I have a 2001 Dakota, 4.7L. I opened up my oil cap and it had a bunch of slimy yellowish buildup all inside the fill tube from water mixing with my oil. The oil on the dipstick looks fine. I wiped it all out and had my oil changed. Its been 2 weeks and now it all full of it again. Any ideas on what it could be?

sounds like head gasket...are you loosing antifreeze also???

Maybe a bit, but not large amounts.

vehicle runs hot? does it misfire. Possible head gasket or timing chain cover

It is a normal condition for a 4.7 l engine . As long as you do oil changes every 3000 miles I would not address this problem .

No, no missing or overheating. Runs just fine. You are saying that it is normal to have sludgy water in my engine and oil??? Please explain

Welcome to the club!!
http://www.dodgetrucks.org/home/anthony/white%20crap.jpg

The condensation is caused by plastic not retaining heat, making the filler tube and oil cap a cold spot. When mixing the hot metal of the motor and oil with the plastic cold areas causing condensation ie: the white sludge. This will not harm the motor so don't worry about it.

Only way to get rid of it or reduce it, is too insulate the filler tube and cap

No, no missing or overheating. Runs just fine. You are saying that it is normal to have sludgy water in my engine and oil??? Please explain

I mean no disrespect to the folks that say that this is not an issue, especially being the newbe and leave it to the new guy to go dig up an old post... :rolleyes: but...
I first asked my dealer about this when changing the oil early on in ownership of my SLT... bought it new.
The service guy put a retrofit oil filler breather in it that helped. My next question was, when the hell were you going to tell me about this Service Bulletin...? ? ?
Well time went on and the oil pump failed, just out of warrantee.. There was a HUGE amount of sludge build up in the engine. Factory denies any knowledge of this being a sludge building engine...
I was not a happy camper. Cost was out of pocket.
I would fit the appropriate parts and flush the engine (mine is a 4.7 Magnum) change the oil and filter more often than usual for the next couple of thousand and keep an eye on it...

Best,
Rob

I mean no disrespect to the folks that say that this is not an issue, especially being the newbe and leave it to the new guy to go dig up an old post... :rolleyes: but...
I first asked my dealer about this when changing the oil early on in ownership of my SLT... bought it new.
The service guy put a retrofit oil filler breather in it that helped. My next question was, when the hell were you going to tell me about this Service Bulletin...? ? ?
Well time went on and the oil pump failed, just out of warrantee.. There was a HUGE amount of sludge build up in the engine. Factory denies any knowledge of this being a sludge building engine...
I was not a happy camper. Cost was out of pocket.
I would fit the appropriate parts and flush the engine (mine is a 4.7 Magnum) change the oil and filter more often than usual for the next couple of thousand and keep an eye on it...

Best,
Rob
Just to clarify something,the stuff on the oil cap is not the same kind of sludge that you get from not changing oil.I would not even call that sludge.The sludge that ruins your engine is black and a lot thicker than the crap on the oil cap.
Also the 4.7 is not,in my experience,prone to sludge build up if the oil is changed regularly.I am a tech at a dealer,so I see quite a few 4.7s