Oil color

[Kuato]

Originally Posted By: doublebase
All I ever read is...oil color doesn't mean anything.

Yet every time I see a car come in that has gone past what that car's oil change interval is supposed to be...or what that particular oil can handle...the oil looks black as night. So I think oil "color" is a term people are throwing around rather broadly.



All oil darkens eventually. The rate is different in different engines. Color doesn't mean anything by itself, so judging the oil condition on color alone is foolish, in both changing too early OR changing too late)

 

[NibbanaBanana]

My wife's 2013 Kia Reo calls for 15K maintenance and OCI's. The owner's manual doesn't specify synthetic oil either. Just 5w-20 or 5w-30. As I remember, the first couple might have been at 7500 miles. But after that it's 15K miles. Personally, I do maintenance at 7.5K miles. 15K seems like a lot on oil to me and I like to get under there and look around. I know the oils are a whole lot better than they used to be. But this is a $15,000+ machine. To try to save $30 or so on less frequent oil changes seems foolish to me.

 

[jongies3]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
The Kia owner is an idiot and the oil was full of dirt -- there's your answer.

It never ceases to amaze me how people can buy new cars and in good conscience never change the oil.

This right here! Running that long on conventional is asinine. Not to mention the car probably doesn't get warmed up all the way very often so there's lots of short trips thrown in there.

I don't worry too much about oil color as long as it's changed often. I change oil on diesels all day long and most of them the oil turns tar black the second you dump it into the engine. Many of those engines have over 300k so it must be working alright. Although once in a great while you get one that stays clear, my 7.3 is one of those. Even after 5k miles the oil is still translucent on the dipstick and can be seen through. It is dark, yes, but not tar black like most diesels are.

 

[i_hate_autofraud]

I've done an oil change a while back and used 2 Filtermags on the side of the oil filter plus a few extra bar magnets and the oil stayed amber colored out to 4,000 miles. Got the idea when I was looking at the tranny oil pan. The oil analysis showed 50% less metals in the oil. Turns out there was very little 'dirt' in the oil, but low PPMs levels of steel, aluminum, lead, etc that turns the oil black first. Metal wear is gonna happen, just so slow that GM, Ford and Chrysler can't get sued. The wear metals are very small, 1 to 10 microns or less. I could see some under a microscope. Turns out auto oil filters are designed for a 20 micron filter 'test' so they all pass! Unless there's something wrong, wear metals in the oil will almost never be as big as 20 microns (20 microns is "half a thou" = .0005").

 

[Gene K]

Originally Posted By: NibbanaBanana
My wife's 2013 Kia Reo calls for 15K maintenance and OCI's. The owner's manual doesn't specify synthetic oil either. Just 5w-20 or 5w-30. As I remember, the first couple might have been at 7500 miles. But after that it's 15K miles. Personally, I do maintenance at 7.5K miles. 15K seems like a lot on oil to me and I like to get under there and look around. I know the oils are a whole lot better than they used to be. But this is a $15,000+ machine. To try to save $30 or so on less frequent oil changes seems foolish to me.


That's strange the Hyundai Aceent version requires 7500 mi standard or 3750 mi severe oci. Are you sure it doesn't say 7500 mi oci (1 year max) in the fine print the Hyundai manual is kind of confusing because everything else is 15,000 mi or 1 year and it makes the chart odd.

 

[NibbanaBanana]

Originally Posted By: Gene K
Originally Posted By: NibbanaBanana
My wife's 2013 Kia Reo calls for 15K maintenance and OCI's. The owner's manual doesn't specify synthetic oil either. Just 5w-20 or 5w-30. As I remember, the first couple might have been at 7500 miles. But after that it's 15K miles. Personally, I do maintenance at 7.5K miles. 15K seems like a lot on oil to me and I like to get under there and look around. I know the oils are a whole lot better than they used to be. But this is a $15,000+ machine. To try to save $30 or so on less frequent oil changes seems foolish to me.


That's strange the Hyundai Aceent version requires 7500 mi standard or 3750 mi severe oci. Are you sure it doesn't say 7500 mi oci (1 year max) in the fine print the Hyundai manual is kind of confusing because everything else is 15,000 mi or 1 year and it makes the chart odd.


Yea, I was wrong about that. It's exactly like you say. It has 15,000 maintenance intervals but in parenthesis under oil change and tire rotation it says every 7500. Kind of confusing. Calls for SL or SM oil, 5w-20, 5w-30 or 10w-30 depending on the temperature. No mention of synthetic that I can see.

 

[Jeff_in_VABch]

Originally Posted By: demarpaint
There's a car I'd pass on in the used car market. Does that sum up how I feel about oil color? LOL While it might not mean anything, anyone who knows anything about cars wants to pull the dipstick on a gasser and see black oil.


Once you go from brown to totally black, you never go back (to a clean engine that is).

I understand some folks dont have the money to change their oil regularly, but come on!

 

[kschachn]

Originally Posted By: i_hate_autofraud
I've done an oil change a while back and used 2 Filtermags on the side of the oil filter plus a few extra bar magnets and the oil stayed amber colored out to 4,000 miles. Got the idea when I was looking at the tranny oil pan. The oil analysis showed 50% less metals in the oil. Turns out there was very little 'dirt' in the oil, but low PPMs levels of steel, aluminum, lead, etc that turns the oil black first. Metal wear is gonna happen, just so slow that GM, Ford and Chrysler can't get sued. The wear metals are very small, 1 to 10 microns or less. I could see some under a microscope. Turns out auto oil filters are designed for a 20 micron filter 'test' so they all pass! Unless there's something wrong, wear metals in the oil will almost never be as big as 20 microns (20 microns is "half a thou" = .0005").


So are you claiming that the filter magnets trapped the aluminum and lead particles?

 

[MuzzleFlash40]

We have the same 2.4L engine in our Santa Fe, and it turns the oil dark after a thousand miles or so. The oil had plenty of life left in it after 5k and it was a syn blend oil.

But this person is an idiot even if it was a base optima it still costs around 21k. People just don't care.

 

[doublebase]

Originally Posted By: MuzzleFlash40
We have the same 2.4L engine in our Santa Fe, and it turns the oil dark after a thousand miles or so. The oil had plenty of life left in it after 5k and it was a syn blend oil.

But this person is an idiot even if it was a base optima it still costs around 21k. People just don't care.


Yeah it wasn't a bad looking car, we've had some Santa Fe's come in, I don't remember the oil looking anywhere close to her's. It has the high pressure fuel pump mounted right above the valve cover...easy to get to. I've had one come in for a failed high pressure pump before (not that it has anything to do with the oil), but I've read that the direct injection engines can be tough on oil.

Overall the Kia and Hyundai products have come a long way.