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Need help ... my wife had a new factory motor put in her car. It had 237,000 miles and ran great but kept filling up the hose from air filter to intake with stuff that looks like yellow baby pudding. Now with less than 40,000 miles on new motor that the dealer said it needed it's doing ithe still/again.
The local dealer doesn't know what's causing it. Has anyone dealt with this mess?
That looks like an extreme case of oil from the PCV (Positive Crankcase Ventilation) gases mixed with water/moisture/condensation. A brief Google search reveals that this is a common issue with the 3.6L engine. For most engines, a little bit of this is actually normal in cooler weather. However, if the vehicle is only driven on short trips in cool weather, the engine never gets a chance to completely purge the moisture which can lead to a buildup of the yellow sludge. It appears this problem is worsened on pre-2014 3.6L engines because the holes in the right rear PCV orifice (located on the rear driver's side of Equinox) are a bit too small.. First, make sure the PCV hoses and passages are clean and free from debris/sludge/buildup so that air can flow freely within them. Then drill out the restrictive orifice as mentioned below.
Many Camaro owners with the same 3.6L engine have removed the PCV orifice from the right cylinder head (that's the rear cylinder head on your Equinox) and drilled bigger holes to allow more air flow. The PCV orifice has one upper hole which should be drilled out with a 7/64 inch bit and two holes on the bottom that should be drilled out with a 5/64 inch bit. I highly recommend doing the same to your engine. One Camaro owner has posted info about this along with some good pictures here. Keep in mind the engine orientation is different between the Equinox and the Camaro. The front of the engine faces the passenger side of the Equinox, but faces the front of vehicle on the Camaro because it is rear wheel drive.
There are two PCV hoses on the 3.6L. I've posted some pictures for the 3.6L in the Equinox below.
The front PCV hose goes from the driver's side of the left (front) cylinder head to the big air intake hose (see picture below) just behind where the air intake hose connects to the throttle body. 3.6L (LY7) front PCV hose
The right (rear) side of the engine is pictured here. The second PCV hose (circled in red) goes from the PCV orifice on driver's side of the right (rear) cylinder head to the upper intake. The restrictive orifice mentioned above is located near the bottom of the red circle and is visible after removing the hose. 3.6L (LY7) rear PCV hose
Last edited by ruley73; January 11th, 2017 at 7:34 PM.
Need help ... my wife had a new factory motor put in her car. It had 237,000 miles and ran great but kept filling up the hose from air filter to intake with stuff that looks like yellow baby pudding. Now with less than 40,000 miles on new motor that the dealer said it needed it's doing ithe
The local dealer doesn't know what's causing it. Has anyone dealt with this mess?
PCV issue or piston rings. Try starting the vehicle, and removing the oil cap while the engine is running. Is there exsessive air coming out of the oil filler cap? If yes, suspect piston rings. Remove one of the valve covers and inspect for build up. I'm leaning more toward PCV issues. Do you live in a high humidity area?
That looks like an extreme case of oil from the PCV (Positive Crankcase Ventilation) gases mixed with water/moisture/condensation. A brief Google search reveals that this is a common issue with the 3.6L engine. For most engines, a little bit of this is actually normal in cooler weather. However, if the vehicle is only driven on short trips in cool weather, the engine never gets a chance to completely purge the moisture which can lead to a buildup of the yellow sludge. It appears this problem is worsened on pre-2014 3.6L engines because the holes in the right rear PCV orifice (located on the rear driver's side of Equinox) are a bit too small.. First, make sure the PCV hoses and passages are clean and free from debris/sludge/buildup so that air can flow freely within them. Then drill out the restrictive orifice as mentioned below.
Many Camaro owners with the same 3.6L engine have removed the PCV orifice from the right cylinder head (that's the rear cylinder head on your Equinox) and drilled bigger holes to allow more air flow. The PCV orifice has one upper hole which should be drilled out with a 7/64 inch bit and two holes on the bottom that should be drilled out with a 5/64 inch bit. I highly recommend doing the same to your engine. One Camaro owner has posted info about this along with some good pictures here. Keep in mind the engine orientation is different between the Equinox and the Camaro. The front of the engine faces the passenger side of the Equinox, but faces the front of vehicle on the Camaro because it is rear wheel drive.
There are two PCV hoses on the 3.6L. I've posted some pictures for the 3.6L in the Equinox below.
The front PCV hose goes from the driver's side of the left (front) cylinder head to the big air intake hose (see picture below) just behind where the air intake hose connects to the throttle body. 3.6L (LY7) front PCV hose
The right (rear) side of the engine is pictured here. The second PCV hose (circled in red) goes from the PCV orifice on driver's side of the right (rear) cylinder head to the upper intake. The restrictive orifice mentioned above is located near the bottom of the red circle and is visible after removing the hose. 3.6L (LY7) rear PCV hose
Thanks for the replies, I'm going to show the diagrams to the poor chevy service guys lol
PCV issue or piston rings. Try starting the vehicle, and removing the oil cap while the engine is running. Is there exsessive air coming out of the oil filler cap? If yes, suspect piston rings. Remove one of the valve covers and inspect for build up. I'm leaning more toward PCV issues. Do you live in a high humidity area?
Sure hope it's not the piston, it was a new motor 43,000 miles ago. The dealer replaced a cracked valve cover at 8,000 miles after the new motor. They just found another cracked valve cover. That's all warranty stuff. We live in Wasilla Alaska, pretty dry climate especially in sub zero temps. The car lives in a 68* shop and drives 38 highway miles to work then another 38 home. The dealer said the PCV dealio on the intake was plugged bad with carbon and needed to replace the entire thing ... where that baby poop looking stuff is. This motor is doing exactly what the original motor did prompting the dealer to tell my wife it needed a new motor ... maybe the dealer will do the mods as described in the first reply ... ?
I am seeing the same yellow substance under and inside my oil fill cap, and just had the oil changed last week. Technician said that it was sludge.
Today, I see it again, but only under the fill cap (not in the air filter).
I live in Arizona, and it is the winter rainy season right now, but I have driving short distances lately.
January 10th, 2017, 1:17 AM
2008 equinox sport motor problem
