Possible to determine how many miles on oil visually?

I changed the oil in our “new” 2009 Vibe (41,000 miles). 1,000 miles on the oil from oct 2021 to present. Golden on the stick. Black and stinky when drained. Changed the PCV as it was very gummy on the end, sticky and barely rattled. Too many old lady short trips in the last 5 years, 2100 miles in the last 3 years. Castrol edge 5w30 Euro was put in. Probably had a 20 weight dexos from the dealership in it.
 
Rubbing the oil between your fingers will provide about as much information as the color. Oil is cheap and I agree with those who say to change it if there are any doubts or unanswered questions. Hopefully you have good maintenance records for the inherited vehicle. Used vehicles from unknown parties are always a gamble, even "certified" used vehicles from dealers. Lots of shady characters out there looking for a quick profit, and often it is not difficult to falsify records or change odometer readings. Not trying to instill doubt or fear, just stating facts. I've been pretty lucky with used vehicle purchases so far. But not so lucky when selling my used vehicles lol.
 
You can however tell the relativity of it, that it gradually gets darker and kind of tie it to a time frame in your specific engine with your specific oil and specific driving habits.
 
There is absolutely NOTHING quantitative about oil color - nothing.


I disagree to a point…

That oil I bought that was garbage out of the container and listed by PQIA has a legitimate bad product…. Looked like dark cola… I have never ever seen a oil look anything like that brand new out of the container .

And what if the oil color was darkish milkshake brown a bit… Would T that be a sign something wasn’t right ? That color being thrown off by a coolant leak.

In terms of making a definitive decision if a oil is still serviceable… Absolutely no way color matters there. Diesel oil turns quote black almost right away…
 
I disagree to a point…

That oil I bought that was garbage out of the container and listed by PQIA has a legitimate bad product…. Looked like dark cola… I have never ever seen a oil look anything like that brand new out of the container .

And what if the oil color was darkish milkshake brown a bit… Would T that be a sign something wasn’t right ? That color being thrown off by a coolant leak.

In terms of making a definitive decision if a oil is still serviceable… Absolutely no way color matters there. Diesel oil turns quote black almost right away…
I choose words carefully and yet many choose to not read them carefully. Everything you described would be qualitative observations and my position is you can not determine anything quantitative by looking at oil color.

Can you determine if there was coolant contamination? Absolutely! However, that’s a qualitative observation. Can you determine how many miles are on the oil? Absolutely not! That’s a quantitative observation.

I stand by my post being 100% accurate.
 
You can however tell the relativity of it, that it gradually gets darker and kind of tie it to a time frame in your specific engine with your specific oil and specific driving habits.
Hmmm. My Tundra and Kia darken slightly in the first 500-1000 and then as far as I can tell remain basically the same for the next 4000-4500 miles both still dark golden brown on the dipstick at the end of OCI. My RX 350 darkens to black within the first 1500-2000 miles and remains black until 5000 miles. None of those observations tell me anything usefully quantitative other than the oil is somewhere in the first 1000-2000 miles or in the next 3000-4000 miles and that range is limited by my choice to change it at 5k miles. If I ran the 10K OCI all I'd know is the oil has somewhere between 8000 and 9000 miles on it beyond the initial darkening period.
 
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On my 2006/2007 Honda Odysseys:
After 1k miles, oil is very light brown (looks nearly brand new).
After 2k miles, oil is between light and medium brown.
After 3k miles, oil is medium brown.
After 4k miles, oil is dark brown.

I change the oil at 4k miles or 6 months, which ever comes first.
This covers the short trip vehicle which always has less than 4k miles when I change it at the mandatory 6 month interval.
I only use High Mileage Full Synthetic oil with a higher HTHS than the viscosity specified in the owners manual
so that under heavy loads / high RPM there is additional MOFT for additional engine wear protection.
Two are my goals are to prevent sludge, and also prevent engine seals from leaking internally causing oil consumption, or leaking externally causing leaks on my driveway/garage. So far I've been fortunate, no oil leaks at all. No oil added in between oil changes.
 
On my 2006/2007 Honda Odysseys:
After 1k miles, oil is very light brown (looks nearly brand new).
After 2k miles, oil is between light and medium brown.
After 3k miles, oil is medium brown.
After 4k miles, oil is dark brown.

I change the oil at 4k miles or 6 months, which ever comes first.
This covers the short trip vehicle which always has less than 4k miles when I change it at the mandatory 6 month interval.
I only use High Mileage Full Synthetic oil with a higher HTHS than the viscosity specified in the owners manual
so that under heavy loads / high RPM there is additional MOFT for additional engine wear protection.
Two are my goals are to prevent sludge, and also prevent engine seals from leaking internally causing oil consumption, or leaking externally causing leaks on my driveway/garage. So far I've been fortunate, no oil leaks at all. No oil added in between oil changes.
Doesn’t matter, that era J35 will all need a rear main seal and oil pump reseal eventually.
 
Doesn’t matter, that era J35 will all need a rear main seal and oil pump reseal eventually.
Thanks, I'll do some research on that. Would the constant high mileage oil treat the rear main seal and oil pump seal enough
so that they never start leaking?
 
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