Oil color ?
- Thread starter nomas
- Start date
As CT8 says everyone has their own opinion, but whose holds any weight?
If you want to know what an actual expert has to say on the subject read up on what Jim Fitch at Noria/ Machinery lubrication magazine has to say.
There are many free white papers to be digested full of advice and info.
UD
If you want to know what an actual expert has to say on the subject read up on what Jim Fitch at Noria/ Machinery lubrication magazine has to say.
There are many free white papers to be digested full of advice and info.
UD
...means nothing.
The oil has the ability to hold in suspension and filtrate the combustion by products that are generated within the time the oil is in use, but not exactly clean already formed deposits.
Originally Posted by nomas
Is clean looking oil really a measure of the quality or performance ?
Over the next few days you will be told it is and you will be told it isn't.
Is clean looking oil really a measure of the quality or performance ?
Over the next few days you will be told it is and you will be told it isn't.
This board is literally littered with "does oil color mean anything" threads, I suggest you read some of them first.
Originally Posted by nomas
I did a search for " oil color " and got 25 hits . Excluding this thread , the rest were mostly irrelevant .
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/3907969/what-does-oil-color-reveal
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/foru...5440/cant-judge-oil-by-color-im-going-to
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/foru...09783/i-know-oil-color-doesnt-matter-but
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/849601/significance-of-oil-color
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/2700447/dipstick-color
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/foru...lets-please-stop-talking-about-oil-color
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/3129795/oil-color-coming-out-brown
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/foru...l-getting-dark-after-a-few-hundred-miles
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/foru...71/why-is-synthetic-oil-getting-so-black
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4114775/oil-color
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/foru...many-miles-till-oil-is-black-on-dipstick
I got tired of copying and pasting but there are many more.
I did a search for " oil color " and got 25 hits . Excluding this thread , the rest were mostly irrelevant .
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/3907969/what-does-oil-color-reveal
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/foru...5440/cant-judge-oil-by-color-im-going-to
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/foru...09783/i-know-oil-color-doesnt-matter-but
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/849601/significance-of-oil-color
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/2700447/dipstick-color
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/foru...lets-please-stop-talking-about-oil-color
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/3129795/oil-color-coming-out-brown
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/foru...l-getting-dark-after-a-few-hundred-miles
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/foru...71/why-is-synthetic-oil-getting-so-black
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4114775/oil-color
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/foru...many-miles-till-oil-is-black-on-dipstick
I got tired of copying and pasting but there are many more.
Originally Posted by Zaedock
...means nothing.
Lets say you change the oil in your grandmas/ mom/ kids car - but before you can tell her while you are cleaning up you come back and the car is gone.
She pulls up to the oil change shop same day after driving to town and running errands and the guy pulls the dipstick and sees perfectly clean oil.
You're good with him charging your grandma for the oil change because color "means nothing" right?
or maybe..... just maybe, might color mean something?
UD
...means nothing.
Lets say you change the oil in your grandmas/ mom/ kids car - but before you can tell her while you are cleaning up you come back and the car is gone.
She pulls up to the oil change shop same day after driving to town and running errands and the guy pulls the dipstick and sees perfectly clean oil.
You're good with him charging your grandma for the oil change because color "means nothing" right?
or maybe..... just maybe, might color mean something?
UD
4WD
$50 site donor 2024
Yeah … to say means nothing means nothing to me. I have had severe oxidation twice … it was blacker than a deep cave at midnight. Most well used (gasser) oil is a dark brown with an occasional reddish tint once you bring it into sunlight.
Darker color means the oil is doing it's job cleaning and keeping the nasties in suspension. Combustion waste will either be in the oil, in the filter, or on the inside of the engine. I wouldn't trust an oil that's clean after 5k miles. Get an oil analysis done after 5 - 7k miles and see where you stand.
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Originally Posted by nomas
I wasn't sure how to title this thread . I see people brag on a certain oil they use because when they changed it " it was as clean as when I put it in " or some other such nonsense . Is clean looking oil really a measure of the quality or performance ?
Yes, no and maybe depending on a host of conditions and variables. It might be better to say a change in color is more indicative of a condition in the machine rather than the oil (in most cases)
Here are some ( and not an exhaustive list to be sure)
First is the "color change" actually changing the oil physical color or contaminating it by and just tinting during a state of mechanical or thermal agitation or suspension. ( let samples sit and see). That's how I train ML-1's and 2's when we are doing blotter and sensory field testing of in service oils.
It can be an indication of a thermal problem thus altering a property of the oil changing a tint or opaqueness.
Then we have various emulsions, bonding's, reactions possibly with process chemicals.
Basically its better to say oil color change is a trigger to look deeper rather than try to assign it a fixed value in and of itself.
I wasn't sure how to title this thread . I see people brag on a certain oil they use because when they changed it " it was as clean as when I put it in " or some other such nonsense . Is clean looking oil really a measure of the quality or performance ?
Yes, no and maybe depending on a host of conditions and variables. It might be better to say a change in color is more indicative of a condition in the machine rather than the oil (in most cases)
Here are some ( and not an exhaustive list to be sure)
First is the "color change" actually changing the oil physical color or contaminating it by and just tinting during a state of mechanical or thermal agitation or suspension. ( let samples sit and see). That's how I train ML-1's and 2's when we are doing blotter and sensory field testing of in service oils.
It can be an indication of a thermal problem thus altering a property of the oil changing a tint or opaqueness.
Then we have various emulsions, bonding's, reactions possibly with process chemicals.
Basically its better to say oil color change is a trigger to look deeper rather than try to assign it a fixed value in and of itself.
BINGO on "color change {as a} trigger".
Sis' oil, a 5W-30, was changed only by me in a vehicle she bought at 70,000 mi.
5K OCIs resulted in a nice, acceptable-to-me dirty oil color.
One day the drained oil was much cleaner looking.
So I changed the OCI to 6K and lived happily ever after.
Absolutely no science.
Sis' oil, a 5W-30, was changed only by me in a vehicle she bought at 70,000 mi.
5K OCIs resulted in a nice, acceptable-to-me dirty oil color.
One day the drained oil was much cleaner looking.
So I changed the OCI to 6K and lived happily ever after.
Absolutely no science.
Originally Posted by 4WD
Yeah … to say means nothing means nothing to me. I have had severe oxidation twice … it was blacker than a deep cave at midnight. Most well used (gasser) oil is a dark brown with an occasional reddish tint once you bring it into sunlight.
Wasn't that one of those times you used that oil "with intelligent molecules" I.e. "Magnatec" ?
Yeah … to say means nothing means nothing to me. I have had severe oxidation twice … it was blacker than a deep cave at midnight. Most well used (gasser) oil is a dark brown with an occasional reddish tint once you bring it into sunlight.
Wasn't that one of those times you used that oil "with intelligent molecules" I.e. "Magnatec" ?
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4WD
$50 site donor 2024
Yes sir Adam … they dumbed up in a Pentastar at only 3k
Was actually doing gear oil and only checking engine level when we saw the thixotropic black oil ...’
Was actually doing gear oil and only checking engine level when we saw the thixotropic black oil ...’
Originally Posted by UncleDave
Originally Posted by Zaedock
...means nothing.
Lets say you change the oil in your grandmas/ mom/ kids car - but before you can tell her while you are cleaning up you come back and the car is gone.
She pulls up to the oil change shop same day after driving to town and running errands and the guy pulls the dipstick and sees perfectly clean oil.
You're good with him charging your grandma for the oil change because color "means nothing" right?
or maybe..... just maybe, might color mean something?
UD
Oh boy, a hypothetical scenario. Thanks Uncle Dave!
Here we go: My grandmother is dead, my mom can't drive as she's 82 with one leg and my daughter or wife have the smaht's to ask me if I'm done working on their cah before jumping in and taking off. Actually, my daughter, who lives an hour away in CT, purposely schedules a time with me to change her oil and rotate tires because she doesn't trust most shops. She most certainly would not hop in and go without checking and saying goodbye to the old man.
Small Shop Reality: The donkey at the oil change place/shop is going to change the oil regardless of it's color if a customer requests a change. That's the way it is. I highly doubt they would even check it first. After pulling in the bay, the hood is popped and then the car goes up the lift and is drained. The hood likely isn't even opened until after the car comes back down. Maybe the super savvy shops will check first, but they're looking at the level, not color. Even if it "looks" clean, they are most certainly not going to tie up a bay, and technician, so grandma can call her father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate to see if they just changed the oil. Not for a $30 oil change.
Analysis is needed to accurately check the condition of oil, not color. Consider that the average OTR semi truck oil change interval is 25,000 miles. What do you think that oil "looks" like at 5,000 or 10,000+ miles? Truck fleets schedule maintenance based on analysis of the oil.
I used to change the oil in my old diesel Chevy. I'd re-check after letting it run for a few minutes and it would be black as pitch.
I ran my wife's old car to the OLM intervals (7K+/- miles) with Supertech conventional and BITOG sourced oil deals, and at 180K miles, the engine was spotless inside when it was retired. Periodic checks would reveal dark oil, but who cares? I ran a few samples through Blackstone labs and the results were right there with the OLM. In fact, I probably could have pushed the changes out a bit longer as the oil was still doing it's job.
In an age of inexpensive synthetics and Oil Life Monitors, just maybe, oil color still means nothing.
Originally Posted by Zaedock
...means nothing.
Lets say you change the oil in your grandmas/ mom/ kids car - but before you can tell her while you are cleaning up you come back and the car is gone.
She pulls up to the oil change shop same day after driving to town and running errands and the guy pulls the dipstick and sees perfectly clean oil.
You're good with him charging your grandma for the oil change because color "means nothing" right?
or maybe..... just maybe, might color mean something?
UD
Oh boy, a hypothetical scenario. Thanks Uncle Dave!
Here we go: My grandmother is dead, my mom can't drive as she's 82 with one leg and my daughter or wife have the smaht's to ask me if I'm done working on their cah before jumping in and taking off. Actually, my daughter, who lives an hour away in CT, purposely schedules a time with me to change her oil and rotate tires because she doesn't trust most shops. She most certainly would not hop in and go without checking and saying goodbye to the old man.
Small Shop Reality: The donkey at the oil change place/shop is going to change the oil regardless of it's color if a customer requests a change. That's the way it is. I highly doubt they would even check it first. After pulling in the bay, the hood is popped and then the car goes up the lift and is drained. The hood likely isn't even opened until after the car comes back down. Maybe the super savvy shops will check first, but they're looking at the level, not color. Even if it "looks" clean, they are most certainly not going to tie up a bay, and technician, so grandma can call her father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate to see if they just changed the oil. Not for a $30 oil change.
Analysis is needed to accurately check the condition of oil, not color. Consider that the average OTR semi truck oil change interval is 25,000 miles. What do you think that oil "looks" like at 5,000 or 10,000+ miles? Truck fleets schedule maintenance based on analysis of the oil.
I used to change the oil in my old diesel Chevy. I'd re-check after letting it run for a few minutes and it would be black as pitch.
I ran my wife's old car to the OLM intervals (7K+/- miles) with Supertech conventional and BITOG sourced oil deals, and at 180K miles, the engine was spotless inside when it was retired. Periodic checks would reveal dark oil, but who cares? I ran a few samples through Blackstone labs and the results were right there with the OLM. In fact, I probably could have pushed the changes out a bit longer as the oil was still doing it's job.
In an age of inexpensive synthetics and Oil Life Monitors, just maybe, oil color still means nothing.
