changed the oil at 6000 miles boy was it dirty!

[JPM]

Both my ‘06 and my ‘14 are black as soon as I start it and check the level. Was told it’s completely normal. I’ll never believe it’s completely normal.

I too will never believe it’s completely normal, my guess its a coating of soot inside turning the new oil dark quick. You can see the soot sticking on the dip stick after a oil change. But thinking about it some more its probably the new normal. So I guess we just forgetaboutit

 

[Cummins12V98]

Both my ‘06 and my ‘14 are black as soon as I start it and check the level. Was told it’s completely normal. I’ll never believe it’s completely normal.

Drain overnight.

 

[Newsa]

Drain overnight.

Highly recommended:

1) Drain overnight
2) Use amsoil for cleaner "looking" oil.

However, i always thought dirty-looking oil was a good thing. Dirty-looking oil occurs when the oil picks up soot and carries it away from engine surface parts (keeping it mostly suspended until the filter does it's job. It is a function of both detergents and dispersants in the additive package. Dispersants have provided a new (actually decades old.... Not new.... But newer additive packages have better dispersants than in the 60's-80's) challenge to filters. Dispersants help particles less than 5 microns to stay small and not clump together so the filter can't filter them out. So i use a bypass filter to (likely) double or triple the effectiveness of my full flow stratopore or Donaldson/Amsoil. However, no filter will get the sub micron particles, so my oil will always look black as it should.

I'm not concerned about soot as long as my UOA stays less than 2%.

 

[Regcabguy]

My '07's oil is black driving around the block. My 24v would be black/dark brown @ 5K.

 

[JPM]

....
Maybe my locking fuel cap caused an air lock, but will use the ziplock for sure next time.

Is that a thing? I have a Genos fuel cap installed

 

[Jim W]

I too will never believe it’s completely normal, my guess its a coating of soot inside turning the new oil dark quick. You can see the soot sticking on the dip stick after a oil change. But thinking about it some more its probably the new normal. So I guess we just forgetaboutit

I have had my 2008, 6.7L Cummins since Nov. 2007, when I bought this truck new. I have done oil sampling since May of 2010, on my truck. This is when I started to change my own oil do to dealer issue of changing oil on my truck. Oil samples are taken ever 6K to 7K miles when I do an oil change on the truck. Ever oil sample has shown less than <.1 % of soot based on volume. The oil is always very black when I do my oil change.
Both of my sons who each have a Dodge truck with the Cummins have had black oil in their trucks when an oil change has been done. My one son has two Cummins equipped trucks a 1996 and a 2006, 5.9L. My other son has a 2013.5 6.7L Cummins.

 

[Newsa]

I have had my 2008, 6.7L Cummins since Nov. 2007, when I bought this truck new. I have done oil sampling since May of 2010, on my truck. This is when I started to change my own oil do to dealer issue of changing oil on my truck. Oil samples are taken ever 6K to 7K miles when I do an oil change on the truck. Ever oil sample has shown less than <.1 % of soot based on volume. The oil is always very black when I do my oil change.
Both of my sons who each have a Dodge truck with the Cummins have had black oil in their trucks when an oil change has been done. My one son has two Cummins equipped trucks a 1996 and a 2006, 5.9L. My other son has a 2013.5 6.7L Cummins.

Sounds like you don't do much city driving. That's good for your truck. Also sounds like your transmission doesn't lug the truck and keeps it nicely in it's sweet spot(s)???

Just curious, what dealer issue you had (if you want to share). I also try to avoid them.... They are good for free work mostly. (Free oil changes & warranty work) But even then they have tried to charge for things that should be covered. And they don't like to give me a rental that us supposed to be covered by max care.

Every time they did a free oil change, the truck came back with oil well above the safe mark. Guessing they didn't drain it well.

 

[Cummins2014]

My 15 takes a long time to get black. 11 was instant. 98 was dark brown at 5k.

And Cummins12V98 recommends AMZZZZZZZZZZZZ/OIL.....so what's your point?

Meaningless , same as 12V98

And Cummins12V98 recommends AMZZZZZZZZZZZZ/OIL.....so what's your point?

28mm is better then 1*1/8

 

[Jim W]

Sounds like you don't do much city driving. That's good for your truck. Also sounds like your transmission doesn't lug the truck and keeps it nicely in it's sweet spot(s)???

Just curious, what dealer issue you had (if you want to share). I also try to avoid them.... They are good for free work mostly. (Free oil changes & warranty work) But even then they have tried to charge for things that should be covered. And they don't like to give me a rental that us supposed to be covered by max care.

Every time they did a free oil change, the truck came back with oil well above the safe mark. Guessing they didn't drain it well.

I drive the truck using the tach and Boost gauge, I try to keep the engine RPM'S in the 1,400 to 1,800 range so, I manually shift the 6 SPD auto from 4 to 6th gear. Keeping the RPM range around 1600 most of the time. When towing I usually will tow in 5th gear but will go to 6th gear when the RPM exceeds 1900, I will drop it to 1500 to 1600 by going into 6th gear.

Now the dealer!
First off, the truck was put on a quick lube rack! The oil change jockeys would take all of 15 mins to change the oil and filter (not even long enough to drain the engine completely of oil. I watched them and timed them on the second oil change done. The engine was always over filled by a quart or more. Second there was no provision too grease the front drive line and some of the greaseable steering components on my truck. Service writer said this was not part of the free oil changes that were being done on the quick lube rack. After the third time I started to do my own.

 

[Cummins12V98]

Draining overnight I still only add 11 qts and 24 oz or so to be right in the full mark.

 

[Cummins2014]

Draining overnight I still only add 11 qts and 24 oz or so to be right in the full mark.

 

[Paul Markowski]

I noticed that my oil was dirty one day after a change. Scared me a little. Then I began reading these forums. No doubt the pollution control system is at fault here.

 

[Cummins12V98]

Look at the bottom of the oil pan and the bung the plug threads into. That is why so much oil is left in the engine.

 

[AH64ID]

Look at the bottom of the oil pan and the bung the plug threads into. That is why so much oil is left in the engine.

It's a poor design, IMHO.

The more we can drain the better. A fair amount also stays in the head.

 

[Tuesdak]

Two ways for soot to get in the oil: Past the rings (especially the ring end gap) and past valve stems. A little in-depth perspective:

Experimenting with Total Seal Gapless rings on a very dirty running 6.2 IDI engine had an unexpected side effect of keeping the oil visibly clean. The UOA confirmed 0 soot after dropping the rings in vs. always having a soot>0 reading before getting new rings. Normally you start one of these IDI's and the "new" oil is immediately black. Solid black oil makes seeing the oil level easy on the stick. For the next 38K miles I was able to read the markings on the dipstick through the oil at 2500 miles after an oil change. On teardown some used heads I tossed on the engine without cleaning had the soot buildup cleaned off.

Visible difference in oil is impressive to look at, but, the real story is with UOA.

If emissions get any tighter we very well may see unheard of uses for innovations like this to keep blow-by down as every little source of extra emissions is tracked down. Meanwhile turning your oil black is "cost effective" vs. the OEM implementing improved ring designs like above on the assembly line.

 

[Cummins2014]

Draining overnight I still only add 11 qts and 24 oz or so to be right in the full mark.

And then we add the Fumoto valve to the mix, and then wonder why our oil is dirty looking in a day. I know you don't have the Fumoto, but its the worst if someone is trying to get as much oil drained as possible .

 

[JPM]

Look at the bottom of the oil pan and the bung the plug threads into. That is why so much oil is left in the engine.

Maybe , Install the plug lose after a long drain and add a sacrificial clean quart ,wait, then redrain , to dilute and chase the remaining dirty oil out?

 

[Cummins12V98]

It's a poor design, IMHO.

The more we can drain the better. A fair amount also stays in the head.

Compare it to the 2nd get trucks with the slotted bung that allows the oil to drain down to the pan level.

 

[Newsa]

Two ways for soot to get in the oil: Past the rings (especially the ring end gap) and past valve stems. A little in-depth perspective:

Experimenting with Total Seal Gapless rings on a very dirty running 6.2 IDI engine had an unexpected side effect of keeping the oil visibly clean. The UOA confirmed 0 soot after dropping the rings in vs. always having a soot>0 reading before getting new rings. Normally you start one of these IDI's and the "new" oil is immediately black. Solid black oil makes seeing the oil level easy on the stick. For the next 38K miles I was able to read the markings on the dipstick through the oil at 2500 miles after an oil change. On teardown some used heads I tossed on the engine without cleaning had the soot buildup cleaned off.

Visible difference in oil is impressive to look at, but, the real story is with UOA.

If emissions get any tighter we very well may see unheard of uses for innovations like this to keep blow-by down as every little source of extra emissions is tracked down. Meanwhile turning your oil black is "cost effective" vs. the OEM implementing improved ring designs like above on the assembly line.

I like the cost analysis in this post.

Better rings and valve stem seals would coat more.

Installing a factory OEM bypass filter ( that filters oil skiwer and more thoriughly) is more expensive and something that might send customers to GM or Ford bcause rhe owner doesn't want the bother/cost of changing 2 oil filters.

Having 15,000 mile OCI's is probably a good selling point. But going 15,000 miles between oil changes just protects FCA up to the 100,000 mile power train warranty and the 120k Max cares.

Granted, long haulers like GSBrockman get several hundred thousand miles using the 15k OCI using synthetic.

But the oil will protect better if changed on shorter intervals.

 

[gsbrockman]

Granted, long haulers like GSBrockman get several hundred thousand miles using the 15k OCI using synthetics. But the oil will protect better if changed on shorter intervals.

Blackstone seemed to have no issues with my 15K oil change intervals.....granted my oil is lucky to have 250 to 280 drive hours on it within 12k to 15k oil change intervals.