Originally Posted by ChrisD46
*I checked my oil abain today (2,600 miles on current fill) and would say looking at the oil color on a white paper towel it is a very dark brown. Not to digress but GDI engines appear to darken oil (soot) much earlier in the OCI than do PFI engines in my sig . Soot is abrasive , so a 5K mile OCI would be max comfort for me . I couldn't imagine what the oil in a 7.5K OCI would look like in this GDI engine ?
Originally Posted by Robster
I just changed back to running a 5w-20 (from a 5w-30) in our Hyundai 2.4L. 5w-20 is recommended, and 5w-30 is allowed by Hyundai. I have no concerns running the 5w-20 Valvoline--the specs for that oil look great (really nice NOACK and add-pack). I had no issues with the 5w-30 either, it was just more convenient to stock 5w-20 for both of our vehicles.
The used oil color doesn't concern me, but on a related note the 5w-30 Valvoline I just drained today with 3206 miles of suburban driving didn't look super dark (far from black). If the oil darkens, that's a good thing--it's cleaning and holding contaminants in suspension (now the contaminants are in my waste-oil container instead of my engine!).
Like others have noted, you could go 5000 miles with any modern, certified oil without issues--Hyundai's really aren't fussy about oils, despite what many may think.
Re: the soot. The higher soot content of GDI used engine oil seems to be accepted thought on this and other forums, but looking at the UOA I had done on a recent oil change, the insolubles are listed at less than 0.1%, which is standard language for Blackstone Labs as "negligible." It seems that soot would show up as insolubles, but that's an assumption on my part--maybe someone in the business can comment on that. It should also be noted that the drained oil was very dark.
Also, commonly accepted belief is that the Hyundai engines beat the snot out of their oil with "crazy" fuel dilution. . . .again, looking at that some UOA I had done last year, the fuel content is listed at less than 0.5%. This was at an OCI of 4237 miles of summertime, urban short-trip , city / highway, stop & go driving, with a lot of cool-down idling on most warm days--probably considered a severe duty cycle if there ever was one. Fuel dilution claims, at least for the current Hyundai 2.4L seems to be exaggerated. NOTE: the oil did have a gassy smell, pretty much like all used engine oil I've ever sniffed.
It seems that if Hyundai ever had these issues, they may have fixed them for MY2019+.
My overall point is that sometimes we obsess about things that we needn't worry about. Oil color and oil smell cannot accurately predict the health of engine oil.
![[Linked Image]](https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/attachments/usergals/2020/01/full-4021-40264-2019_sf_oil_specs_excerpt.jpg "[Linked Image]")