my mechanics (6-9 miles away) or what the hell do you think that is?"
"I dunno man, I've never seen or heard of anything like that, but if your car runs fine, I'd say drive it there."
Drove it there, no problems, starts up, runs and idles fine, doesn't feel like any loss of power, temp stays fine.

Anyone have any ideas what's up with my oil before I get a horrendous call from my mechanic tomorrow?

Its the headgasket. Its where the Oil mixes with Coolant... Eventually you'll roast the bearings or blow the engine if it continued to be driven. You may want to rethink how or where you plan on spending your tax return depending on your mechanics labor cost and what he wants you to do. Ie headgasket $80 + misc headbolts parts or used engine time $300+....

Keep us posted. We'll shed some light on what your mechanic says and doesn't say.

 

its not a headgasket.

it typically happens on cars with a catch can or pcv leak. it happens when moisture gets in there and will go away after the car is run. of course this is only correct if the oil looks normal and its just a foam at the top of the dipstick.

search round theres a bunch of threads about it.

 

Depends on how much mucky stuff is on the dip stick. I can get a lt of water in mine from the short 2 mile drive to work.

Change the oil (or have someone else change it), when you pull the plug it will be fairly obvious if it is just condensation or coolant.

 

Headgasket failure will turn all of the oil into a peanut butter color, not just foam at the top.

 

I had this happen on a 9k where the check-valve going from the valve cover / PCV valve nipple to the throttle body went tits-up. Under boost, you'd pressurize the crankcase, and it'd create this crud around the top of the oil filler area, and on the dipstick.

Replaced the check valve, and all was good in the world again.....all depends on how much there is. If a head gasket goes, you'll have additional volume in there (from coolant leaking in), and it'll look REAL nasty. I had one where I drained probably 2 gallons of this sticky chocolate milk mixture out of the crankcase.

 

Condensation.

 

Somebody find my thread with pictures of that shit in my Viggen. That's not a headgasket.

edit.

voilà! http://saablink.net/forum/showthread.php?t=36077

 

If it's yellowish brown, then yeah, it's a good chance of a headgasket. If it was just bubbly, it's condensation. The yellowish brown is caused by the mixture of coolant and oil. Some refer to it as chocolate milk.

If the color looks like this, it's def. a hg.

 

Chocolate milk is a head gasket. Yellow congealed snot is condensation. I just dealt with condensation in the Viggen. PCV 6 took care of that

 

That is what I was referring to when I said peanut butter...not the consistency but the color.

 

like others have said its from your PCV system not getting all the moisture out. If I don't keep up on cleaning my catch can this happens in my car too. Check the little rubber hose that comes out of the top left of the valve cover. If you are worried about it you can always pour a can of seafoam into the crankcase, run the car for five minutes, then perform your oil change.

 

Hooray!

Thank you all for your help guys!
I still haven't heard back from my mechanic yet, I plan to give him a call in the morning.
He's definitely a reputable and straight guy, I have referred 4 Saab owners to him, I know people that want a Saab so they can go to him, and I want to buy another Saab of course, but one of the big reasons is so I wont have to find a new mechanic.

But to answer the question, mine wasn't the chocolate milk, it was the yellow congealed snot stuff, so condensation! Which I'm taking as not being so bad.

I had the head gasket replaced probably 50-60k ago, it was cool though because when it went, it leaked out of the block instead of into. My mechanic said the head gaskets are designed so when they fail to normal wear, they fail like mine, and leak out onto the block.


Edit:
Had to look up what the PCV was, I didn't think I had one, and I was right. I don't. I've got the 2.3 no turbo. With no turbo, I've got no PCV.

 

Update, got my car back a few days ago and forgot to come on here and let you all know what was found.

He said it was what you thought, the condensation, so I just needed the oil change, and he also said my valve guide seals are starting to wear, but that it's nothing to worry about at all. He said once I start using like a quart of oil between changes then he'll replace 'em.