I've got a friend with a 2003 Accord 4-cyl 5-speed manual. It has about 18,000 miles on it, and has been maintained exactly as recommended at the dealer.

Today we were checking his oil and it had bubbles in it! From my experience with cars, this is indicative of coolant leaking into the oil. I checked the coolant and it isn't low or anything, and there are no signs of any oil getting into the coolant. But there are definitely tons of tiny bubbles on the oil dipstick when you remove it. This is the first time we've noticed it, although we haven't checked it too closely in the past honestly as we didn't expect to have to look for something like this when the car was so new.

The car hadn't been driven for about 12 hours, so it was cold... my friend had just started it up to pull it into the garage and then shut it back down, so it was a cold motor, if that makes any difference.

Is this some normal characteristic of the 2003's 4-cyl and/or its light weight 5w-20 oil?

 

It's fine some small bubbles on the dipstick is ok.
Coolant will make the oil look milky white.
His car is fine, you are just paranoid.

 

What are the bubbles caused by, then? I don't recall having ever seen bubbles on any of my car's dipsticks or any other cars that I've checked their oil, including my fiance's 4-cyl Accord... unless they had a coolant leak of course.

 

I've had this happen before, donno why...I think it may have been the type of oil I was using, a cheaper brand if I remember....

 

what was the oil level like? bubbles can be a sign of overfilling.

 

it only bubbles when the oil is hot ANY oil temps at normal opp will bubble, any car I ever had does this its normal,