Motoring Discussion > Colour of Oil Miscellaneous
Thread Author: mikeyb Replies: 24
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New Sun 12 Jul 15 16:13 
 Colour of Oil - mikeyb
Just checked the oil in the Lexus - thought it was about time (should have done it earlier, but its been so long sine I had a car that used any I've got out of the habit)

Its coming up to 5K since the last service, so almost halfway to the next (10K interval) and I was really surprised just how clean the oil was - still pretty golden looking and almost like out of the can. Its the first petrol car I've had for quite a few years, so I had got used to the il always being black when I check it.

is it now normal for modern petrol engines to have such clean oil?
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New Sun 12 Jul 15 16:22 
 Colour of Oil - Ambo

>>is it now normal for modern petrol engines to have such clean oil?

Judging from my last few cars, yes.
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New Sun 12 Jul 15 18:21 
 Colour of Oil - Dog
This is the only oil my Forester has ever had in its entire service life [going by the service records]

www.shell.com/global/products-services/on-the-road/oils-lubricants/cars/shell-oils/clean-protect.html

I actually notice it gets dirtier than other engine oils [usually Castrol] I've used on previous cars I've owned due to the fact it's a high detergent oil. Either that or Boxer engines are dirtier than 'normal' engines.
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New Sun 12 Jul 15 18:29 
 Colour of Oil - Cliff Pope
It's reassuring to see an oil getting dirtier. If it doesn't, one wonders where the dirt is accumulating.
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New Sun 12 Jul 15 18:35 
 Colour of Oil - Old Navy
I agree, it is one of the oils jobs to keep the dirt in suspension for dumping at the next oil change.
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New Sun 12 Jul 15 18:42 
 Colour of Oil - Lygonos
Modern petrols are pretty clean burning - most of the 'dirt' you see in oil is carbon ie. from badly combusted fuel. I hope most of the real dirt is in the filter.

FRV is at now just over 80k miles and the oil goes from near colourless to faintly brown between changes (12.5k miles).

Kizashi is 5k miles since last service and oil looks new.

Foz is 110k miles and oil about 6k miles old - looks clean but smells a bit of petrol.
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New Sun 12 Jul 15 23:25 
 Colour of Oil - Armel Coussine
>> Modern petrols are pretty clean burning - most of the 'dirt' you see in oil is carbon ie. from badly combusted fuel. I hope most of the real dirt is in the filter.

By real dirt I suppose you mean metal dust and sharp stuff. We all hope the filter will work on those.

If you go gently the oil stays clean for longer. A long fast trip, not pedal to the metal which will actually use oil, just long and gently rapid, will make the oil look much darker.

I'm talking about my own jalopy of course. No idea how 'modern' it is, probably a bit conservative being a US world car. I try to remember to change the oil a bit more often than recommended.
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New Mon 13 Jul 15 11:35 
 Colour of Oil - J Bonington Jagworth
"Either that or Boxer engines are dirtier than 'normal' engines"

Oil in the cylinders is more likely to collect dirt from the bores and pistons when stationery, especially if parked with any tilt. My Citroen GS was the same.
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New Mon 13 Jul 15 11:45 
 Colour of Oil - Dog
>>Oil in the cylinders is more likely to collect dirt from the bores and pistons when stationery, especially if parked with any tilt. My Citroen GS was the same.

The oil in Lygonos's Forester stays clean though. I suspect it's the short runs which do for my Foz's oil, which is why I change it every six months, or bi annually :)
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New Mon 13 Jul 15 14:46 
 Colour of Oil - Lygonos
>>Oil in the cylinders is more likely to collect dirt from the bores and pistons when stationery, especially if parked with any tilt

I believe the BMW flat-engine motorbikes are best parked upright on the centre stand - if you leave them on the side stand oil can leech past the piston into the cylinder giving a smokey flourish on restarting.
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New Mon 13 Jul 15 17:48 
 Colour of Oil - Armel Coussine
I had a flat four car, the Arna with Alfasud engine, a nice smooth zippy unit that needed to be revved to get any poke (it was in a low state of tune, not one of those four-Weber jobs). I think it used a bit of oil but it didn't smoke much and didn't make the oil very filthy. It had a very small tailpipe caked with wet-looking carbon.

Once had a short drive in one of those twin-rotor Wankel cars, an NSU RO70, which had a very trick gearbox with a vacuum-operated clutch that disengaged when the driver touched the gear lever knob, to me very counter-intuitive. It was in impeccable nick and had just been bought by a gung-ho Ghanaian of my acquaintance. The engine felt and sounded utterly beautiful.

I was fazed by the gearbox, which took careful, leisurely timing to work properly, and the braking arrangements which were also odd. So fazed that I stamped on the brake pedal unexpectedly, mistaking it for a clutch. In a word, completely disgraced myself, a lot worse than usual. Back in those days, we were very likely stoned as well.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Mon 13 Jul 15 at 17:52
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New Mon 13 Jul 15 18:07 
 Colour of Oil - Armel Coussine
Might as well correct myself: NSU RO80.

No one ran into the back of us when I did my sudden bit of left-foot braking, and no harm was done: I seem to remember the geezer took the car to Ghana and used it there.

The annoying thing is that - with proper sympathy for its leisurely nature - the car could be driven like an automatic, in two-pedal mode. I was an impatient, ill-mannered, none-too-bright driver when younger, I'm sorry to say. But age brings a measure of wisdom.
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New Mon 13 Jul 15 18:12 
 Colour of Oil - Manatee
An easy mistake to make - a minor memory retrieval error as it will be filed in there next to the related Volkswagen K70
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New Mon 13 Jul 15 18:23 
 Colour of Oil - Armel Coussine
>> it will be filed in there next to the related Volkswagen K70

How clever of you to think of that Manatee. This is true, not invention: I did drive a very nice VW K70 in Ghana. It had a supplementary horn that played the first bars of 'La Cucaracha' very loudly.
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New Mon 13 Jul 15 19:41 
 Colour of Oil - Dog
Done 'em all ain I ... K70, Ro 80, Prinz etc. etc. done the bleeding lot guvnor :)

The Ro 80 engines I attempted to fine tune were all knackered, like those Mazda Wankels.

www.classicdigest.com/cars/nsu/ro80/34203
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New Mon 13 Jul 15 20:40 
 Colour of Oil - Armel Coussine
>> Ro 80, Prinz etc. etc. done the bleeding lot guvnor :)

Yes, rotor end seal chatter soon did for Wankels. K70 was a proper four-cylinder piston engine though. Can't beat those for reliability and longevity... they've had a bit of development innit.
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New Wed 15 Jul 15 13:38 
 Colour of Oil - Dog
>>Yes, rotor end seal chatter soon did for Wankels. K70 was a proper four-cylinder piston engine though. Can't beat those for reliability and longevity... they've had a bit of development innit.

I've only just seen your reply Sire. The 'new' post thingamajigs don't always appear and I wouldn't have seen it if it wasn't for mister Jagworth's reply.

Anyway, good strong car the K70 :o)
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New Wed 15 Jul 15 12:59 
 Colour of Oil - J Bonington Jagworth
AC

"Might as well correct myself: NSU RO80"

Always wanted one of those - still looks modern to me.

I thought for a moment that you had a rare prototype.. :-)
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New Thu 16 Jul 15 15:31 
 Colour of Oil - Armel Coussine
Most heavyweight Wankel car was the mid-engined triple-rotor Mercedes C111. Very few examples were made, some were crashed I think, and surviving cars still in use often have a Rover V8 replacing that Wankel. One assumes it was too pernickety and expensive to run even for the Mercedes company...

Bet it sounded good when new and on song with the original engine.
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New Thu 16 Jul 15 20:11 
 Colour of Oil - Shiny
Euro 5 diesels also seem to keep the oil golden for a few thousand miles.
Not so many years ago, it would be as black as ink straight after an oil change.
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New Thu 16 Jul 15 20:19 
 Colour of Oil - Armel Coussine
New engines after first oil change can keep the oil clean for a while if driven gently.

Doesn't take many miles very fast to make it black though.

Change the oil when the engine maker says. They know, those cats.
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New Thu 16 Jul 15 20:42 
 Colour of Oil - Armel Coussine
Twin rotor ugly little car, rwd, I saw once down the Beller.

Couldn't believe what it did: took off with wheelspin diagonally on the cobbles among all the random fruit and clothes merchants, and zigzagged off down the road.

That engine made a healthy grunt too.
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New Fri 17 Jul 15 00:18 
 Colour of Oil - Armel Coussine
>> That engine made a healthy grunt too.

I imagine the driver was a car dealer, but a very sprauncy one. He was a very good, if rude, driver.
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New Fri 17 Jul 15 18:26 
 Colour of Oil - J Bonington Jagworth
"Change the oil when the engine maker says"

Or more often. Preferably.
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New Fri 17 Jul 15 18:28 
 Colour of Oil - Old Navy
>> Or more often. Preferably.
>>

Especially if it is on fleet manager friendly service intervals.
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