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What colour is your oil after service?

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 7:52 pm
by LaNcE
Hi guys i was wondering what colour of oil do you get after a service? whether is DIY or a dealer. Im not happy at all from my last service as the car came in to be changed oil but i have a feeling they did a crappy or dodgy job. i have been doing my services for all the cars we have at home they still be golden brown after 5k's! now with the evo with nearly over a 1k's maybe 1,100 - 1200 its black as! i am not disclosing any info about the dealer/place that did my service.

ill post my pics of the dipstick tomorrow.

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 7:59 pm
by JesseVRX
differnet oils go blacker quicker, and even quicker if a turbo engine.

but it's doing it's job if it goes black, it's normal.

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 7:59 pm
by LZY_EYE
Turbo cars will darken the oil more so than an NA.

I know my CJ used to be black after 15,000kms and I did 1000kms a week.

The oil still lubricated, and was still slippery. This is more important than the colour of it.

My focus has 7500 kms on it and the oil is definitely changing colour.

Out of curiosity, what oil is in it?

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 8:11 pm
by LaNcE
in my receipt it says castrol something. im planning to do my own oil change friday and see how long it stays golden.

not really, my bro has a cc gsr and we DIY oil change and by the time we swap oil's (every 5k's) its still not as bad as my one.

its not that if the oil is still ok and all im just upset that we pay monies to have them do the job properly and they dont. its not the matter of "just the colour". because if i know they do a half ass job you can bet your money i wont be coming back there.

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 8:19 pm
by LZY_EYE
LaNcE wrote:in my receipt it says castrol something. im planning to do my own oil change friday and see how long it stays golden.

not really, my bro has a cc gsr and we DIY oil change and by the time we swap oil's (every 5k's) its still not as bad as my one.

its not that if the oil is still ok and all im just upset that we pay monies to have them do the job properly and they dont. its not the matter of "just the colour". because if i know they do a half ass job you can bet your money i wont be coming back there.


Does it say Castrol Edge? If so it is a good oil, but I have noticed it does go darker quicker than other oils.

You can't really compare 2 different cars. The CC and your Evo are completely different engines. Also if it is a GSR I am assuming it is the 1.8 and I believe they have a smaller turbo on them.

You would need to compare 2 cars, the same with the same oil, and the same driving conditions to get a decent comparison.

My mates evo7 rally car doesn't do 1000kms between oil changes and the oil in the engine changes colour. It all depends on how it is driven.

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 8:28 pm
by LaNcE
its stays in the garage and just use it for church and all normal driving not even boost. as i always have mum inside my car >.<. i drive like a old granny (funny but true!) maybe ill let the photos do the talking its hard to say its black without seeing it. true?

yup its a gsr but with all evo 3 running gear / engine. so what do you think? if i do my own test use the same oil? so i have a comparison? or just go use motul?

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 9:07 pm
by Gleno
LZY_EYE wrote:Turbo cars will darken the oil more so than an NA.

I know my CJ used to be black after 15,000kms and I did 1000kms a week.

The oil still lubricated, and was still slippery. This is more important than the colour of it.

My focus has 7500 kms on it and the oil is definitely changing colour.

Out of curiosity, what oil is in it?


Shane in your opinion is 15,000 too much between oil changes?? Should it be 10,000?? I know i lot of manufacturers are doing 15,000 and i believe certain mercedes models are doing 20,000 between oil changes.

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 9:38 pm
by Chubb
As far as I see Mitsu state that 15000k is fine running 15w40 mineral oil, they would not state this if they thought it would damage the engine.

So with that being said I run a fully synthetic 5w50 oil and change at every 15000kms. I figure an oil made by man to lubricate an engine is far better then liquidfied dinosaurs :P

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 9:49 pm
by Gleno
Yeah true,i mean with the warranty they provide they must have faith with there drivetrains.i service by the book knowing that if the motor does encounter problems,they have to fix it providing your still under warranty.And the chances are i will have another car well before 160,000/ten years :)

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 7:38 am
by blade888
If you are only driving on weekend short trips then that may explain it. These engines as stock, run rich. And racking up all of your 1000kms when the engine is warming up due to short trips (as the engine runs even more rich when it's warming up) is going to make the oil turn dark really quickly.

As LZY_EYE said, it depends how you drive it.

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 3:21 pm
by Frazza
Oil is a tricky subject and the only true way to know if your chosen oil is doing it\'s job is to have it tested. Your oil is supposed to be black, it means it\'s doing its job and removing any contaminates, this can sometimes happen more quickly if the previous oil was crap and the new oil is doing it\'s job and cleaning your engine. You really need to find out what you used before and what the differences are. If you use good high grade oil then you can do longer changes. If you spend big money on top end oil and only do 5000k changes you are wasting your money.

I know a lot about oils having done some testing some time back for an importer and we did back to back test and had the oil tested to see what it is actually doing.

Have a look at http://www.e-monitor.com.au/

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 3:54 pm
by LaNcE
blade888 wrote:If you are only driving on weekend short trips then that may explain it. These engines as stock, run rich. And racking up all of your 1000kms when the engine is warming up due to short trips (as the engine runs even more rich when it's warming up) is going to make the oil turn dark really quickly.

As LZY_EYE said, it depends how you drive it.



we always warm up our cars 5 mins everytime it was first started whether its my evo or our 89 camry. did the change oil today with castrol edge. im not happy at all. oil is thick as. its worst as the first time i changed oil the camry! ill be posting up photos tomorrow as ill be working overnight tonight.

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 5:00 pm
by PYLee
on both of my oil change , my oil seem to turn black really fast. After the change , i checked and it was abit gold-ish still but after awhile , it turn black

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 8:39 pm
by stewy
My oil goes black pretty quick and is nice and dark by the 7,500KM oil change I do. I always use synthetic 10W-40 Nulon oil too, so it's not cheap mineral crap. Unless you specified synthetic and paid extra maybe the dealer is using a cheap mineral oil?

Also short trips will explain alot....

Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 11:10 am
by spareparts
i do the oil and filter ever 5 tho ks in the ralliart. oil comes out black to the point it will stain my hand a little.... i use castreol edge 5w/30 and mitsu oil filter. betime i drive home 33 ks away my oil is all ready showing signs of black in it.... 2 main things that makes oil dirty is fuel leaking past piston rings now all piston engines do it if you get a 100% perfect seal the engine wont turn.... other is heat now being its a turbo engine it gets a lot of heat from the turbo from exhaust system as the oil is used a lube agen as well as a cooling agen not only in the turbo but engine as well. black oil is good oil its doin its job right just change it ever 5k and give the car a good rung up the high way for and hour and come back that will also help.