Mobil 1 turning dark at 600 miles

[Bill in Utah]

Originally Posted By: Mark888
I don't think it is the add pack getting dark. It must be cleaning a dirty engine. I used M1 for 11 years on my last car, and it stayed surprisingly light-colored compared to conventional oil I used on other cars, even up to my 7K miles OCI. Because I used M1 on a new car from 3K miles onward for 11 years, the engine never got dirty.


What about this post?

Originally Posted By: dkryan
I ran M-1 0w40 in my 2002 Saab 9-3 (2.0L) for 5k mile OCIs. I stood there and watched them pour the new oil in and it was dark after 500 miles on the new oil. And it happened with every oil change.


Ran Mobil 1 EVERY oil change. Cleaning the stuff that Mobil 1 left?

 

[HTSS_TR]

My case is different with OP's case. My '00 MB E430 had M1 0W40 all its life until last year at 90k miles, it didn't get dark until about 4-5k miles and became very dark/black at 11-13k miles when I changed it out. Then I had PP 5W20 last year, the color became dark at 1k miles and very dark at 2-3k miles.

If the color is getting darker than virgin oil in short time means the oil is doing good job at cleaning, then PP is better than M1.

 

[ekpolk]

Originally Posted By: Mark888
I don't think it is the add pack getting dark. It must be cleaning a dirty engine. I used M1 for 11 years on my last car, and it stayed surprisingly light-colored compared to conventional oil I used on other cars, even up to my 7K miles OCI. Because I used M1 on a new car from 3K miles onward for 11 years, the engine never got dirty.


I don't think you can exclude the add pack as a cause of darkening. I used M1 from the mid-80s until I started trying other things about five years ago. I got varied results. Keep in mind that the formulations are anything but static. They are often changed, in fact. We're seeing this in my wife's Avalon, which is an 07 that is approaching 20k miles. The current fill is a first run of PP 5w-20, and it darkened very quickly. There is no way this engine is dirty, as it got several early changes during its first 5k or so miles, then two fills of GC at 5k and 10k miles. Unless we have a major, undetected malfunction, this is most likely quick darkening attributable to the add pack.

At the age noted, the OP's Corolla may well be "dirtier" than our newer Avalon. All I'm saying is that I would not hastily rule out add pack darkening.

 

[MBCLK]

Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah
Originally Posted By: Mark888
I don't think it is the add pack getting dark. It must be cleaning a dirty engine. I used M1 for 11 years on my last car, and it stayed surprisingly light-colored compared to conventional oil I used on other cars, even up to my 7K miles OCI. Because I used M1 on a new car from 3K miles onward for 11 years, the engine never got dirty.


What about this post?

Originally Posted By: dkryan
I ran M-1 0w40 in my 2002 Saab 9-3 (2.0L) for 5k mile OCIs. I stood there and watched them pour the new oil in and it was dark after 500 miles on the new oil. And it happened with every oil change.


Ran Mobil 1 EVERY oil change. Cleaning the stuff that Mobil 1 left?



bill,

so what do u think is causing the oil to get dark within the 500 - 800 mile range? for some reason, i feel you may know the answer.

 

[MBCLK]

Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
My case is different with OP's case. My '00 MB E430 had M1 0W40 all its life until last year at 90k miles, it didn't get dark until about 4-5k miles and became very dark/black at 11-13k miles when I changed it out. Then I had PP 5W20 last year, the color became dark at 1k miles and very dark at 2-3k miles.

If the color is getting darker than virgin oil in short time means the oil is doing good job at cleaning, then PP is better than M1.

wow, u actually put PP 5W20 in ur MB. how long was it in there for? why do u think PP got so darker at an earlier stage than Mobil 1?

 

[GMFan]

I've certainly witnessed the cleaning power of Mobil 1. I poured some Mobil 1 on my car hood last month and it cleaned and waxed it in 35 minutes...last summer I used it as laundry detergent, much better than Tide IMHO....my socks never looked so white

 

[ekpolk]

Originally Posted By: MBCLK
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
My case is different with OP's case. My '00 MB E430 had M1 0W40 all its life until last year at 90k miles, it didn't get dark until about 4-5k miles and became very dark/black at 11-13k miles when I changed it out. Then I had PP 5W20 last year, the color became dark at 1k miles and very dark at 2-3k miles.

If the color is getting darker than virgin oil in short time means the oil is doing good job at cleaning, then PP is better than M1.

wow, u actually put PP 5W20 in ur MB. how long was it in there for? why do u think PP got so darker at an earlier stage than Mobil 1?


As noted above, the PP 5w-20 in my wife's well-cared-for, low-miles Avalon darkened very quickly. To flesh it out a tad, it reached a stable level of "darkness" on the stick within 500 miles or so, and now, with almost 4k miles on the oil, it's only somewhat darker. This has add-pack darkening written all over it.

 

[brian12]

Originally Posted By: GMFan
I've certainly witnessed the cleaning power of Mobil 1. I poured some Mobil 1 on my car hood last month and it cleaned and waxed it in 35 minutes...last summer I used it as laundry detergent, much better than Tide IMHO....my socks never looked so white

WTH

 

[Mark888]

I am not sure if we are all using the same standard to determine "darkness" of the oil,

However, if an oil gets very dark fairly quickly on an engine that is known to be very clean, then the reason for a very dark oil certainly could be other than the oil cleaning the engine. With some engines, the tolerances are not tight enough to keep the oil from darkening. In some cases, the engine oil could exacerbate this problem.

I once had a Briggs and Stratton edger engine where the oil went pitch black in about 10 minutes. My Honda lawnmower engine never noticeably darkened during the entire season.

 

[buster]

Most oils become dark fairly quickly in my cars. I've always found that no matter what oil was used. Color has little to do with how well the oil is performing.

Some oils start off more dark than others and some have additives that cause them to become more dark.

 

[brian12]

Ok so here is what the oil looks like at exactly 834 miles. I changed it at 136,600 by my log and the odometer read 137,434. The flash made the oil look cleaner then it actually was and even the picture here with the flash turned off it didn't show up exactly right.

 

[webfors]

or more accurately how an add pack reacts to the elements introduced by a particular engine. PP tends to get quite dark in my Forester after 4-5k miles. That being said, the first oci of PP last year was black after 2k miles when I dumped it.

Moral of the story is color doesn't matter

 

[crinkles]

that oil looks fine to me. Mobil 1 usually started off darker out of the pack compared to durablend.

 

[daman]

i agree that looks darker then it should for the mileage,it's doing some cleaning, my stuff would take 1500+ miles to look that dark..

 

[Mark888]

Originally Posted By: buster
Most oils become dark fairly quickly in my cars. I've always found that no matter what oil was used. Color has little to do with how well the oil is performing.

Some oils start off more dark than others and some have additives that cause them to become more dark.

I think it is the engine more than the oil. On Honda and Toyota cars I have owned, the oil stayed much lighter than on other makes, especially from the US automakers.

 

[brian12]

Originally Posted By: crinkles
that oil looks fine to me. Mobil 1 usually started off darker out of the pack compared to durablend.

I didn't think anything was wrong with the oil I was just surprised how fast it was darkening. My last fill was Chevron supreme and it looked brand new at 2,000 miles. Before that it was Mobil clean 5000 and it looked almost new at 3,000 miles.

 

[MBCLK]

im not an expert but some possibilities might be...

A. Mobil 1 might be cleaning the engine

B. Mobil 1 might have mixed with the previous/leftover fill of Chevron Supreme and making the Mobil 1 dark.

C. Combination of A and B

The next step is to complete interval of this current fill of Mobil 1. On the next oil change, change it exactly with the same filter and Mobil 1 oil. Assess oil color at exactly 834 miles again. Compare results.

To tell you the truth. The color doesnt look that dark for 800 miles. The dark color doesnt mean squat at 800 miles. Whether its cleaning or whatever the reason may be. I would still be confident leaving it in there for 7k miles+

 

[brian12]

I checked the oil at around 200 miles and it looked clean so I doubt its darker because of mixing with the old stuff. I'm going to take another picture at 1,000 miles and 1,500. I have a feeling that at the rate its darkening it will be pitch black at around 2,200 miles.

 

[MBCLK]

Brian,

your sig says "Prune Juice". you didnt pour any of that in the car did you? just kidding....

 

[Bill in Utah]

Originally Posted By: MBCLK

bill,

so what do u think is causing the oil to get dark within the 500 - 800 mile range? for some reason, i feel you may know the answer.


I do. So does;

Originally Posted By: buster
Most oils become dark fairly quickly in my cars. I've always found that no matter what oil was used. Color has little to do with how well the oil is performing.

Some oils start off more dark than others and some have additives that cause them to become more dark.


And;

Originally Posted By: webfors
or more accurately how an add pack reacts to the elements introduced by a particular engine. PP tends to get quite dark in my Forester after 4-5k miles. That being said, the first oci of PP last year was black after 2k miles when I dumped it.

Moral of the story is color doesn't matter

Hint; BOTH of them are correct.

So we have the camp who says *if* a oil is doing its job then it should be dirty.

Then the other camp who says if the oil is staying clear, it shows the oil is doing its job.

I guess you are in the camp that the oil first will get dirty and then after the changes stay clean?

I'm in the camp it does not matter.

I've had engines and oils that do both. And in the end the UOAs and even more *important* the engines go hundreds of thousands of miles with NO PROBLEMS.

Bill