Oil colour immediately after service

[chris_s]

Maybe a silly question, but I'm interested to see if I'm being ripped off.
I just had my MN 15,000km service.
Before driving off after a service, I always check the oil (to make sure the level is okay, etc).
It was black.
I walked back & asked the service manager if this is normal and he said, "Of course, it's a diesel."
Is this normal with Triton diesels??
When I had my 3L patrol, the oil was always a clear colour and only started turning black at around 5000 Km after its oil & filter change.
Thanks in advance.

[RHKTriton]

Bit suss!

Oil will start getting darker fairly fast over first few 100kms after change with engine in standard config.

With EGR blanked it will stay clean for ages - still see thru after 7+k.

I'd say your possibilities are: not changed, didn't change filter, didn't drain properly.

[sarice]

Been ripped off there mate, change the oil yourself then change dealers. Never seen new oil thats black before even leaving the workshop.

[borngeek]

they have to be joking... the simplest part of the service and they cannot even get that right...

Either they 'forgot' to do entirely or they didnt have any filters in stock so just whacked fresh oil in a dirty filter? I would say the former (didnt do it at all). I would be driving over and then reversing and going again all over the service manager. But ive been called a bully by the Mrs for how i carry on at service departments and dealerships...

Mine had 30K service over a week ago. The oil is STILL CLEAR! I am running EGR and catch can too. Like RHK i expect that it will be good for at least 7500km. At that point I check to see if its due for a changeout or keep going to its scheduled 15K. By the 30K service my oil was dirty and definately not black at all.

[Homer]

Yep ripped off. Even using an old filter it wouldn't be black that quick...unless they used it as their delivery vehicle for the day

[subi_man]

I'd be crawling underneath looking for a new oil filter, and evidence of a new crush washer on the sump plug

[sarice]

I had a minor service where the oil filter wasn`t changed, I had it marked and all they did was polish it up and made it look new. Charged $280 for oil, filter, misc top ups etc and all they did was drop the old oil and put new in, nothing else. Crap oil too.

[MitsiGuy]

Maybe a silly question, but I'm interested to see if I'm being ripped off.
I just had my MN 15,000km service.
Before driving off after a service, I always check the oil (to make sure the level is okay, etc).
It was black.
I walked back & asked the service manager if this is normal and he said, "Of course, it's a diesel."
Is this normal with Triton diesels??
When I had my 3L patrol, the oil was always a clear colour and only started turning black at around 5000 Km after its oil & filter change.
Thanks in advance.

When I service / change the engine oil in a diesel no matter what it is always still discoloured dark. Thats oil filter, sump washer and oil..

Even when I let it drain for about 15 mins over smoko..

so my advice would be if your concerned just to check you sump plug and oil filter to see if they have been changed / removed.

[Dave]

You can't trust anyone with your vehicle.

That is all I have to say.

Dave

[trouble]

well I just got the 30k service done ($237 ) and when I got home checked the oil and it was clear and clean (drove about 8 ks) I reckon they didnt drain it properly.

[chaser]

The diesels i do don't turn black straight away cause i run the engine to operating temp with a bottle of engine flush in it. I also let it drain for 15 mins every car whilst i do other shit.

But most of the time with diesels they will stay black no matter what you do...

[Cowboy Dave]

Yeah but surely there is black and there is black? My oil when I changed it at 7500 was about the blackest substance I can picture, it was like liquid soot or old fashioned tyre black. After the change well sure it wasn't pure and golden (partly because I didn't bother swapping the filter ) but it also wasn't pitch black either.

If I picked my truck up from a dealer and the oil was pure black then I'd be thinking I'd been done over.

Still could be worse. I just got back from Fiji where my brother in law was in the process of having a whole new engine dropped into his Navara. Why? Because the mechanics remembered to drain the oil when they serviced it but they forgot to fill it up again.

[odie602r]

This seems an appropriate thread to ask this question.

On the weekend I changed the oil and oil filter. Let it completely drain until no drips from the sump, then took off filter. Then obviously filled up with oil after drain plug back in and new filter on.

When I was checking the oil level on the dip stick, after i'd let the engine run for a minute or so, the colour of the oil on the dipstick was black. I wiped and re-dipped several times but still black.

I was quite surprised at this. When I've changed oil on my commodore, the oil colour on the dipstick after refill has always been the honey colour.

Anyone know why the colour on dipstick would immediately be black?

FYI in case it's relevant, I have an EGR blank and a catch can.

Has me stumped ....

[TUFF TROOP]

Yes the oil will be black after a service.. It is impossible to get all the black oil out from the motor unless engine is flushed a couple of times..
As Ben has said he even did his own service on the weekend and it's still black. There are a few things that can be done to stop the oil being black.
I have done It to my ml triton. And 200ks the oil is still the clear colour at every service..

[odie602r]

What is the magic trick? Please share!

[TUFF TROOP]

Buy a ml haha

Catch can, egr blank or remove egr altogether , flush the oils out couple times to get it clean. Clean inlet
Manifolds etc .

[odie602r]

okay - got the first two covered anyway!

Not sure if this is the right thread to ask it, but out of interest, how do you flush the oils out? Is is an owner-servicable thing, or more a workshop-equipped job?

[TUFF TROOP]

Get heaps of oil and flush it a few
Times

[gregned]

Odie
What tuff troop meant was fill up with clean oil run it until engine warm and drain the oil.
rinse and repeat until clean. This will flush the oil galaries out.

[odie602r]

Thanks for expanding a little further gregned. Using the same grade oil I assume? I guess that would mean what - going through an additional 14 litres of oil if done twice on top of the 7 litres for the oil change?

Is it worth the effort and expense, or is a little bit of the black leftover not that big a deal?

[gregned]

you can use the shit calibre super cheap diesel oil as flushing oil but if you are pedantic the you need to use the same stuff that you would like to run with.
Perhaps Tuff Troop can chime in with his expertise.

[Stevo8]

Definitely check the oil change was done.
My 60k service wasn't done, service manager wouldn't believe it until I showed him the dirty oil filter, black oil, no sticker on the windscreen or stamps in the book. Happy to take my money though. Lucky I picked up on it.

Imagine 15000k service intervals and you missed one

Scored a Pajero for a weekend, but voted with my feet, never been back.

[g4cube]

I think the dealer did the same thing to me I looked at the oil the day after I picked it up its 2nd hand with 135K on it and all oils were changed so they said but the engine oil was black so I thought that's normal now I have done 4,000 since then and thought I might change it anyway I have driven nearly 1,000 and oil looks like a honey colour and runs so much better its simply amazing. So I would say they didn't do a thing same as they did for me.

[Mitstech2936]

Thats a tough one hey, I have had instances where it was goldenafter startup and times when it was still black, I don't change my method of drain etc, but look at it from this point of view....
I have rebuilt many engines Inc Mitsi diesels and il tell u now u can drain oil for 3 days straight and u will still have oil left in the engine!
If u drained every last drop out, when u restart the engine it would ruin bearings etc all the oil the gets trapped in the oil galleys in the crank and the oil that's in bearings etc will contaminate te new oil
Im not sayn there isnt shady pricks out there that rip people off but gotta be careful before having a go at a mechanic for thinking they haven't done the right thing when most of them do

[irwazza]

Mark your oil filter with some permanent texta or something in future that way you know if they actually changed it or not. Plenty if dodgy people around, gotta cover you ass some how.