How many miles till oil is black on dipstick?

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Originally Posted By: 2James1
Those of you that have seen oil that was black on the dipstick of a gas engine. How many miles were on the oil? How many miles on the car? What Oil? What filter? What car?...just curious.

My baby, '08 Sport Trac 4.0L. Black in 600 miles or so. Just turned 90k but it's always been like that. Pennzoil Platinum 5w30, Motorcraft filter.

Company car, '04 Focus wagon 2.0L. Black? Still looks pretty clean at 5000 miles when I change it. 115k beat-to-heck miles with all sorts of different drivers. Motorcraft 5w-20, Motorcraft filter.

So ya never know.
 
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The OP may want to rephrase the question as oil in gasoline cars doesn't turn black, but brown or dark brown with use, unless there are some serious engine problems.
On the other hand, oil turns black in diesel car as soon as one starts the engine.
2 different things.
 
Originally Posted By: SigQAEngineer

IMO an oil that gets darker sooner has a better DI package that is doing a better job at removing carbon build-up, removing sludge & all the combustion by products than the oil that looks "clean" at the same interval.


Not necessarily true in new engines. Every new car I had had very clean oil on the very first OCI. Besides, different oils change colors at different rates as they oxidase.
 
Originally Posted By: tig1
I only use M1 oils, and do 10K OCIs. I have never had M1 get black, it just gets a dark amber color even with Ford engines over 300K.


Tig I had some M1 get black on me after a short OCI of 2500k miles, 123k miles 5.4l v8 f350. That said I had great gas mileage performance as well as a smooth engine with m1 5w20 full syn.

Granted, It was the first oil change I had done since getting the truck at 118k, Changed oil at 118k (oil was dark brown not black) to m1 and ran until 120,500 (consuming 3/4-1 quart over this mileage, some towing) where I now have PYB in and it is a medium golden brown at this point (2500k - often carrying a ton in bed) and I am not sure how long the previous oil was in there. I assume around 5k but unsure, again, it wasn;t black as night and it flowed out like thin 20wt from what I can tell with naked eye. I wouldn't hesitate to use m1 full syn again, trying Mobil super HM next however. I attribute the added darkness in the m1 2500k run to cleaning properties of the oil, and to the fact that two full strength 40 gallon treatments of chevron techron were used 119-120k.

The other fluids were all properly changed and maintained by a fleet organization from my mechanic testing them, including the diffs and trans fluid, so I have high hopes they were doing proper oil changes. The truck certainly runs well...

JC
 
Originally Posted By: tig1
I only use M1 oils, and do 10K OCIs. I have never had M1 get black, it just gets a dark amber color even with Ford engines over 300K.


Same here,I'm a ford guy and I've NEVER had oil get black.
 
None of mine get black. I change before black and it's about change time anyway.
Others, I've seen black black, gooey black, light peanut butter color (contaminated), and a few that didn't have enough oil to register on the stick.
 
Checked my oil a couple days ago and at 5800 miles and a total of 1.5 quarts top off. The oil on the white paper towel I checked it with dried to a light brown(golden I guess you could say) not bad for a first oci to my knowledge of synthetic on a car with 156k.
 
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Last time I changed the oil on my 03 Crown Vic, the car had 126k, the oil was M1 5w20 with a Motorcraft filter @ 8,900 miles. The oil was a almost dark brown but still looked decent. My dad had an 89 Mazda B2200 that would have jet black oil at 4,000 miles. I could only image what it would look like if you went to the 7,500 mile interval the owners manual said was okay...
 
I change my oil at 5k miles on my Ranger and it's still golden looking. Doesn't use a drop between OCIs. First vehicle I have owned in a long time that didn't use any.
 
like 1500-2000 miles on my 2012 Equinox...thanks Direct injection...-_-...but it doesnt burn any at all between 7-8k oil changes (OLM) on QSUD...verified with UOA's that its ok...
 
Black may indicate,soot,carbon,sludge,etc. I want it outta there,on a hot change when it's black.
 
I've always wondered if the color of oil was any indication as to engine condition and/or life remaining...?

Would love some feedback on the following pics - this is from a 98 Accord 2.3L with 187,680 miles. I just changed the oil at 187,300. So only 400 miles on this run

Now, was a pint of MMO that was added about 200 miles ago, but when I drew a qt out to make room for the MMO, it was about the same color.

Your thoughts?

Ru1oVvp.jpg

EUKFOZi.jpg



Seems pretty dark to me... Cause for concern?
 
Originally Posted By: Finz
Would love some feedback on the following pics - this is from a 98 Accord 2.3L with 187,680 miles. I just changed the oil at 187,300. So only 400 miles on this run

Seems pretty dark to me... Cause for concern?


wow I have never had oil darken like that (400 miles?? yikes), even at 5k miles, it's not that dark. Is it smells of a load of fuel?

400 miles... wow!
 
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Blowby contaminants and/or dirty crankcase. Try some Mobil Super high mileage blend.
 
I'm very new to this posting game and have mistakenly stepped on some toes via hijacking threads - I hope this does not count as one of those times - If so, please say the word and I'l start a new thread/forum specific to this issue.

Errtt: normally no... However, this is off a 2-day Kreen piston soak so the oil did have an odor... Kreen smell. But over the last 40k miles that we've owned the car, I would say no to the fuel smell

FZ1: I just had the valve cover off (to look and adjust valve lash). Since 150,000 mile mark (when we bought the car), I have used Mobil 1 5w30. Can't speak for how the car looked before, but at 187k here's how it looks - surprisingly clean:

eUL4acB.jpg


Now the last fill (400 miles ago) was Penzoil 10W-40 HM with a qt of MMO (an experiment to mitigate oil loss (doesn't smoke out the pipe nor does it leak/spot the driveway)

When you say Blowby Contaminants - what does that mean? Air filter changed religiously as well as PCV
 
Combustion gasses and contaminants,like soot,escape the combustion chamber into the crankcase. Top of your motor looks pretty clean.
 
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