Oil color after 100 miles 05 Passat TDI

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Jan 2, 2020
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South Carolina
Hey oil gurus!


Disclaimer: my first TDI, my first EGR equipped vehicle, not my first diesel.
As you see in the picture that is oil color after 100 miles, yes one hundred miles driven on it.
New to me 05 Passat TDI with 190k miles. I have receipts and car fax confirmation that vehicle has been serviced 7k-8k miles at the shop that out Pentosyne oil and OEM filters. Vehicle does not smoke, no blow by, turbo solid. I changed oil with Rotella T6 15-40. And drove total of 100 miles, 50 of it freeway speeds. And that the color of my oil.
I'm comparing it to my 01 Cummins with 110k miles. On Cummins I get that color after maybe 2k miles.

Is TDI run different? Is that because of EGR stuff? Or is it because different oil is now "cleaning" things inside?
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Yes, that is normal. I had a 2012 Jetta Sportwagen TDi that would turn fresh oil black on a trip around the block. And is was serviced at 7k intervals with Mobil One ESP since new.
 
Looks like any typical diesel and I've owned a few. If you have a diesel showing clean oil after a couple thousand miles that is highly unusual.
 
it freaked me out for a bit guys! I used to seeing that toward the end of my oil change intervals on my cummins. And on my cummins i do 5k miles on Delvac 1300 (conventional).
This this passat is new to me, i might run 5k and do oil change and maybe do a oil sample test. Just for peace of mind, but my goal is to run 10k on rotella or see if i can get some mobil ESP.
 
OP, you are not the first owner of a Diesel to post here on BITOG about finding the oil looking black after a short time of running in a Diesel. It is normal and nothing to worry about.
 
If your Cummins takes 2,000 miles to turn the oil jet black.....You're changing the oil far to often! My old '97 12 valve's oil stayed clean for about that long after pulling the engine to replace the oil pan & gear case gasket. But after a 8,000 mile run & oil change....It would turn the oil instantly.

Facts of life for a diesel engine, Of coarse....EGR & DPF only cause more soot loading of the oil.
 
Originally Posted by edyvw
Yep. If you lick it, you will taste brand new oil
smile.gif



Couldn't actually get a good taste. Had to do a shot of it to make sure it's clean.
 
Originally Posted by clinebarger
If your Cummins takes 2,000 miles to turn the oil jet black.....You're changing the oil far to often! My old '97 12 valve's oil stayed clean for about that long after pulling the engine to replace the oil pan & gear case gasket. But after a 8,000 mile run & oil change....It would turn the oil instantly.

Facts of life for a diesel engine, Of coarse....EGR & DPF only cause more soot loading of the oil.

Eventually I'll get rid of EGR. But for now I want to determine the base line for the car. Since I just got it.
And yes, I do change oil on my truck often. But not really. I put about 5k miles a year, so I change it once a year.
 
DO NOT USE THE WRONG OIL on VW Diesels. They need the correct vw spec oil because of the weird fuel injection, the wrong stuff will wear the cam shaft.

Rod
 
Fine carbon black soot does that. It doesn't take much to look fully dark black like ink.
 
Totally normal for a TDI or any diesel. First wife used to have a 2005 VW Beetle TDI with the 1.9 liter diesel. I did the oil changes myself using the specified VW spec 501 oil or whatever the number was for that particular family of motors at the time. It came out looking like that you photographed-- thick black printer's ink. And... after burning one tank of fuel right after the oil change, it would look like that on the dipstick.

Before owning the TDI I never used to wear nitrile gloves for oil changes. That changed after the first time I changed oil in the TDI. Try getting that stuff out from under your fingernails. It laughs at GoJo orange.
 
Originally Posted by ragtoplvr
DO NOT USE THE WRONG OIL on VW Diesels. They need the correct vw spec oil because of the weird fuel injection, the wrong stuff will wear the cam shaft.

Rod


Wasn't that was mainly on the old PD (pumpe deuse, i.e. unit injectors) motors? The individual high pressure injectors were driven off the cam lobes and this caused excessive wear to that area. Actually a lot of people who are enthusiasts for the TDI VW's over on Fred's TDIClub forum dropped the VW spec oil and ran either Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel Truck 5W40 or Rotella T6 5W40 which were showing in repetitive oil analyses to yield lower metal wear than the VW spec oil. 505.01, that's the spec I couldn't remember in my post above. And if memory serves, I think 507.00 was eventually approved by VW for the PD engines. 507.00 was the spec for the 2006 and newer model TDI's at the time when they came out, which had a different injector and fuel pump setup. At about 60,000 miles on my 1st wife's Beetle TDI I switched it to Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel Truck 5W40 and eventually for lower cost switched it to Rotella T6 5W40. It had 105,000 miles on it when it was sold in 2012 and the motor was perfect except the intake needed a cleaning (another issue on the pumpe deuse motors due to EGR and oily soot). It was bought by an enthusiast on Fred's TDI Forum who was knowledgeable about that gen of TDI and ready to do the intake cleaning. Intake cleaning was a disassembly process involving complete removal of the intake manifold and immersion in solvent, if I remember right.
 
Originally Posted by LoneRanger
Originally Posted by ragtoplvr
DO NOT USE THE WRONG OIL on VW Diesels. They need the correct vw spec oil because of the weird fuel injection, the wrong stuff will wear the cam shaft.

Rod


Wasn't that was mainly on the old PD (pumpe deuse, i.e. unit injectors) motors? The individual high pressure injectors were driven off the cam lobes and this caused excessive wear to that area. Actually a lot of people who are enthusiasts for the TDI VW's over on Fred's TDIClub forum dropped the VW spec oil and ran either Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel Truck 5W40 or Rotella T6 5W40 which were showing in repetitive oil analyses to yield lower metal wear than the VW spec oil. 505.01, that's the spec I couldn't remember in my post above. And if memory serves, I think 507.00 was eventually approved by VW for the PD engines. 507.00 was the spec for the 2006 and newer model TDI's at the time when they came out, which had a different injector and fuel pump setup. At about 60,000 miles on my 1st wife's Beetle TDI I switched it to Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel Truck 5W40 and eventually for lower cost switched it to Rotella T6 5W40. It had 105,000 miles on it when it was sold in 2012 and the motor was perfect except the intake needed a cleaning (another issue on the pumpe deuse motors due to EGR and oily soot). It was bought by an enthusiast on Fred's TDI Forum who was knowledgeable about that gen of TDI and ready to do the intake cleaning. Intake cleaning was a disassembly process involving complete removal of the intake manifold and immersion in solvent, if I remember right.



Interesting you mentioned that. My brother-in-law also picked up 05 passat TDI and took his EGR and intake off. And it was covered thick. he burned it out first and then had a shop drop it in hot tank for a while. Came out looking very nice. I'll do that eventually.
 
My newly acquired '13 Passat TDi is the same way... As soon as I bought it home I changed the oil and noticed within a few drives it was nice and black. My 05 F350 doesn't turn oil that dark in the entire 5000 mile OCI, but it has NO emission garbage on it at all. I believe we can attribute the soot loaded oil to the EGR, DPF, SCR etc. These items kill a good diesel engine much quicker than anything else. Once my CPO warranty is over they will all "fall off" of my Passat
wink.gif
 
Originally Posted by racin4ds
My newly acquired '13 Passat TDi is the same way... As soon as I bought it home I changed the oil and noticed within a few drives it was nice and black. My 05 F350 doesn't turn oil that dark in the entire 5000 mile OCI, but it has NO emission garbage on it at all. I believe we can attribute the soot loaded oil to the EGR, DPF, SCR etc. These items kill a good diesel engine much quicker than anything else. Once my CPO warranty is over they will all "fall off" of my Passat
wink.gif



That's what I'm thinking. I'm going to "break in" my Passat and then I might accidently loose some parts.
 
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