Schaeffer 5w20 - really black!

[ericthepig]

I have some experience running Schaeffers in my Sienna - I noticed that the 15w40 was turning dark very quickly compared to other oils used in the Sienna. But I (normally a long OCI guy) never ran long OCIs with it there, so it didn't become a concern.

I'm now running Sch. 5w20 in my '06 Mazda 6. Got about 3.5k on it, and it's simply black (not amber, not dark, it's black). M1 woudn't be this black in the Mazda till about 7k.

I know that "black" doesn't necessarily mean anything. But, I'm getting uneasy since I was planning to push this fill out to perhaps 10k.

Anyone have experience with Schaeffers 7000 going black quick yet performing as advertised?

Thanks!

 

[lipadj46]

Why don't you get a used oil analysis done? Take the guesswork out of it.

 

[JohnBrowning]

I agree UOA. I think though it is safe to say that color change to black means one of two things oxidation damage tot he oil causeing it to turn colors or a dirty engine. Since you have no history of other oils turning black this fast I am going to go with oxidation damage. I am not a big fan of Schaffer's motor oil in Toyota's while it does ok their are plenty that work better and cost less!

 

[ARB1977]

Yea X3 on the UOA.

 

[tig1]

The M1 doesn't get black in my Dratech Fords. Just dark amber after 10,000 miles.

 

[XJ1100]

I just dropped the 7000 I had in my F150. It had 6000 miles on it and it was dark amber (same as all other oils). I would say that it is not normal for the Schaeffer's to be turning black that quick, but it doesn't indicate that the oil is in bad shape.

 

[ThirdeYe]

I've never had an oil get black in my car before. On the Daewoo I maintain, it turns the oil dark brown almost black in only 3,000 miles no matter what brand I use, even with easy highway driving so I always change that out between 3-4k. I'm now using synthetic in it and I'll see how that holds up in terms of color. It's possible that the engine is dirty (unknown maintenance for the first 80k), but through the fill hole it looks pretty clean. I wonder if the PCV is clogged/bad? I'll have to check that out when I find out where it is on that car.

 

[ericthepig]

I took my last fill of Mobil 1 0w20 in this Mazda 6 to 11k miles (UOA is on BITOG). Was planning on getting something like those miles out of the Schaeffers - and would UOA at the end of the run to see if I'd continue that interval. But now I'll likely do a dipstick sample UOA at 7k or so.

 

[Dieseldoctor]

it's sludge wax black death im sure... or more likely than not just normal junk that occurs but who knows color means about nothing if it was clear clean i'd be worried!

 

[FowVay]

I have played around with some Schaeffer products and have noticed that high heat will turn their products black. I have heated their Moly EP to 300ºF to do a miscibility comparison and noticed that the product turned from a beautiful blue/green color to ink black in a very short time. The only thing done to the additive was to heat it.

I use Schaeffer products and never payed much attention to the color of othe used product. The heat test was a eye opener though and may be related to Schaeffer's micron-moly or penetro additive that they put in their products.

 

[ericthepig]

FowWay, I suspect something like that. I used M1 in my van for 80k (avg 8k OCIs) - so I'm well aware of what that van did to M1's color. Then I put Schaeffers in the van and it went significant brown at 1.5k (about where M1 would be at 5k). Then there's my Mazda 6 as explained above.

Schaeffers supposedly has excellent oxidation resistance, so I'm thinking the penetro (or something else) just goes brown/black in short order.

 

[PT1]

For Toyotas I like the following off the shelf at Walmart oils.

1. Pennzoil Platinum
2. QHorsepower
3. Valvoline Synpower

Let the lowest price dictate which one.

 

[addyguy]

I'd run it at least 5k before changing/sampling. But I agree, oil turning completey black wouldn't sit right with me, and I'd change it then.

I know I go 8k miles on my dino fills; but at that point, the oil is only dark, dark brown/amber, not opaque black. It's still somewhat transluscent.

 

[ericthepig]

Originally Posted By: addyguy
But I agree, oil turning completey black wouldn't sit right with me..


Precisely. I agree that black oil is fine, unless it's in MY car and I've got at least six months left on the intended OCI. Correcting my OP, I would say M1 was this color at closer to 10k.

I've till got confidence in Schaeffers, so I'll likely push it out there a bit before doing the dipstick sample (hopefully I'll get the green flag to push it to at least 10k).

 

[salesrep]

1St fill with Schaeffer's Oil?

 

[ericthepig]

Salesrep,

Hello! Been a while. Yes, it's the first Schaeffers fill on the Mazda 6. It's got about 65k miles on the vehicle. You think I should dump early and repeat the cycle? - got plently of Schaeffers for a while.

 

[lipadj46]

Could be just the new chemistry leaching out stuff that your old oil left behind. I think cutting this OCI short and seeing what happens to the fresh stuff is a good idea.

 

[ericthepig]

Originally Posted By: lipadj46
.. new chemistry leaching out stuff ..


There's quite a bit of metal viewable thru the oil fill hole of this Mazda. The vehicle (supposedly) had 3k OCIs w/ Pennzoil conventional (for the first 50k). Followed by my 11k OCI on Mobil 1 0w20. Followed by this present fill of Sch. 7000. The metal in that upper valve area looks like it was last touched by robots. Just about mirror finish. If the upper valve area is any indication, there's nothing to leach.

 

[salesrep]

Originally Posted By: ericthepig
Salesrep,

Hello! Been a while. Yes, it's the first Schaeffers fill on the Mazda 6. It's got about 65k miles on the vehicle. You think I should dump early and repeat the cycle? - got plently of Schaeffers for a while.


Yes.
Just cleaning.

 

[Ken2]

I'm running Schaeffer's 7000 5w30 in my Tundra 2001 V8, 96,000 miles, with 10,000 mile ODI, and the oil doesn't even get seriously dark in this mileage.

My guess is that your oil is picking up some crud.