Varnish on Dipstick after 5K OCI suddenly?

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Just changed the oil after a 5K OCI with Castrol Edge and noticed a light varnish on the dipstick that wasn't there before. I'm wondering what could have caused this? The car has seen pretty much only 5-6K OCI's with synthetics. The staining is on both ends. However, the fill hole still looks clean and shiny.

I check the oil every couple of weeks or so and hadn't noticed this before?

The current fill of Schaeffer 5w40 has 250 miles on it. Waiting to see if it lightens/disappears.

Here's a pic:

IMG_20130307_081720_zps0e503b4f.jpg
 
Castrol caused it. Castrol and Toyota are a bad match. 1ZZ-FE Corolla engine is cast aluminum with hot spots. Castrol flashes easy leaving varnish and hardened deposits all over that engine. I'm keeping track of reported Toyota issues and the oil used. Most of the time its the popular Castrol behind varnish and deposit issues.

BTW, I had that, was gone 2k after using Mobil 1 High Mileage 5w30. I've been using M1 HM ever ever since. The Camry loves this oil. No leaks, no deposits, no varnish.
 
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winter causes it in ohio. esp. on engines with the dipstick right out front.
 
I live in northern Ohio and just finished going 6700 miles on MC syn-blend 5w20 and the dipstick loooks brand new. This is on a 05 Toyota Matrix with 65k miles. Even some short trips mixed in otherwise 70/30 city highway miles over 7 months time.
 
Well, if the staining disappears I certainly will not be using Castrol anymore.

I don't think it's a winter issue such as the Ohio example. Usually in the 70's around here in winter time. Plus, the car gets driven 56 miles round trip mostly highway 4x/week.
 
Castrol is a very varnish-prone oil.

If the dipstick is picking up varnish I could only imagine what it looks like under the valve cover...

And this is supposed to be a "premium" synthetic... Sheesh.
 
Just out of curiosity, why is the old oil being blamed and not the current fill? wouldnt the varnish have appeared during that run? My first thought was some oil was trapped in the dipstick tube causing this. I just cant get my head around any modern oil causing this. Is Castrol really that nasty?
 
Very good point..... did the op check the oil level after putting in the current fill?? Did it show varnish?? Or is is just now??I always say was it working before you did this or that?? And if now.... then it what you did before the issue. It is amazing how fast Castrol get pounded without any real proof. Keep in mind if you were in some parts of Europe there would be almost no other oil sold than Castrol. Are all the cars in Europe running around with
frown.gif
varnish??/
Originally Posted By: coolbird101
Just out of curiosity, why is the old oil being blamed and not the current fill? wouldnt the varnish have appeared during that run? My first thought was some oil was trapped in the dipstick tube causing this. I just cant get my head around any modern oil causing this. Is Castrol really that nasty?
 
I have this type of varnish on my dip stick about half way up. I use Pennzoil synthetics and some M1 thrown in here and there. It varnishes where its not submerged in oil and where I assume it is cooler. The tube is way off from the bolck .
Is it stained where it would be submerged in oil when the engine is running, or off, or never?
 
Is the varnished area in a part of the dipstick tube that is near or between a part of the exhaust manifold? I have seen several older Honda's that have a varnished area of the dipstick where it feeds down through the manifold. If so could the heat of the manifold be baking the oil onto the dipstick in that area of high heat?
 
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I hadn't checked the oil prior to the end of the OCI(probably last checked at 3500 into OCI), which is unusual for me to not check. I noticed the staining directly after the oil change, so I don't think it's related to the new fill. I honestly would be surprised if it was caused by the Castrol but time will tell.

This is the first time I've seen this on the dipstick since I bought the car which was at 26K. Back then it had some light varnish that was cleaned up by synthetic OCI's.

Kool1, it was Edge with Titanium.
 
Originally Posted By: SubyRoo
Is the varnished area in a part of the dipstick tube that is near or between a part of the exhaust manifold? I have seen several older Honda's that have a varnished area of the dipstick where it feeds down through the manifold. If so could the heat of the manifold be baking the oil onto the dipstick in that area of high heat?


This is a good point and yes the dipstick does run in front of the engine. The only thing is that I haven't noticed it before, unless it's progressively gotten worse? I'm 300 miles into this OCI thus far and it looks the same at the moment. I will update though.
 
Originally Posted By: lexus114
When I first got my RX @ 59,000 miles, the dipstick had varnish a lot worse than that. (above the oil line)


Yeah it wouldn't bother me if it was recently purchased. However, this car has had very tight maintenance since 26K. No OCI's over 6K, it's had two Dino OCI's, 2-3 semi-syn, and the rest have been synthetic. I hadn't checked the oil in at least 1500 miles and then I noticed the varnish after I changed the oil to check the level.
 
Originally Posted By: salesrep
New oil cleaning it up??


Hard to say so far, only 300 miles into OCI. I should have taken more pics though so I could see if it's lightening. I will update as I rack up more miles.
 
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