Oil Colour

[weephee]

Just a quick question. Part of winterizing my engine has been to change the oil. The oil had been changed approx 5 hours prior. Oil looks clean on dipstick but when I pumped it out into a plastic jug, it looks pretty dark. Not black yet but certainly getting there. Is this indicative of something I need to worry about. I read on here somewhere that the oil should be changed every 20 hours so I imagine long before the 20 hours it would be black..Oil level hasn't changed.
Thanks
Larry

[Marian Claire]

I believe 50 hrs is the standard time between oil changes. But more often will not hurt. You can not get all the old oil out and depending on how much is left and how much of the old crud got suspended in the oil during the warm up and pumped out makes a difference. Did you run the engine in-between the change and the samples? Dan S/V Marian Claire

[weephee]

Oil Colour

Yes i ran it for about 5 minutes to pump RV anti-freeze through the engine.

[Mo]

Normal

Weephee,

I don't have a filter so I change my oil every 20-25 hrs. After doing that the past few years my oil now is clean looking between changes, much the same as you'd see in a car following an oil change. That didn't happen overnight. By the time 20 or so hours have lapsed then it starts to look dark...that's why I changed to that interval.

So, to answer your question. What you see is normal. Even if you sucked out every drop from the base pan, the oil up and around the engine would be enough to turn it black pretty quick.

The more frequent the oil changes the cleaner it will look. I didn't notice the oil really look any cleaner the first year but the second I did...so eventually it starts to reflect what you are doing and everything is cleaner. This was the 3rd year of frequent oil changes...3 per year.

[weephee]

Oil Colour

Thank you for the information Maurice. Much appreciated
Larry