Quote:
Originally Posted by Ecky
I sent in an oil sample from my Insight to Blackstone Labs at 10k miles, and mentioned I was concerned by how black the oil was. Their response was:
"It may appear dark, but that just means it's doing one of its many jobs. In this case, that would be 'cleaning'. The oil is capturing dirt and combustion byproducts so that it's removed when the oil is changed."
They suggested that based on the wear materials found in the oil, there was no unusual wear, and that there were still plenty of detergents and wear additives left, so I could try a longer oil change interval.
So, in other words, color is not a good indicator of whether your oil needs to be changed. And, I have reason to believe this, since I have 225k miles worth of 10k oil changes, and compression is still within margin of error from what it should be from the factory.
EDIT: Given how frequently you're changing your oil, you stand to save real money by getting an analysis done by a lab. You may find out (just as an example) you can go 15k miles / 18 months safely, in which case you can still very conservatively change it at 10k/12m. Base your decisions on real data!
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Well, what helped me to make my decision about changing the motor oil every 3 months was seeing the inside of my heads after my motor broke down and I was forced to buy a Jasper remanufactured motor. My stock LT1 heads were so coated in black deposit and dirty that it was amazing that I had not noticed it while driving, and this was using Amsoil 0-30 Signature Series! I slowly began to lose oil pressure over the years although I didn't notice until my needle one day dropped to zero. I got a manual oil gauge to verify that it wasn't just a malfunctioning gauge but my motor oil pressure was too damn low! I played as much of a role in the failure of my stock LT1 motor as did having too old of a factory radiator with a crack that I was unaware of bleeding off my coolant and leaving a massive air bubble in the system, overheating the engine and doing further damage with time...
It don't matter if the motor oil is tested by a lab to still be able to provide lubrication with carbon deposits in it, you still have carbon in the motor oil and you have gasoline and they are slowly working to alter the chemistry of the motor oil to make it more acidic which damages gaskets, and ultimately becomes more abrasive. I will never allow my motor oil to get as pitch black as I was used to seeing it!
One year is INSANELY TOO LONG to change motor oil, let alone 18 months! I refuse to let my motor oil get that bad, not with my newish Jasper motor!
The mechanics and engine builders in the know use conventional motor oil and change it every 3 months and their engines have lasted beyond 200,000 miles and they are so clean on the inside! My stock motor didn't even last 100,000 miles and it was
PITCH BLACK AND DIRTY on the inside! Nope, no lab will tell me it's okay to keep the motor oil in my car longer than 3 months...hell no!