Oil turning dark less than 20 miles after change??

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Red00Jetta

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Hi everyone, new here. I just changed my oil the other day with Havoline Pro DS full synthetic 5w30, and due to some snowfall, the vehicle has less than 25 miles on the change. The oil is already darkening noticeably, and the last oil change I used O'reilly store brand 5w30 full syn, and it stayed very clean and very golden for about 3000 miles. Admittedly I did run an 8000 mile OCI this time. Also I noticed last time when I started the car after the change it started up quiet, this time it had lots of rattles, and actually sounded like the bearings knocking for 2 to 3 seconds. I prefilled the filter cap (has the replaceable cartridge filter) both times. Also when I drained the oil and was wiping out the filter cap I noticed tiny sparkles. Bearing material? Is my engine reaching the end of its life? The car is a 2000 VW Jetta VR6. What can I do to remedy this?
 
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From what I've seen over the many years its a sign of a dirty engine inside. And like said if you don't get all the old oil out that will contaminate the new.
 
Originally Posted By: Red00Jetta
Is my engine reaching the end of its life?

I would not rush making this conclusion. I am pretty sure that you will not hear rattling noise anymore. Since you've drained the oil, few parts of engine were literally dry. Now oil reached all corners, so you are fine.
If your oil got dark, this is fine: it does the cleaning job. I would also use any kind of soft cleaners (Auto-RX, MMO) for cleaning engine inside.
BTW, didn't you disassemble your old oil filter? It would be useful to find out if there are any metal particles in it. In future I would use flush for each oil change. But don't do it for now since your engine probably is too dirty. Use soft cleaners first.
 
Originally Posted By: Red00Jetta
Hi everyone, new here. I just changed my oil the other day with Havoline Pro DS full synthetic 5w30, and due to some snowfall, the vehicle has less than 25 miles on the change. The oil is already darkening noticeably, and the last oil change I used O'reilly store brand 5w30 full syn, and it stayed very clean and very golden for about 3000 miles. Admittedly I did run an 8000 mile OCI this time. Also I noticed last time when I started the car after the change it started up quiet, this time it had lots of rattles, and actually sounded like the bearings knocking for 2 to 3 seconds. I prefilled the filter cap (has the replaceable cartridge filter) both times. Also when I drained the oil and was wiping out the filter cap I noticed tiny sparkles. Bearing material? Is my engine reaching the end of its life? The car is a 2000 VW Jetta VR6. What can I do to remedy this?


The Havoline will do a better job than the O'Reilly synthetic.

I'd also be thinking about trading that Jetta.
 
Thanks guys. Timeau you're right I don't hear the rattling anymore (except my timing chains, but that's about to be rectified) I didn't cut my old filter apart but I did spread the pleats and look inside for large particles. Nothing there, but as I said I did notice some tiny tiny sparkles in the filter cap. Also out of habit I bought a 7th quart (had a leak, which is why I ran the 8000 mile OCI) and after taking a look at the bottle I noticed the DS stands for deposit shield. Possibly a stronger detergent than was in the store brand oil? My wife's Beetle is still fairly clean after 2000 miles and I think I put Valvoline SYNPower in it.
 
Originally Posted By: daman
From what I've seen over the many years its a sign of a dirty engine inside. And like said if you don't get all the old oil out that will contaminate the new.


My experience too.
 
Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
Sparkles aren't good, i did some UOA's after my engine started showing sparkles and it is showing 32 ppm copper and 40 ppm lead.


So was that bearing material?
 
Not black, but noticeably darker than new. Like raw honey. or the color of bourbon whiskey I think. I don't know for sure on the whiskey because I don't drink, but I believe it's about that color.
 
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I'm thinking that you did not drain your oil well enough when you changed it last. That, and it does help to chase the old oil out with a sacrificial quart of new oil.
 
That's my hope as well, but I am worried about sludge and cleanliness, along with the bits of metal I saw. I really really want to see it go 300k. At 183k now and still climbing the mountain but I've heard the VR is more likely to hit it than not if properly maintained.
 
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That engine has some pretty specific recommendations from VW. Their spec 502 00 5w-40 oil is what I'm finding on the lookup.
 
Originally Posted By: mpersell
That engine has some pretty specific recommendations from VW. Their spec 502 00 5w-40 oil is what I'm finding on the lookup.



Actually I looked that up too, and the Havoline Pro DS meets VW 502 00 and 505 01, but in my climate the owner's manual says 5w-30 is fine.
 
Nothing new here. Fresh oil, fresh detergent, add pack changover. Might go well - might go boom. My Aerio didn't like Syntec after the EXxon Superflo I was running - never did calm down.


I don't like chevron GRP II/III product Pseudo Synthetics. Never worked for me. Havoline was good more than a decade ago around the Andretti Family Indy cars era
smile.gif
 
In 20 miles exactly how much cleaning do you really think an oil can accomplish.
The darkening is from the oil oil mixing with the new.
The simplest answer is likely the closest to the truth and with so few miles this sounds the simplest to me.
 
Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
Havoline was good more than a decade ago around the Andretti Family Indy cars era
smile.gif



Havoline seems to be coming back fairly well in the last few years. They're not quite to the level they were at in that era, but they are definitely improving.
 
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