Black oil after oil change

[kober]

I'm a new diesel owner. I just had my first oil change at 3000 miles. I had them use Mobil 1 synthetic. I checked the oil today at 3700 miles and the oil looks black. Is this a normal thing with diesels or did I get ripped off?

 

[RWhites]

Some residual oil in engine will blacken the new oil. Some guys let their engines drip overnight to get it "all" out. I seem to recall that for the 2nd gen engines Mobil 1 was not rated for the sliding parts in the valve train. I use Amsoil which is rated for the 2nd Gen engine.

Rich

 

[Jeff_K]

Seems normal for the '600' motor. You should have waited a bit longer to change to synthetic though...



http://www.cummins.com/na/pages/en/....cfm?uuid=0003D957-1D8B-19FF-982180C4A8F00000

 

[kober]

Seems normal for the '600' motor. You should have waited a bit longer to change to synthetic though...



Why should I have waited and for how long?

 

[ttreibel]

I didn't know Mobil 1 had a truck oil out, I thought they only had Delvac 1 5w-40w I would use Delo or another Dino for the first 20K of ownership then think of switching to Delvac 1. If you live in a warmer climate I would save your dough and use the Costco Special Cheveron Delo 15-40.

 

[nickleinonen]

I didn't know Mobil 1 had a truck oil out, I thought they only had Delvac 1 5w-40w I would use Delo or another Dino for the first 20K of ownership then think of switching to Delvac 1. If you live in a warmer climate I would save your dough and use the Costco Special Cheveron Delo 15-40.

Mobil 1 truck&suv is avalable now in the usa [still not in canada ]



it is basically delvac1 repackaged at a cheaper price

 

[klenger]

A break-in period of 10,000 miles or more is recommended before switching to full synthetic to allow the rings to seat. Since you have already changed it, I'd leave it in; it will just take longer to break-in.

 

[kober]

Phew! I was starting to think I might have inadvertently hurt my baby!



I plan to drive this truck 'till the chassis rusts thru and the motor falls off... lol!

 

[CurtLee]

Kober,

klenger is right abought syn oil and when to put it in at 10,000 miles

or alittle more I've got a new one as well I've been cautioned by my dad

on the does and don'ts before hand. good luck with your new toy

 

[GFritsch]

The oil is very black very quick, I was going to go every 7,500 between oil changes based on Cummins, but I think I will go every 5k. There is a lot of info regarding black oil vs dirty oil if you use the search. I too think you changed your oil to syn too soon, but I really don't think that you hurt anything.

 

[bcpalmer]

Cummins states what others have said here: . http://cummins.com/na/pages/en/prod....cfm?uuid=0003D957-1D8B-19FF-982180C4A8F00000

 

[kober]

I've put about 600 miles on it since the change to synthetic. Should I change back?

 

[barbwire]

I've put about 600 miles on it since the change to synthetic. Should I change back?

I would say that if the rings were not seated yet, you may use a little oil until they do seat, but other than that, I do not believe that there is any detrimental effect. But that is JMO! Flame starts now!!!!!

 

[theferalkid]

why use synthetic at all? seems to me if the syn isn't appropriate for the break-in period, ...

 

[klenger]

I have broken-in 3 CTD's, and have never experienced any oil consumption during or after break-in. I have noticed that the power continues to increase up to about 20,000 miles. I don't think that changing to synthetic too soon will hurt anything, or cause excessive oil consumption, but will lengthen the time it takes to get the performance up.

 

[OHale]

3,000 is too soon to switch to synthetic. I know because when I switched to Mobil 1 in my 1978 Land Cruiser (in 1978) the rings never wore-in and I had to have the pistons pulled and the cylinders re-honed. Mobil 1 was still pretty new back then and there certainly wasn't the internet for information. As the years rolled by I heard more and more stories of the same problem in gas and diesel engines.



I think if you check a few diesel shops they will tell you the same thing. It isn't too late for you to switch back to dead dinosaurs.

 

[WNowlan]

Mobil 1 Truck and SUV Oil

This new product is a CI-4 rated product suitable for use in our cummins engines.



The new Mobil 1 is a group III base oil. You should not have the breakin problems commonly associated with a true PAO synthetic. The Delvac 1 product is a PAO.



The oil in a diesel turns black because of the soot loading. This is more common with the newer engines. The EPA has reduced the amount of particulates that came be exhaust into the atmosphere. This stuff is now sent to the oil pan. A good oil will turn black because it is holding the soot (by product of combustion) in suspension until it is drained. This is done by the dispersants found in the additive package. This is listed as the sulfated ash content on a specification sheet. The Mobil 1 product has 1. 35% as part of it's package. Cummins has a requirement that this be below 1. 5%.



Part of API CI-4 approval requires that an oil pass the Cummins M11-EGR. This measures soot related valve train wear, filter plugging, sludge formation, ring wear. All CI-4 oils must pass this test along with other test protocol.



I have seen these engines run well over a 1 Million Miles without a major overhaul on non-synthetic "High Quality" 15W40 oil.



I do not work for ExxonMobil.

 

[OHale]

I am not familiar with the Mobil 1 diesel-rated oil you refer to so I stand corrected!



If I understand correctly, though, you would still not recommend a 'true' all-synthetic oil in our Cummins engines until well after 3,000 miles. Is this correct?



Also, as our engines do not have EGR at this point, are our engines returning a lot of soot to the oil (more so than a 2nd generation engines?)



Thank you for your information, very useful!

 

[WNowlan]

Yes, The newer engines stock, will produce more soot in the oil than older engine designs. We have the particulate trap (converter) on the 600 series. This is to make the egine emission compliant for 04. We typically do not lug our engines as much as the big trucks so that helps.

 

[OHale]

Thank you for the info. Question: how does the converter return soot to the oil, or does it produce a secondary affect in the engine that does so? Would (hypothetically) removing the converter result in cleaner oil and possibly extended engine life?



Any time you get tired of endless questions just let me know!