Checked oil level, black when cold, normal@driving

[ziggy]

Morning all. 98 corolla. I use top tier gas, and past 5 months, 3,000 miles, ive nbeen usinf pennzoil 10w30. The filter, is a napa proselect. Past 2 weeks, checking my oil, ive noted, after hours of sitting, i checked my oil. The oil was black. I clean it off, the dipstick, re insert, check again, and its noraml brownish looking, not gold clear, clealery used. However, after 7-10 minutes of waiting after driving 3-4 miles, and re checking, the oil is sitll that brown off gold color. Not black anymore. Whats does this mean?
After 2,700 miles i had too add half a quart of pennzoil. Does this mean i should change the oil, even though i do know i could go 5000 miles on it? Or is it crud that has settled at the top layer of oil or something?

 

[Kuato]

How many miles on the car? What is the previous oil change history? What kind of driving do you do (all city, mix, hwy, etc)? Is this your first change on Pennzoil? Has it used oil previously?

 

[ziggy]

lol oh boy more info needed...okay...
Reg oil changes. I was using citgo gas for the longest, and changed my oil every 3 months and 700-900 miles because the oil literally came out thick mollasses black. Bad or not as goodgas. Its only the past 5 months ive switched too top tier.. started with shell 87, few months exxon, and now mobil. For the record, all the others got me 190 miles till just below quaretr a tank. mobil, with super tech tcw3oil (2.5-3ozs per refill being 8 gallons too fill) gives me 250-260 miles!
he car...has 78,700 miles now. its 50/50, between congested backed up city driving, and a nomal stop sign,traffic light, open roadish driving. ultimatley it is stop n go driving..
average drive too work, is 7 miles one way, and back. but in a day, i will average 20 miles almostall city stop n go traffic.
yes this is my first pennzoil use. im not sure what itis im seeing. its dirty when cold, but reinserted, or after driving it used oil, but brown, not black. only black hecking it cold and car not used over 7 plus hours cold.

 

[ziggy]

the reason i switched too top tier, was strong sense it wa better, and reading here. my oil should have been as black as charcoal and thick like gravy it seemed, with citgo. the top tier brands, have helped control, keep the oil at least normal. it was not a good selection of gas citgo.

 

[donnyj08]

My Silverado is the same way. Doesn't matter what brand of oil. It is always darker when cold. Pennzoil products seem to turn dark faster than others also.

Pennzoil also seems to come out darker/ more gold out of the bottle than most so that's likely why it gets dark faster.

 

[ziggy]

I see. I took it as maybe the parctiles in suspension go to the top for some reason? or perhaps my filter was getting plugged? its not oil turning dark..its used oil accumulating, Done this so many times, 15 years of religious oil changes and cutting filters open, too see know the difference between black oil and used black oil.

 

[TFB1]

Normal for any oil with a few miles on it, they'll be probably five times as much on the stick when cold as when hot... No difference than adding additional thickness to your sun glasses, welding helmet, lenses filters etc...

 

[bbhero]

Tell ya what my friend... The Pennzoil Platinum and PYB I just put in my lady's Camry was so clear I could hardly see it on the stick.. I bet the gtl base made its way into the conventional 10w30 PYB. And the Pennzoil Gold I had put in my Altima was so clear I could hardly see it too. Look at the PQIA results for the Pennzoil Yellow Bottle 10w30.. Almost exactly like their Platinum.