Still can't get used to......

[mikep]

how dark new,unused Havoline 5w-20 is. Even though I've been using it for quite a while now, it still catches me be surprise. I changed the oil in my Mazda6 yesterday (sample is already on the way to Blackstone) and when I began to pour in the new Havoline, I had to do a double check to make sure I wasn't pouring in used motor oil.

Boy, Havoline 5w-20 sure is dark. By contrast, the half quart of Havoline 5w30 I used to top it off was the normal golden color. I've not used a lot of different 20 weights so I have no idea what the normal 20w color is. I do know Motorcraft 5w-20 has a sort of greenish tint to it.

Why, what would make Havoline 5w20 conventional so dark? Are Pennzoil, Castrol GTX and Valvoline 20 weights also much darker than their 30w brothers?

 

[T-Keith]

Additives. 5w20 tends to have a lot more than 5w30. Even Castrol says so on the bottle to explain the darker color.

Most if not all of the 5w20s are darker than the 5w30s. Since they usually also have much more moly, I would guess it's that, although it could just be the die, or another ingredient them comes with the moly.

-T

 

[Whimsey]

quote:

---

Originally posted by mikep:
Boy, Havoline 5w-20 sure is dark. By contrast, the half quart of Havoline 5w30 I used to top it off was the normal golden color. I've not used a lot of different 20 weights so I have no idea what the normal 20w color is. I do know Motorcraft 5w-20 has a sort of greenish tint to it.

---

Mike, tell me you didn't accidently pour in that real dark Samual Adams Cream Stout instead of the oil

. You have to stop imbibing while you're changing the oil

! Most likely it's the additive differences. I think the Havoline 5W-20 has a decent amount of moly. Whereas the Havoline 5w30 doesn't. The "pre-moly" Motorcraft 5W-20 had no moly and was almost clear. I haven't seen any of the newer Motorcraft 5W-20 which now appears to contain some moly according to recent used oil analysis. Maybe it's darker now

.

Whimsey

 

[pbm]

I also noticed how dark the Exxon 5w20 was when I poured it into my wifes Honda. I figured it was the additives also.

 

[mikep]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Whimsey:

quote:

---

Originally posted by mikep:
Boy, Havoline 5w-20 sure is dark. By contrast, the half quart of Havoline 5w30 I used to top it off was the normal golden color. I've not used a lot of different 20 weights so I have no idea what the normal 20w color is. I do know Motorcraft 5w-20 has a sort of greenish tint to it.

---

Mike, tell me you didn't accidently pour in that real dark Samual Adams Cream Stout instead of the oil

. You have to stop imbibing while you're changing the oil

! Most likely it's the additive differences. I think the Havoline 5W-20 has a decent amount of moly. Whereas the Havoline 5w30 doesn't. The "pre-moly" Motorcraft 5W-20 had no moly and was almost clear. I haven't seen any of the newer Motorcraft 5W-20 which now appears to contain some moly according to recent used oil analysis. Maybe it's darker now

.

Whimsey

---

Hmmm....I wonder if Guiness has moly in it?

 

[Blue99]

Here's a nice comparison of 5W-20 oils by Roger in post #11 of this VOA thread.

http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=11;t=000148

Assuming Havoline 5W-20 follows the Chevron formulation, approx 250 ppm of Moly is helping to generate the dark color. Also, note the high amounts of calcium for additional AW protection.

 

[Whimsey]

quote:

---

Originally posted by mikep:

Hmmm....I wonder if Guiness has moly in it?

[/QB]

---

We'll maybe we should find out. After all it's in the name of oil science. Somebody's got to do it

. At the same time we could determine the moly content in Krogh's Oatmeal Cream Stout

. It's a tough assignment, I hope you're up to it

.

Whimsey

 

[mikep]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Whimsey:

quote:

---

Originally posted by mikep:

Hmmm....I wonder if Guiness has moly in it?

---

We'll maybe we should find out. After all it's in the name of oil science. Somebody's got to do it

. At the same time we could determine the moly content in Krogh's Oatmeal Cream Stout

. It's a tough assignment, I hope you're up to it

.

Whimsey [/QB]

---

As long as I don't have to catch a "used sample" in one of those little plastic containers and send it in for analysis.

Blue99...thanks for that link. Yep, the moly must be it. I think Havoline has one of the highest moly contents of the OTC 5w-20 oils.

 

[Ken2]

quote:

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Originally posted by Blue99:
Assuming Havoline 5W-20 follows the Chevron formulation, approx 250 ppm of Moly is helping to generate the dark color.

---

Is molybdenum dialkyldithiocarbamate dark colored? Schaeffer's isn't dark, it's bright green. You might be thinking of dark gray molybdenum disulfide power which is not used in motor oil.


Ken

 

[Jelly]

It's the moly baby!

You should see the color difference between the old moly-rich Pennzoil Long-Life formula and the new one...

 

[bigjason]

My Valvoline 5w-20 syn oil is very clear, does it mean they have less moly in it?

 

[MNgopher]

Since Valvoline uses no moly in their passenger car oils at this point, its not a big surprise on the color. IMHO, though, I wouldn't worry as moly content is not a direct correlation to excellent performance out of a motor oil.

I remember doing a double take the first time I got the Havoline 5w20 with moly. It was dark! I even did a search at the time. Chevron had recently told its distributors that the dark color was normal and due to the additive content. I know Citgo also places a disclaimer on their 5w20 Supergard bottles that the colr of the oil may be much darker than usual due to the additives used.