Hello, I live in the Chicago area. My '70 El Camino has a 454 that was rebuilt about 10,000 miles ago. The car gets very limited use. A few years ago I pulled a valve cover off and found a white, greasy goo stuck to the inside of the cover. It was condensation. The oil in the crankcase was not milky. I pulled & cleaned both covers and changed the oil. Since then I pull the covers twice a year and find the goo and water droplets and clean them off. I change the oil 3 times a year. Also, when I drive it to work (2 miles away), I drive it on the highway for about 1/2 an hour after work. I still have the moisture problem. Its not coolant, but clear, drinkable water. Is there some sort of dessicant I could put in the breathers? Would synthetic oil help? The car is stored in a heated 24 hours garage. I can't be the only one with this problem and am worried about condensation in the valley, crankcase, etc. Any ideas? Thanks for your input.

I had the same problem with my chevelle. It never cauesed me any problems. I started noticing it when i put on some of those cheap, thin chrome valve covers on. I guess the condensation just adhears to them more? So i put my M/T aluminum covers back on and the condensation problem dropped significantly.

So maybe its cheap, thin valve covers??

Bubba

Two things:

A) If you aren't running a PCV system, installing one will help.

B) 195 degree thermostat.

Mike

Thanks for the responses. It has a 180 degree thermostat in it now. A 195 sounds like a good idea as it might boil out some of the moisture. The valve cover idea has me thinking. Right now it has an old set of Cal Custom aluminum covers on it. Maybe I should try a pair of good stock ones. My stock '67 283 Malibu shares a garage with the Camino and has no such problems, even though it gets driven seldomly also. Thanks again for the help.

Synthetic oil seems to help the problem for some reason also.

Install a pvc then a breather from valve cover to air cleaner. That should help take most of it out.