Valvoline Durablend 80w-90 normal?

[gomes512]

Drained Valvoline durablend 80w-90 (bottle says syn mix) and it came out looking cloudy and greenish. Almost looked like a light army green, light did not seem to penetrate through. 500 miles on oil (Dana 35c rear axle). Did not notice any water or wear metal. Internals looked normal like before. Anyone else experience this?

I normally service at 30k intervals with Valvoline Durablend 85w-140, stuff always comes out black. Again, never have seen any excess wear.

I had changed an axle seal and resealed diff cover with high temp red rtv prior to a 500 mile trip. Tried the 80w-90 as it was the only stuff on the shelf at the store. This was an off-road trip, I had checked level of fluid after coming home from the trip. When I pulled out my finger I figured it was water contamination from the river trail. Checked all seals on diff and also checked the breather tube on top, all checked out ok. Pulled the cover and fluid was as described above, no apparent contamination.

Only 500 miles on the oil though, any ideas as to what gives? Was that normal for the Valvoline stuff? I'm thinking I may try Mobil next since it is in stock at the store.

Thanks for any ideas.

 

[JADED]

Had the same thing happen to me except I used the Ultra Black RTV Oil Resistant Silicone with 80w-90 Rotella. Can pretty much asure you the color is due to the sealant. I'm hoping it goes away next OCI since I now use a fluid extractor and don't plan on opening it up again. I replaced it with some Castrol Hypoy C and plan on checking it soon.

 

[Eddie]

After discovering that my Mobil 1 75-90 gear oil was not, I check the seal on ALL bottles now. Obviously someone exchanged a cheaper 80-90 for the Mobil and returned it to the store. Any chance you had the same situation?

 

[PT1]

I use the durablend in my Lexus RX diffs. No sealant. Always looks cloudy when it comes out. Normal IMO.

 

[gomes512]

Been a while since this post, but as a follow up I did try some Mobil 1 75w-90. Same procedure as before, used red high temp silicone sealant and waited overnight for it to set. I have since put on about 600 miles and oil seems fine. Same color as it went in.

Interesting story Eddie, yes I check all sealed bottles in store before I put them in the cart.

Interesting how the durablend does that. I had never really checked it before the complete 30k interval, so I was always use to seeing either the color of new fluid or the blackened fluid. Guess there has to be some intermediate? Strange that the Mobil doesn't do that, but I know most of the time color doesn't mean much.