Bought my 2006 Dodge Ram quad cab less then two months ago. It has the 5.7 Hemi and love the truck. Went out today to do it's first oil change at 1503 miles. When I pulled the oil drain plug there was a chocolate milk color to the oil. There was also water droplets on the inside of the filler cap (no sludge). My driving lately has been short commutes in extremely cold temperatures to work (1.5 miles each way) and several longer trips on the weekends. Anyone else heard of this happening or know what might be causing this? Is my new truck in need of a major engine repair?

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you need longer warm up times to keep the condensation from building.

Short, no warm up drives will do that.
Also a lot of stop light to stop light driving will do the same.

 

I know short /no warm updrives may be cousing this but it cant be right no water / ice should be in there and these trucks were build for this short/long or cold/super hot , right??

 

All engines and oils are pretty much subject to water condensation forming with alot of short trips.

 

I bought this truck on Dec 23, 2006. It ispossible that theoil has not been changed in a year, if it sat on there lot that long before being sold? When do the dealers change the oilon new vehicles?When they arrive, when they are sold or not at all? It had 41 miles of "test driving" when i bought it.

 

dillyw-
your engine works with 3 things. fuel, air and heat.
the air is the source of moisture ( unless you get a lot of bad fuel). the heat helps exahust the water but on really cold engines the heat build up takes awhile.
You can have a brand new truck with no miles. do 100 miles worth of short no warm up drives and get water in your engine oil.
When the engine does cool down on the short trips the water hasn't properly evaporated and remains in the engine where it forms as water droplets and drips.

most of the time it won't be as bad as what is pictured here.

Moto mike. it is a possibility that sitting on the lot can do this by the dealership. If it is cold out and they need to plow the spaces I'm sure they start, move the vehicle then turn it off. Most new vehicles don't have a lot of fuel so I'm sure they wouldn't let it sit and idle while the lot is being plowed.

Maybe one of the dealers on here can shed some light on what they do at thier lot??

I should add that this is even more common in diesel trucks as it takes a longer warm up time for the diesel engine to warm up.