russianDude

I know that oil should be changed by milage & time.
I put Mobil 1 oil about 2 month ago, and had driven 2000 miles from that time. 2000 miles over 2 month should be nothing for Mobil 1. But when I checked the color of the oil, it got all dark and black, while in the begining it was very colorless and clean.

Does it mean its time to change it again, or color does not mean anything?

I always thought that oil change intervals depend only:
1. on your driving conditions
2. time
3. miles.
BTW, I drive my car very easy....

Is oil color also a factor, if it is, then it does not make sense why synthetic oil or any other oil gets black so fast.

Zapata

i noticed the same thing the other day. I've driven 3k miles since last oil change with mobil 1 full synthetic.

russianDude

I might be wrong, but it seems that synthetics get dark faster than regular oil. Maybe its because that synthetics have some additives that remove all the dirt from engine ...?

Zapata

wow, that would be cool......

EricL

I think our car runs rich at WOT (also when cold/during startup). I notice that the oil gets dark much sooner than it did on my Maxima.

Great oil will have a ton of detergent, so being dark is not necessarily a bad thing…

IMO -- Time does count. If you only have 2000 miles, but have 6-months since the last oil change, I'd change the lube.

BTW -- if you really want to "get into" this, you could always get an oil test kit and check for engine wear. They will also tell you how long to leave the oil in for.


For example: http://www.blackstone-labs.com/free_test_kit.html

Also, for those people who always think that silicon means that the engine is inhaling garbage (as in bad K&N):

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/talk_about_oils.html


(There are a number of people with test kits...)

Mint Julip

RussianDude,

How many miles on your car? I noticed that at 10K miles when I replaced my stock intake with the AEM CAI that the stock filter was really dirty. I run Mobil 1 5W-30 with factory filter and change both at around 5500 mile intervals. I'm at 4K miles since my last change and the oil is still pretty clean. Mostly freeway driving. If you're doing alot of city driving, the oil might get dirtier quicker. Regardless, with Mobil 1 I wouldn't worry about it unless you're hard on your car...

Mint

russianDude

Currently I have 11000 miles, my last oil change was at 9000 miles approximatly 2-3 month ago. I change filter together with oil. I have Mobile 1. I drive 50 highway / 50 city. I drive it very easy.
I hope that oil is still good even if it gets dark.

Mint Julip

Have you inspected your air filter yet? If not, you might want to have a look at it - if it's dirty, replace it. Your oil can get dirty faster with a dirty air filter because it indicates that the areas you're driving have alot of airborne debris which do enter the top-end of the engine (intake, throttle body, valve guides, and cylinders) and the oil comes in contact with this and gets dirty as a result. With 11,000 miles and dirty oil at 2,000 miles, I'm guessing you're air filter might need replacing...

Mint

j83_RENAMED

why is it that the color of the oil get dirty driving not only 100 miles and the oil is brown,
they claim that thats normal,
and it means it is doin its job
detergents is one factor, but i know some of that comes from combustion, old sludge from previous oils from the walls of the engine,
the mechanic said you could change your oil every 5 hundred miles and the oil would be the same color originally placed in if thats all your worried bout.
but these oils were specifically made to last after 3,000-5,000 miles or 3 to 4 months max, to hold that lubricative property
if changed earlier great why not,
but spend more cost on maintaing its a waste and a pain to recycle it when the old oil can still do the job.

russianDude

I am will change my synthetic oil every 6-7K miles. I am not planning to waste extra money, I just wanted to make sure that the fact of oil getting dark fast, is normal or not.
I guess color does not mean much. Maybe synthetics are getting dark faster since they contain detergents and etc

Jimmbbo

Synthetic oils do not allow the deposits to stick to engine parts, so they either get filtered out or remain in suspension if they are small... I think it's a good thing!!

Jim

clorich

Red-CL

Mobil 1 says 3000 miles under harsh conditions. I think they know what they're talking about.

ChucksTL_RENAMED

Compared to Amsoil and some others, Mobil 1 is fairly dark colored right out of the bottle. I'd say pay it no mind as a 5k or 6k mile change interval would be fine IMO.