Is this normal/ok?

[Tennisjon2002]

Took my 97 accord LX V4 to get alot of work done and left a jug of mobil one for an oil change. When I got it back the oil sticker had been changed but the oil looked really dirty already and I am wondering if he forgot to actually change the oil. The engine has been on dino its whole life so this is its first synthetic oil. This is what it looks like after being out for a few minutes and after sitting out overnight:

 

[Bill in Utah]

It's hard to say 100% not knowing how dirty your oil was before you took it in, how dirty it normally is and history of your outfit.

I'd say they forgot. Sadly, with a Honda, it's a real pain to get under and look and see if the filter is new.

I'd prob try to get a look at the filter and then go from there.

You oil should not be that discolored that quick unless;

1. They did not change it.

2. They did not drain all of it out . (I've seen iffy-lubes pull the drain plug and then change filter, once filter is on, put plug back into pan with FLOW still going on..)

Running Dino all of it's life the engine is not going to be dirty unless you were changing not often enough. (Like every 4-6 months and 4-5k miles)

Syn is not a cleaner so your oil will not get dirty quicker with it.

When you got your oil changed with dino, how long did it take before it was your photos color?

Take care, Bill

 

[Tennisjon2002]

ok yea so I jacked my car up and looked under and they changed my filter, which adds to my confusion. When it had dino it was changed every 5k miles or so. The shop it was done at is a small shop whom I trust and they have my jeep right now. So I am just going to clarify with them when I get my jeep and make sure it was changed etc. Any other ideas?

 

[Tennisjon2002]

oh yea and the engine has 70K on it, mostly city driving

 

[johnd]

I think we need to do a lot mor of samples like this. On my wife's '95 Honda Civic I am always surprised how dirty the oil is early on. The Honda gets dino at the dealer and there is always a center dark ring from the very beginning. (I use business card stock so the absorption is pretty slow. I'll try to post it tomorrow. On the Camero, which gets synthetic and has a bypass filter, the cards look very different. The bypass makes the center ring disappear but for some reason the dispersancy of the synthetic does not seem to be as good. Wish I understood this better.

 

[Bill in Utah]

Interesting that the filter is new.

Well, I've used Mobil 1 before and it's pretty clean going in..

If you trust this small shop and everything else points to a oil change, go with it.

I think a 8 year old car with normal oil changes @5k and only 70k miles, esp a Honda should not be getting oil to start changing color that quick!

Does it use any oil? (thinking that maybe you have some blowby or such..)

Idle it alot? Stuck in traffic?

Your photo is how long after the Oil change?

Take care, Bill

 

[Tennisjon2002]

does not use any oil and never has. Not really much traffic but never interstate runs always around town. The oil in that pic has only about 100 miles on it max.

 

[denny2w]

To make a long story short, Five years ago I got 3 guys at the oil change place fired for not changing my wife's cars oil, only charging her for it. Oil analysis proved it! Then they admitted it!
This is apparently not too uncommon as two guys I work with had similar stories. Hope this is not your case....

 

[Curious Kid]

...but none-the-less this serves as another example to support my choice to do as much as I can myself.

Suspision leads to the end of relationships.

 

[ShortBuSX]

Another reason not to let them out of your sight while having somebody else work on your car...even simple oil changes.

 

[AEHaas]

This is an easy one.
Fresh oil has a higher concentration of detergents and will muddy the oil if the engine is somewhat dirty. You should drive for 500 miles and change the oil to help clean up the engine. Keep the new filter on there.

If the oil was not changed then an extra 500 miles on that oil will not hurt it.

aehaas

 

[Big Jim]

I would take the above suggestion except that I would also change the filter again as well. It just isn't that much more money.

 

[Flimflam]

quote:

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Took my 97 accord LX V4 to get alot of work done and left a jug of mobil one for an oil change. When I got it back the oil sticker had been changed but the oil looked really dirty already and I am wondering if he forgot to actually change the oil. The engine has been on dino its whole life so this is its first synthetic oil. This is what it looks like after being out for a few minutes and after sitting out overnight:

---

Any time you suspect something is not quite kosher with your oil, dump it all out and put in a new batch of oil. 5 Quarts is only 25-odd dollars, but a new engine can be a few Thousand dollars.