I bought a used Honda Civic (2009) for my daughter to travel to college. It had about 40,000 miles on it which was pretty high but she will only drive about 5000 miles a year so in 2013 when she finishes school it should have about 60,000 on it and be 4 years old which makes it average. (I got a great deal due to the high miles). Anyway, I started using Quaker State Ultimate synthetic and notice the oil gets jet black in about 2000 miles. So I changed it at about 4000 miles and used the same oil again. Now this oil is jet black at 4000 miles again. I was wondering why this oil gets so black so soon? I mean it is so black it looks like crude oil. Is this a problem?
Why is synthetic oil getting so black?
- Thread starter Doog
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It may not be a problem (probably is not) - you probably know that oil color does not indicate anything about oil condition - but I would say that this is not typical for this engine, in which the oil tends to stay gold for a long time.
Why don't you do an oil analysis to find out what is going on?
Why don't you do an oil analysis to find out what is going on?
Get a UOA done to be sure. After being a member here Ive learned that the reason oil gets dark is because it is cleaning the junk out. I wonder what the inside of the engine looks like?
Unless you are losing coolant I wouldn't do a UOA, but synthetic oil will begin to clean up any deposites that may be in the engine. Since my engines have always had synthetic oil in them they stay very clean and the oil drained after 10K still has that dark amber colar.
Originally Posted By: Doog
I bought a used Honda Civic (2009) for my daughter to travel to college. It had about 40,000 miles on it which was pretty high but she will only drive about 5000 miles a year so in 2013 when she finishes school it should have about 60,000 on it and be 4 years old which makes it average. (I got a great deal due to the high miles). Anyway, I started using Quaker State Ultimate synthetic and notice the oil gets jet black in about 2000 miles. So I changed it at about 4000 miles and used the same oil again. Now this oil is jet black at 4000 miles again. I was wondering why this oil gets so black so soon? I mean it is so black it looks like crude oil. Is this a problem?
Looks like someone probably ran conventional oil for the first 40,000 or so miles, perhaps didn't change it as often as needed, who knows. Quacker State Synthetic is cleaning the engine. I would do the next oil change at 5,000 miles and than 6,000 miles or if you like 4,000 mile oil changes do that for awhile, but synthetics will go further. Do use a filter that won't load up as quickly, if your engine had lot's of deposits in it, it might put your filter in bypass mode if clogged. Suggest moving up to a synthetic media type filter, which has more holding capacity just to be on the safe side, such as Mobil 1 EP or Bosch Distance Plus, you can find them at Walmart.
I bought a used Honda Civic (2009) for my daughter to travel to college. It had about 40,000 miles on it which was pretty high but she will only drive about 5000 miles a year so in 2013 when she finishes school it should have about 60,000 on it and be 4 years old which makes it average. (I got a great deal due to the high miles). Anyway, I started using Quaker State Ultimate synthetic and notice the oil gets jet black in about 2000 miles. So I changed it at about 4000 miles and used the same oil again. Now this oil is jet black at 4000 miles again. I was wondering why this oil gets so black so soon? I mean it is so black it looks like crude oil. Is this a problem?
Looks like someone probably ran conventional oil for the first 40,000 or so miles, perhaps didn't change it as often as needed, who knows. Quacker State Synthetic is cleaning the engine. I would do the next oil change at 5,000 miles and than 6,000 miles or if you like 4,000 mile oil changes do that for awhile, but synthetics will go further. Do use a filter that won't load up as quickly, if your engine had lot's of deposits in it, it might put your filter in bypass mode if clogged. Suggest moving up to a synthetic media type filter, which has more holding capacity just to be on the safe side, such as Mobil 1 EP or Bosch Distance Plus, you can find them at Walmart.
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Sounds like the QSUD is doing its job.
Originally Posted By: lexus114
Sounds like the QSUD is doing its job.
Sure does look like that. My brother had a 2001 Lincoln Town Car, nice shape I might add, it had 108,000 which I don't consider to high for the year, but I can assure you it ran conventional. When out of the kindness of my heart, I bought him some Mobil 1 Synthetic with Filter for him to use. Funny story, I bought it for him because he never like to change his oil. He would run conventional for 10,000 plus miles or more. The Mobil 1 Syn. Cleaned so well his oil looked like pretty black(Cleaning), but the bad thing is, it burned oil towards 7,000 miles mark to the point of 2.5 quarts without him knowing it(He asssured me he checks it, lol). Looks like now he will have to be a lifetime High Mileage Oil user or go up a grade in viscosity
Sounds like the QSUD is doing its job.
Sure does look like that. My brother had a 2001 Lincoln Town Car, nice shape I might add, it had 108,000 which I don't consider to high for the year, but I can assure you it ran conventional. When out of the kindness of my heart, I bought him some Mobil 1 Synthetic with Filter for him to use. Funny story, I bought it for him because he never like to change his oil. He would run conventional for 10,000 plus miles or more. The Mobil 1 Syn. Cleaned so well his oil looked like pretty black(Cleaning), but the bad thing is, it burned oil towards 7,000 miles mark to the point of 2.5 quarts without him knowing it(He asssured me he checks it, lol). Looks like now he will have to be a lifetime High Mileage Oil user or go up a grade in viscosity
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Take a look through the oil filler hole on top of the valve cover. If the internals are clean and clear and you can see the shiny aluminum head, I'd say the dark oil is fine.
Seeing as the car is used with unknown history, a clean up oil change or two would be a good thing. That way you know that the engine is clean and good to go.
You've already sort of done that with the previous short oil change.
Seeing as the car is used with unknown history, a clean up oil change or two would be a good thing. That way you know that the engine is clean and good to go.
You've already sort of done that with the previous short oil change.
Maybe it's because the dipstick on that engine is bright orange and it makes oil look darker? I don't notice that on my Civic (same engine) with the oil. It always gets darker, but I'm at about 8,000KM on my current fill and I still don't think its black, just dark. With only 40K miles I wouldn't even worry about it. When I open my oil cap my engine still looks like factory inside (and it has 37,000KM) so its doubtful there is any real cleaning of deposits going on.
High detergent oil + gummed up pistons = black oil for a couple changes. Car may have been driven over-conservatively AND the oil may have been run down to 0 OLM.
I had the same happen with my first fill of PP 5W20 in my Mazda 3. It had dino fills at decent oil change intervals before the PP. I believe it was just the new oil cleaning the engine. Subsequent fills stayed cleaner longer as I continued using the Penn Plat.
Originally Posted By: Topo
Looks like someone probably ran conventional oil for the first 40,000 or so miles, perhaps didn't change it as often as needed, who knows.
I would bet it's the latter. 40K miles on a Honda is not high mileage. It may have been neglected.
Not sure why many here continue to suggest that running syn (grpIII???LOL) is THAT much better than conventional for cleanliness. SM and SN conventional oils clean an engine just fine. My wife's car has had a 100K life of ST and other cheap dino's run to nearly the end of the OLM and the engine doesn't even have a varnish tint. That's goes for any of my vehicles.
99% of us do not NEED synthetic to have healthy & clean engines.
Looks like someone probably ran conventional oil for the first 40,000 or so miles, perhaps didn't change it as often as needed, who knows.
I would bet it's the latter. 40K miles on a Honda is not high mileage. It may have been neglected.
Not sure why many here continue to suggest that running syn (grpIII???LOL) is THAT much better than conventional for cleanliness. SM and SN conventional oils clean an engine just fine. My wife's car has had a 100K life of ST and other cheap dino's run to nearly the end of the OLM and the engine doesn't even have a varnish tint. That's goes for any of my vehicles.
99% of us do not NEED synthetic to have healthy & clean engines.
Originally Posted By: Zaedock
Originally Posted By: Topo
Looks like someone probably ran conventional oil for the first 40,000 or so miles, perhaps didn't change it as often as needed, who knows.
I would bet it's the latter. 40K miles on a Honda is not high mileage. It may have been neglected.
Not sure why many here continue to suggest that running syn (grpIII???LOL) is THAT much better than conventional for cleanliness. SM and SN conventional oils clean an engine just fine. My wife's car has had a 100K life of ST and other cheap dino's run to nearly the end of the OLM and the engine doesn't even have a varnish tint. That's goes for any of my vehicles.
99% of us do not NEED synthetic to have healthy & clean engines.
You don't have to run any synthetic in cars for them to be clean or run good, as long as you can safely know your not pushing the oil far to long. But, If you put lots of miles on your vehicle, I prefer Synthetic so I safely can drive those 6 to 8,000 mile OCI without worrying. In addition I usually get an UOA just to see if the oil is still viable for the range of miles I choose run on the oil.
Originally Posted By: Topo
Looks like someone probably ran conventional oil for the first 40,000 or so miles, perhaps didn't change it as often as needed, who knows.
I would bet it's the latter. 40K miles on a Honda is not high mileage. It may have been neglected.
Not sure why many here continue to suggest that running syn (grpIII???LOL) is THAT much better than conventional for cleanliness. SM and SN conventional oils clean an engine just fine. My wife's car has had a 100K life of ST and other cheap dino's run to nearly the end of the OLM and the engine doesn't even have a varnish tint. That's goes for any of my vehicles.
99% of us do not NEED synthetic to have healthy & clean engines.
You don't have to run any synthetic in cars for them to be clean or run good, as long as you can safely know your not pushing the oil far to long. But, If you put lots of miles on your vehicle, I prefer Synthetic so I safely can drive those 6 to 8,000 mile OCI without worrying. In addition I usually get an UOA just to see if the oil is still viable for the range of miles I choose run on the oil.
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Originally Posted By: Topo
Originally Posted By: Zaedock
Originally Posted By: Topo
Looks like someone probably ran conventional oil for the first 40,000 or so miles, perhaps didn't change it as often as needed, who knows.
I would bet it's the latter. 40K miles on a Honda is not high mileage. It may have been neglected.
Not sure why many here continue to suggest that running syn (grpIII???LOL) is THAT much better than conventional for cleanliness. SM and SN conventional oils clean an engine just fine. My wife's car has had a 100K life of ST and other cheap dino's run to nearly the end of the OLM and the engine doesn't even have a varnish tint. That's goes for any of my vehicles.
99% of us do not NEED synthetic to have healthy & clean engines.
You don't have to run any synthetic in cars for them to be clean or run good, as long as you can safely know your not pushing the oil far to long. But, If you put lots of miles on your vehicle, I prefer Synthetic so I safely can drive those 6 to 8,000 mile OCI without worrying. In addition I usually get an UOA just to see if the oil is still viable for the range of miles I choose run on the oil.
Well, seeing as the factory Honda oil is synthetic, the newer Civics basically call for synthetic to be able to do these intervals safely.
Originally Posted By: Zaedock
Originally Posted By: Topo
Looks like someone probably ran conventional oil for the first 40,000 or so miles, perhaps didn't change it as often as needed, who knows.
I would bet it's the latter. 40K miles on a Honda is not high mileage. It may have been neglected.
Not sure why many here continue to suggest that running syn (grpIII???LOL) is THAT much better than conventional for cleanliness. SM and SN conventional oils clean an engine just fine. My wife's car has had a 100K life of ST and other cheap dino's run to nearly the end of the OLM and the engine doesn't even have a varnish tint. That's goes for any of my vehicles.
99% of us do not NEED synthetic to have healthy & clean engines.
You don't have to run any synthetic in cars for them to be clean or run good, as long as you can safely know your not pushing the oil far to long. But, If you put lots of miles on your vehicle, I prefer Synthetic so I safely can drive those 6 to 8,000 mile OCI without worrying. In addition I usually get an UOA just to see if the oil is still viable for the range of miles I choose run on the oil.
Well, seeing as the factory Honda oil is synthetic, the newer Civics basically call for synthetic to be able to do these intervals safely.
Originally Posted By: tig1
Unless you are losing coolant I wouldn't do a UOA, but synthetic oil will begin to clean up any deposites that may be in the engine. Since my engines have always had synthetic oil in them they stay very clean and the oil drained after 10K still has that dark amber colar.
It is not losing any coolant and the engine runs very nice and smooth and quiet. I just got a whole load of Mobil1 5w20 oil so maybe I'll just do a few 4000 mile oil changes and see what happens.
Unless you are losing coolant I wouldn't do a UOA, but synthetic oil will begin to clean up any deposites that may be in the engine. Since my engines have always had synthetic oil in them they stay very clean and the oil drained after 10K still has that dark amber colar.
It is not losing any coolant and the engine runs very nice and smooth and quiet. I just got a whole load of Mobil1 5w20 oil so maybe I'll just do a few 4000 mile oil changes and see what happens.
The oil in my Forester turns black after 1,000 to 1,500 miles. It has done this since the car was brand new, and I've used synthetic in it the whole time. Doesn't seem like a problem to me.
Quote:
....I just got a whole load of Mobil1 5w20 oil so maybe I'll just do a few 4000 mile oil changes and see what happens.
Do that. And revive this thread every 5k miles or so to keep us updated!
....I just got a whole load of Mobil1 5w20 oil so maybe I'll just do a few 4000 mile oil changes and see what happens.
Do that. And revive this thread every 5k miles or so to keep us updated!
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Whats the recommended interval for that car?
Originally Posted By: Artem
Well, seeing as the factory Honda oil is synthetic, the newer Civics basically call for synthetic to be able to do these intervals safely.
IIRC (and please correct me if I'm wrong), Honda recommends (not requires) 0w20 in it's newer Civics. 5W20 can still be used. Honda engines are easy on oil and have a long history on this site of completing decently sized OCI's with dino. Honda's reasoning behind recommending 0W20 probably has more to do with gas mileage than it does with meeting an interval requirement.
6-7 K dino oil change intervals are cake for most vehicles on the road today, IMO.
Originally Posted By: Doog
It is not losing any coolant and the engine runs very nice and smooth and quiet. I just got a whole load of Mobil1 5w20 oil so maybe I'll just do a few 4000 mile oil changes and see what happens.
I would use the M1 for my vehicles and run PYB in this Civic with yearly 5K mile changes. Done. No need to over analyze until you get a UOA base. As mentioned before, color is not a good indicator!
Well, seeing as the factory Honda oil is synthetic, the newer Civics basically call for synthetic to be able to do these intervals safely.
IIRC (and please correct me if I'm wrong), Honda recommends (not requires) 0w20 in it's newer Civics. 5W20 can still be used. Honda engines are easy on oil and have a long history on this site of completing decently sized OCI's with dino. Honda's reasoning behind recommending 0W20 probably has more to do with gas mileage than it does with meeting an interval requirement.
6-7 K dino oil change intervals are cake for most vehicles on the road today, IMO.
Originally Posted By: Doog
It is not losing any coolant and the engine runs very nice and smooth and quiet. I just got a whole load of Mobil1 5w20 oil so maybe I'll just do a few 4000 mile oil changes and see what happens.
I would use the M1 for my vehicles and run PYB in this Civic with yearly 5K mile changes. Done. No need to over analyze until you get a UOA base. As mentioned before, color is not a good indicator!
Originally Posted By: Zaedock
I would use the M1 for my vehicles and run PYB in this Civic with yearly 5K mile changes. Done. No need to over analyze until you get a UOA base. As mentioned before, color is not a good indicator!
Yeah but I got the Mobil1 for free so I'll use that. Plus my daughter is not too good about checking oil so I want a synthetic oil in there in case she runs the oil past the change interval.
I would use the M1 for my vehicles and run PYB in this Civic with yearly 5K mile changes. Done. No need to over analyze until you get a UOA base. As mentioned before, color is not a good indicator!
Yeah but I got the Mobil1 for free so I'll use that. Plus my daughter is not too good about checking oil so I want a synthetic oil in there in case she runs the oil past the change interval.
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