This doesn't look good
 

Is it what I think it is? I started the car this morning and a fairly large puff of white smoke came out the exaust for about 5 seconds. Below are pics of the Oil Fill and Oil Cap with yellow gunky stuff. '03 C2 37K CPO until 12/08.

air / oil seperator? if it give a little puff then goes away that can be normal. especially if you have not driven it in a few days. it is just burning off some oil that made it past the rings.

When was the last time the car was driven long enough to really come up to temperature?

I drove it about 45 miles last week on one trip. Since then, a few short errand trips. I searched and found another post where the consensus was condensation. I changed the oil less than 1,000 miles ago.

edit - I remember now that the 45 mile trip was taken in one of our other cars. I'm not sure when I last drove it for an extended time. Maybe that's it. Should I take a rag and remove most of the yellow stuff?

I thought I read that the yellowish, cheesey residue was the result of frequent short trips, not allowing your Pcar to really get up to engine temps.

It probably wouldn't hurt, but it's the stuff you can't see that is going to cause problems and that is excessive moisture in the crankcase due to not getting the car warm enough. Short trips are car killers.

Point taken about short trips. What should I do about it?

The best thing would be to plan your trips so that the car gets fully warm every drive. The next best would be to take a longer drive at least weekly. And you should probably change the oil much more frequently if you are going to continue taking a lot of short trips.

However, if you see that kind of residue on the dip stick when you first pull it out to check the oil level manually, you have bigger issues (possible coolant/oil mixing).

I changed the oil about 1,000 miles ago. I checked the dipstick and it's clean.

deckman...I think you will be OK. But like the others said, now drive that car and at least let it warm-up each and every time you do.

Condensation likely. I had seen something similar in mine once. Take it out for a longer drive and recheck the inside of the cap and filler tube afterwards.

+1

When I purchased my 2000 C2 it had some yellowish milky gunk under the oil filler cap, although not nearly as much as in your pictures. I wiped off the gunk and did an oil change and after two years I have not had a recurrence. I do, however, try to get the car up to normal operating temps. as often as possible.

I would wipe up the gunk and perform an oil change ASAP. If there is that much condensation in the oil it is certainly not providing adequate protection.

BTW, it is good to hear that your dipstick did not show signs of oil/coolant intermix because your pics. are pretty scary.

You will be OK. A little white smoke on start up is not unheard on the 996. One day I cleared the garage at Pocono when I started mine. As others have pointed out, the yellow goop is from condensation with the oil. You need to drive the car for longer trips to get the oil hot enough to "dry out" the oil.......how hard can that be. "Honey, but I need to drive the car more and longer, the guys on the internet said so......."

I had this happen when I move the car out of the gargage and only have the engine on for a minute or two and then allow the car to sit for a day. Otherwise no issue.

ohh man Pcar smegma..yuck