Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Does Your Oil Look this nasty ???

[DieselMinded]

Thanks for that Stake Man {we must of posted at the same time}



I guess its the detergents in the synthetics that makes it look worst than dino oil at any certian time frame of use .



I always used a visual aid on gassers if the oil was jet black I changed it .



It was once said that the reason you change your oil is not because the old oil's viscosisity is broke down but because the oil is dirty all your doing is putting clean oil back in ..... <--------- is this hog wash ?



DM

 

[Stake Man]

IMO-yes... . and no. Eventually the oil will break down, but mostly people see dirty oil and think "OMG its time to change it!!!" We test the oil of all our delivery vehicles(2 Freightliners and the 02') just to see how everything is running. We have an oil change interval on out FL112(with the Cummins ISM) at 32k. Its black as hell after we refill and check level. But the test results come back very good most of the time(we had a couple incidents involving dirt contamination). Since I'm at work, I look at the viscosity results for the last 4 intervals(13. 4, 13. 6, 13. 8, 14. 3- VIS @ 100*C/ min for 40w is 12. 5 with a max of 16. 29). Our 02' has 14. 6, 14. 2, 14. 4, 15. 0 in the last 4 intervals with the 8k mile interval(using same range as above). I will try to take pics and put a link of a few sample test results.



FWIW- the $80 or so we spend on 10 oil tests(with perpaid shipping) is well worth it to know whats going on in the engine.

 

[JoshPeters]

When I bought my truck, it had 181,000 miles on it. I changed the oil/s due to just purchasing it. The oil was BLACK... . who knows when it was changed. Ran it, drained it, refilled. Clean! WOOHOO! So I drove it 50 miles to my parents house. Still clean. At 3000 when I changed it again, it was starting to look dirty.

At the time I had access to Mobil 1 full Synthetic 0w40 Europen Car Formula. After calling and talking to a Mobil rep, I was told that I could run it in my truck. So I changed over to Synthetic. Like Stake Man said... . it was clean at first, but got Dirty pretty quickly. Now after almost 80,000 miles I've had the head off and inspected quite a few things on the truck. Everything cleans off with a rag. When I had just purchased it, you go through and adjust valves, etc... . Everything was very dirty and took more effort to "clean off. " I agree I think the Synthetic has a better cleaning package for Diesels.



My biggist reason for changing to Synthetic was..... here in MN when it gets down to -35, even the block heater has a hard time. I wanted something with a low pour point. Literally when I changed over we were in a cold snap, Rotella 15w40, it would fire off, Ugly but fire, at -8 unassissted. Anything lower it wouldn't fire. With the 0w40 I've successfully fired it off at -17 unassissted.



Josh

 

[Stake Man]

Took pictures of some oil test results. They can be found at

http://www.offline.org/~glhs/OilTestSamples

Pictures are large but should resize when fully loaded. I took large ones so anyone could zoom in to get a better look.

 

[Hohn]

DM, your oil looked totally normal to me.



Oil appearance tells you NOTHING about oil performance or condition.



In fact, dirty oil may mean you have BETTER oil, because that means the dirtand soot is being suspended instead of allowed to build up and form sludge.





If you want to see some FILTHY oil, take a higher mileage vehicle and run some Auto-RX through it (www.auto-rx.com). The oil will come out looking so dark it would make tar jealous.

 

[todt061458]

I always thought toilet paper was for wiping your butt. I do not trust toilet paper to filter my oil. You might want to check this out www.filtrationsolutionsww.com The fs2500 is a great commercial duty filter I use it in place of my amsoil dual filter setup cleaned the oil much better.

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

I always thought toilet paper was for wiping your butt. I do not trust toilet paper to filter my oil. You might want to check this out www.filtrationsolutionsww.com The fs2500 is a great commercial duty filter I use it in place of my amsoil dual filter setup cleaned the oil much better.

"I always thought toilet paper was for wiping your butt. "





GOLLY, us Frantz users have never heard that one before...



Tell ya what, I'd be happy to compare oil analysis results with you - any time, any place... Oo.

 

[R C Cola]

Oil Analysis Results ?

Gary have you had any response from anyone to compare oil analysis between the Frantz and the FS2500 or any other for that matter (real numbers). Previously wrote you about dark oil. I use the Frantz and am very happy with my analysis reports at most any miliage. By the way I have gone too long one time and the analysis at 18,000k still indicated oil in good condition for continued use although the numbers were a little higher than normal. I would feel better about the soot if I could keep the oil looking cleaner and have a little better numbers on the report sheet. The way it is now I need to change the element every 10 days at most and once week is a lot better. (3000 to 4000 in 10 days). Has anyone you know of ever done an oil analysis on the Frantz telling the percent of filtering ability in the 1 to 5 micron range? Has anyone done a comparison analysis of oil filters showing micron efficiency the way we have seen on charts for air filters posted on TDR ? The FS2500 ad claims to remove the soot and keep a clean dipstick? As you know I do a lot of miles loaded w/trailer half of the time. Thanks... . RC

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

Gary have you had any response from anyone to compare oil analysis between the Frantz and the FS2500 or any other for that matter (real numbers). Previously wrote you about dark oil. I use the Frantz and am very happy with my analysis reports at most any miliage. By the way I have gone too long one time and the analysis at 18,000k still indicated oil in good condition for continued use although the numbers were a little higher than normal. I would feel better about the soot if I could keep the oil looking cleaner and have a little better numbers on the report sheet. The way it is now I need to change the element every 10 days at most and once week is a lot better. (3000 to 4000 in 10 days). Has anyone you know of ever done an oil analysis on the Frantz telling the percent of filtering ability in the 1 to 5 micron range? Has anyone done a comparison analysis of oil filters showing micron efficiency the way we have seen on charts for air filters posted on TDR ? The FS2500 ad claims to remove the soot and keep a clean dipstick? As you know I do a lot of miles loaded w/trailer half of the time. Thanks... . RC

As soon as we return back home to eastern Oregon from our current RV trip (this is being typed on our daughter's PC in Lodi Ca), I will be changing the oil in the truck and sending it in for analysis and also a particle count for the solids. One of the members here (Munguyver) uses the SpinnerII, and will also be doing an analysis - hopefully he too will have a particle count done, then we can compare results of the 2 systems.



On my oil/filter change, I'll be switching to an Amsoil distributed Donaldson full flow element to compare against the Fleetguard 3894 I am now using - and then we'll see if there's any real life difference in filtration quality between the Fleetguard and the Donaldson...



As to the Spinner type oil cleaners, most guys are impressed and get all caught up in the visible accumulation of solids they see when they service them - but is that a REAL indication of overall filtering/cleaning ability? Is the TP element in my Frantz doing any poorer, just because it's construction doesn't permit me to actually SEE the accumulated goo it traps?



We'll see, when the comparable tests are posted here!