My '02 Impala LS has started running rough every so often (twice now) right
after startup. It feels like a miss. The check engine message doesn't come
up.

I also noticed a grainy deposit inside my oil cap, kind of like oily sand.
But, the "grains" are softer and if you rub them between your fingers they
smooth out into kind of a paste. The color is dark brown/black.

I have been keeping an eye on my coolant level (wary of the leaking manifold
gasket problem) and it looks ok. The last oil change was a month or so ago
with whatever stuff the local dealership uses.
Any ideas out there? Thanks.

On Mon, 05 Jul 2004 01:50:27 GMT, "gad" <spamless (AT) spamless (DOT) com> wrote:

leaking manifold gasket problem.

Ian has pictures on his site that show it.

If your oil filler cap looks like this:
http://members.shaw.ca/ianrmac/Images/DSC00660-1.JPG

get to your dealer ASAP.

probably just a partially clogged injector. A very common problem with this
car. Have then flushed (free because it falls under the emissions warranty)
"gad" <spamless (AT) spamless (DOT) com> wrote

I would certainly take a sample of engine oil and send it in for analysis to
make sure that the dreaded intake manifold leak isn't happening.

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

They will send you the sampling kits for free.

Cost for the oil analysis is $20 for the basic analysis, or $35 for analysis
plus expert interpretation by Terry Dyson.

It is well worth it to check up on these engines.

John

It doesn't look like that (no yellowish gunk), and I don't see any evidence
of coolant on the dipstick. I noticed this deposit just recently, and it is
coincidental with a dealer oil change a couple months ago (I usually do oil
myself and use Mobil1, but they changed it for me without my asking them to
the last time I had it in).

I've never noticed any kind of deposits on any of my vehicles when using
Mobil 1, so I might just change it again ahead of time and see if it goes
away.

Thanks for the tip, though - the whole reason I even look at the cap
periodically is to check for the "gunk of death".

"Brad Clarke" <me (AT) privacy (DOT) net> wrote

Injector problems won't cause crankcase deposits.