I've used 0-40 Mobil1 in three cars for several years now=my wife's 'summer' '05 Nissan 350-her '06 Malibu with the 3900 V6 and my 'winter beater' '05 Elantra. The Chev just shows the normal oil darkening over months/miles, but with the other two the oil darkens to a darker reddish color-kinda like tired ATF. So what's with that? not something I've seen before.
oil 'aging' to red?
- Thread starter Lapham3
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Dissolved varnish. In this picture the piston in the middle is partially blocked by the pick up tube and is taking longer to come clean. The one on the lower right hand corner is almost there.
Notice the red tint to the oil drops, this is Mobil 1 0w40 also.
Notice the red tint to the oil drops, this is Mobil 1 0w40 also.
Originally Posted By: Trav
Dissolved varnish. In this picture the piston in the middle is partially blocked by the pick up tube and is taking longer to come clean. The one on the lower right hand corner is almost there.
Notice the red tint to the oil drops, this is Mobil 1 0w40 also.
Trav is right varnish can be different colours. The M1 is cleaning up residual varnish so it's nothing to worry about.
Dissolved varnish. In this picture the piston in the middle is partially blocked by the pick up tube and is taking longer to come clean. The one on the lower right hand corner is almost there.
Notice the red tint to the oil drops, this is Mobil 1 0w40 also.
Trav is right varnish can be different colours. The M1 is cleaning up residual varnish so it's nothing to worry about.
Weird for diesel cars for sure. Notice the subforum.
Yes-like that-just as your pic shows. I hadn't much considered that possibility because of the oil's reddish color (new to me) and the maintenance history of the cars-all bought used by us with good documentation of previous owner's work-at the dealers-including fairly frequent oil changes-altho all were dealer dino oils, too. Maybe the Chev dealer bulk oils were better than the Nissan-Hyundai guys? Well anyway, thanks Trav and no doubt that's it-evidence of the cleaning power of synthetics-this oil at least is demonstrated. I haven't noticed oils combining with deposits to turn color other than darker-blacker. When switching from the Shell Rotella dino to T6 in her 'winter Jeep' and a couple of my 'summer' cars-maybe the T6 syn got a bit darker faster, but no color change that noticed. More detergent action or a different reaction with the Mobil 1 10-40?
Originally Posted By: Lapham3
I've used 0-40 Mobil1 in three cars for several years now=my wife's 'summer' '05 Nissan 350-her '06 Malibu with the 3900 V6 and my 'winter beater' '05 Elantra. The Chev just shows the normal oil darkening over months/miles, but with the other two the oil darkens to a darker reddish color-kinda like tired ATF. So what's with that? not something I've seen before.
Exactly as stated above. The oil is dissolving deposits and thus becomes a new color based on what it ate off your internal engine parts.
Still bothers me that I read about folks here being happy that brand X stays cleaner looking longer than brand Y, I see that as showing that one oil is cleaning and another is not...
I've used 0-40 Mobil1 in three cars for several years now=my wife's 'summer' '05 Nissan 350-her '06 Malibu with the 3900 V6 and my 'winter beater' '05 Elantra. The Chev just shows the normal oil darkening over months/miles, but with the other two the oil darkens to a darker reddish color-kinda like tired ATF. So what's with that? not something I've seen before.
Exactly as stated above. The oil is dissolving deposits and thus becomes a new color based on what it ate off your internal engine parts.
Still bothers me that I read about folks here being happy that brand X stays cleaner looking longer than brand Y, I see that as showing that one oil is cleaning and another is not...
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