Oil never turns black

[Rodraid]

Anyone have a car where the oil never turns black? My car has 75,000 miles and I change the oil between 5,800 - 6,500 miles using Pennzoil Ultra. First two oil changes were PYB but all since have been Ultra. The oil will get slightly darker than what comes out of the bottle but still "gold" in color.

Rod

 

[Quest]

colour means nothing in the case of engine oil, for when it's due for a change, you bet the additives, detergents, etc. within the oil already depleted somewhat.

Change it out and call the day.

Lastly: try that with any diesel light automobiles and your fresh oil wil turn black in mere couple of hundreds of miles (soot suspension). Based on your visual inspection (and deduction): does that immediately imply that your oil is "spent" and immediately in-need of a change?!

Q

 

[zeng]

Sounds like a superb engine mechanical condition you have ....

 

[Blueskies123]

My Toyota 3.5 L 2GR-FE V6 will put 10,000 miles on synthetic and look clean on the dip stick but when I drain the oil it will look darker coming out of the oil pan.

 

[tig1]

I do 10K OCIs with M1 and the oil in both engines turns a dark amber color. Never black.

 

[Virtus_Probi]

I do about ~5k OCIs with my turbo Forester and the oil is always BLACK...has happened with Subie oil, QSUD and M1 (all 5W30). I don't know if that turbo cooks it up good...???
Negligible consumption, though...

 

[Greasymechtech]

Use a "business card" blotter test.

 

[czbrian]

What vehicle? You might be wasting a really good oil changing at that mileage. Get a UOA done and see the results.

 

[Doog]

My Toyota 2GRFE (2) engines have the 5000 mile OCI and barely turn the oil dark by the end. My personal one does a 2 mile commute and gets darker than the wife's that sees more highway miles.

 

[Oldmoparguy1]

Originally Posted By: tig1
I do 10K OCIs with M1 and the oil in both engines turns a dark amber color. Never black.

Same here with my 2013 Dodge GC 3.6L. 53k, use M1 0w-20, PP 0w-20, also 5w-20. Change by the olm, 10k or 1 year. Goes in light amber, comes out medium amber. 0 usage.

 

[LoneRanger]

Except for diesels :~)

Turns black on the first run after the oil change . . .

 

[Rand]

Depends on the engine.

my 07 focus never darkened.

my 02 ranger was black after 800miles.

 

[Falken]

On my Cobalt with Castrol GTX, by 6,000kms the oil was jet black.

On my Fit, using any Synthetic, after 10,000kms, the oil is only maple syrup colored.... I change it around then anyway.

I think synthetics just don't break down as easily, adding to the darker color of the oil itself.

Well, good news I guess.

 

[Luisraul924]

I used Pennzoil Ultra Platinum 10W-30 for my last four oil changes and every time I changed the oil it was light gold going in and dark amber with a red tint to it coming out.

 

[circuitsmith]

Just as some engines consume more oil than others some have more blowby than others.
Blowby contains a lot of partially burned & blackened fuel, plus it can heat and darken the oil located below the rings.
These pistons have about the same amount of usage, but the on the left had more blowby:

 

[dlundblad]

The shiny metal dipstick will make the oil appear cleaner. As mentioned, the card trick or even a white paper towel will show the oils true color.

 

[4wheeldog]

I have a '00 4runner, 3.4 V6 with 250k miles on it. The oil does not color up much at all, with 5k changes. My '05 Tacoma, 4.0 V6, colors the oil substantially, in short order. I don't worry about either. But I do believe it is related to oil operating temperature. The Tacoma was designed after the infamous Toyota sludge makers became known, so I think oil temperature was consciously raised, in newer designs.

 

[Dyusik]

The jeep used to but a couple runs of RT6 cured that. As of now none of my vehicles have black oil.

 

[bigt61]

Originally Posted By: Blueskies123
My Toyota 3.5 L 2GR-FE V6 will put 10,000 miles on synthetic and look clean on the dip stick but when I drain the oil it will look darker coming out of the oil pan.

Yeah, I change the oil on a 2007 ES350 w the 2GR-FE V6 and it always looks clean. It uses dino 5W-30 every 5k. I think that engine is easy on oil and the 6.5 quart capacity doesn't hurt.

 

[Nick1994]

I changed the oil this past summer in my dad's 07' Toyota FJ Cruiser. Had 100k miles and he went 7,000 miles on dealer conventional oil, it was golden coming out.