What's Your Oil Look Like At Your OCIs?

[thegipper]

I should clarify, the oil that isn't hardly dark at all is on my dipstick (in reference to my Camry).

The oil that is on my dipstick on my 4runner is much, much darker.

I've never seen any used oil in a drain pan that didn't look "black", some much darker than others.

The used oil in my POS VW jetta used to be so dark that I swear it sucked the light out of the room.....

 

[nevada]

different engines will give different results. I know my 06, even with somewhat extended intervals the oil comes out very light. I don't know about honey colored, but its definitely not black.

my other rigs its not nearly as light. usually very black. its just how it goes. color isn't a very good indicator of oil life.

 

[phattyduck]

Color is definitely not a reliable indicator of oil life left.

Turning dark could be suspended particles from the oil cleaning the engine OR the oil breaking down. And light colored isn't always good - it might be that the oil isn't really cleaning up your engine well and it should be.

-Charlie

 

[Tyler James Inc]

Lots of great input! Thanks guys.
One thing I was wondering about is if the oil is slowly cleaning out some of the sludge.
Looking in the valve cover- from the oil fill hole- I can tell the oil changes have not been on a religious schedule previously! I can't see very much through just the little hole, so I can't say if it's too bad or not, but it's got more build up than my '97 had. I'm honestly not worried about it one bit, just curious. I guess I'll find out when I do valve cover gaskets, but they aren't leaking yet.

 

[19963.4lsr5]

Lots of great input! Thanks guys.
One thing I was wondering about is if the oil is slowly cleaning out some of the sludge.
Looking in the valve cover- from the oil fill hole- I can tell the oil changes have not been on a religious schedule previously! I can't see very much through just the little hole, so I can't say if it's too bad or not, but it's got more build up than my '97 had. I'm honestly not worried about it one bit, just curious. I guess I'll find out when I do valve cover gaskets, but they aren't leaking yet.

Proper oil changes did nothing on the 97 puppy hauler over 30,000 mile. I even used Rotella T6 for a while. It only came off the heads hot tanking it. And required a wire brush for the valve covers.


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[sakoluvr]

Lots of great input! Thanks guys.
One thing I was wondering about is if the oil is slowly cleaning out some of the sludge.
Looking in the valve cover- from the oil fill hole- I can tell the oil changes have not been on a religious schedule previously! I can't see very much through just the little hole, so I can't say if it's too bad or not, but it's got more build up than my '97 had. I'm honestly not worried about it one bit, just curious. I guess I'll find out when I do valve cover gaskets, but they aren't leaking yet.

IMHO you can't tell much looking into the oil fill unless it's a poster child for engine sludge.

Here is a picture of my son's 97 4runner when we did VCG a couple of months ago. Over 3000,000 miles on that engine.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/255741-304-000-miles-clean-whistle.html