Gray on Oil Dipstick?

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chinee

chinee

Joined
Mar 4, 2003
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Location
Wellington, Florida
Checked oil for the first time in a 2015 Lexus GS 350 I bought 2 weeks ago. It had the 125 point inspection done so I assumed the oil change was done. I was out of town, so the car has not been started in a week. On the end of the dipstick, I noticed some silver-grayish matter, slightly thick=looking. I had my paper towel ready and I had wiped the stick before I had gotten a really good look at the mystery stuff. The best I can do is a pic of the paper towel. There's about 200-300 miles on the oil and was changed 2 months ago. 26K on the odometer. The service receipt reflects a Premium Guard oil filter and 7 qts of PZL Professional 0W-20 (capacity with filter is 6.6 qts).



What do you regulars think? Or not enough information to consider at this point?

I've not done regular UOAs in some years now and have been absent from this board in that time. I do however plan on sending a sample to Blackstone when I get around to changing this fill in the next couple of weeks or so.
 
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Pennzoil Professional? Never heard of it.

I would suspect a moly additive. A good idea when buying used is to change the oil so you know what’s in there.
 
Perhaps seller threw in a can of MoS2 or an additive that contains graphite: both would give the oil a greyish tint. Although it should not leave a grey coating on the dipstick? I would monitor it again after the next oil change.
 
Originally Posted By: PimTac
Pennzoil Professional? Never heard of it.

I would suspect a moly additive. A good idea when buying used is to change the oil so you know what’s in there.


Absolutely!
 
Seen it multiple times on different cars with flat metal dipstick. Forget about it
 
Right, was thinking the same thing. Anything that looks like a chocolate milkshake could potentially be a head gasket issue with coolant getting into your oil...

Or, most likely, it could be a Molybdenum additive. I use Liqui Moly MoS2 and it's a comparable color, though not so dark.
 
Originally Posted By: pilot1226
Right, was thinking the same thing. Anything that looks like a chocolate milkshake could potentially be a head gasket issue with coolant getting into your oil...

Or, most likely, it could be a Molybdenum additive. I use Liqui Moly MoS2 and it's a comparable color, though not so dark.


Nope... no creamy, frothy texture or color.

Hoping it's likley a Moly additive; while on the dipstick, it looked silver-grayish, but turned way darker when I wiped it on the towel. I tried to see if I could get more to appear on the dipstick, but no luck. I'll go for a drive in the morning and check the oil again after I let it sit for a few hours...

Thanks for all the responses so far.
 
I also thought it was some type of coating from the dipstick. However, these guys have been at this a long time and are probably right. Take it to where you had the 125 point inspection. They can tell you what it is good or bad and have likely seen this before.
 
my Tacoma does the same. I believe it is direct injection carbon.my gr engines without di modes don’t have it.
New oil in it at 5k and that carbon is still there, sticks to the dipstick above the oil line.. wipe it off real good and it is a subjective measure of carbon production.
 
Originally Posted By: parshisa
Seen it multiple times on different cars with flat metal dipstick. Forget about it


I've seen it too, many times in fact, in perfectly fine engines and automatic transmissions as well. I do make it a habit of changing the oil and filter on any vehicle I bought used, unless I know exactly when the oil was changed and what was used.
 
"It had the 125 point inspection done so I assumed the oil change was done."

Never assume. Unless you have a receipt for a paid oil change, go ahead and change it.
 
Originally Posted By: Ducked
Metal, probably steel, but could be partly or wholly aluminium since its a bit light coloured.

Not a great deal of it.

If your dipstick tube allows, stick a magnetic pickup tool into the oil. See picture in linked post.

I suppose the very fine material stuck on the paper towel might also react to a magnet if its ferrous and the magnet is strong enough.

You are not alone

https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/2976159/Deposit_on_Dipstick#Post2976159


Yep... residue is ferrous... paper towel moves when magnet brought close to skidmark.


Originally Posted By: Charlie2015
"It had the 125 point inspection done so I assumed the oil change was done."

Never assume. Unless you have a receipt for a paid oil change, go ahead and change it.


Just waiting for my fumoto valve to arrive, I'll likely be changing the oil next weekend.
 
Huh, I rarely wipe the dipstick, so I'm not surprised I haven't seen something like this. I wonder if a short oci then regular would flush out anything that does not belong.
 
Originally Posted By: supton
...I wonder if a short oci then regular would flush out anything that does not belong.


Not a bad idea... about 10-12 years ago, I understood Pennzoil as being an oil with good "cleaning" properties? Is this still the case? Maybe I can run a fill of Pennz dino for about 1.5K then switch over to Gold for a bit?
 
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