick. Really weird...

 

Pop ur radiator cap and make sure ur fluid is green... somewhere in a 390 fe motor I have a high pressure oil leak where water isn't really showing up in the oil but a crud ton of oil is in my radiator 0.0 could be something like that.

 

Nothing in water either...I can post pictures of all of this if needed, but oil and water are all good...

 

Is it parked outside? Only other thing would be condensation.... Weird

 

Well, it is in my garage. For the last 2 months or so, it was in driveway before...but there is very little humidity here in the central valley...

 

Oh ur a cali boy like me.lol Hmmm ok im stumped. That makes no sense. Put a pan under the oil pan and crack the nut for the drain hole loose, water for whatever reason always drained out first before my oil. It could be possible that it gets moved around and burned off enough that it isn't making ur oil look like a milkshake too. That's what happened to my 74 for a few months then it all went to s**t.lol

 

That stuff on the breather/ oil fill tube cap is from moisture, and it is common. I have seen that alot on cars and trucks driven short trips. Even when warmed up you will get this if most trips are around town and 20 minutes or less. When you have the old style pre PCV crankcase ventilation system you need long drives (hour or so minimum) at 40 mph plus to prevent this. That is the only way you will get the water formed during combustion that gets past the rings out of the oil.

A good oil, with changes at least every 6 months of so if you drive short trips regularly is the best way to go. As long as the oil on the dipstick does not show any milkyness or "coffee with cream" color you are ok. Just keep wiping the sludge of of the bottom of the breather to keep it clean.

 

so since this post I have installed an aluminum hard line into the rubber hose from the block to the manifold-it was collapsing under vacuum. I also put the correct breather cap for this motor and the problem is almost completely gone. Hopefully this will help someone in future. I really think a lot of the problem was the incorrect breather cap to be honest

Joe

 

Very common in a vehicle that does not get run enough to get to and stay at operating temperatures.