Oil is black after changed. What to do?
 

After each oil change, the oil is immediately black again. I dropped the pan, cleaned and reinstalled. Same result.

What can be done to have cleaner appearing oil? Or should I just give up now?

I have thought about using the "10 minute Engine flush" off the shelf and then running a short period with ATF.

Thoughts?


Thanks for any input.

Use the correct oil and filter and get your head out of the oil pan..
LOL
This has been reported and talked about in the archives also..

Don't worry, completely normal.
You won't get ALL the old oil out and it doesn't take long for the new stuff to turn black.

You have an oil cooler filled with oil.

And an injection pump full of oil as well. Renntag its perfectly normal for the oil to turn black almost instantly. It's the nature of these old diesels.

some install what's known as a bypass oil filter, and use HUGE bypass filters in the submicron range of filtration. others use a centrifuge to separate the solids from the liquids, both methods can get the oil MUCH cleaner than the onboard filter is capable of...
bottom line is, the motors last 400Kmiles with standard filters (which have a tiny bypass filter built in) as long as you don't go too long on the oil between changes, and you replace your filter with a quality filter, your motor will be just fine. (7.5 quarts of clean oil mixed with .8qts of dirty oil is NO issue for this motor.
drive on!

Yep, the oil is always black on the old diesels....just change it every 3-4,000 miles and you'll be fine.

Consider it just an optional feature of the older indirect injection mercedes diesels. You know how hard it is to read the oil level in a modern car with the almost clear transparent oil? Mercedes made quite sure that certainly was not going to be an issue on their diesel cars. :rolleyes:

Blacker than a witches ___ comes to mind. Figure out the three letter word if you have never heard the expression before. I guess I should give a hint. The first and last letters are both Ts.

History claims Rudolph diesel, the individual credited with the invention of the diesel engine ran them on coal dust at one point. His engines never forgot that particular abuse. Until the last while. Now some people are trying to burn anything they can in them once again it seems.

I have no oil cooler on either of my 240s and the oil is still black shortly after the oil change;) :confused:

really?
the 240's don't have even a small cooler?
Hmmm. there is still a lot of black as coal oil in all the passages, but you would think without the cooler you could get at least a day of almond oil... how much oil do you think is in the IP?

If you dont like black oil, dont drive a diesel car. If you think you have a major problem, you could get an oil test done. Even a new diesel motor soon turns oil black.

It's the soot that turns the oil black so quick. Just use quality Diesel rated oil.

An old MB diesel mechanic was telling me a joke recently about oil changes. He was joking around saying "make sure you watch those guys changing your oil. They might lie to you and just say they changed it. You gotta watch them to make sure they're doing it". Brand new oil will be black almost immediately on these old diesels.

The system is functioning as designed.

Yes.

Bad idea. No-very bad idea. Just change your oil and filter every 3-4k miles with a diesel-rated oil of the correct weight for your climate and meeting your personal sythetic/dino preference and you will be fine.

This just shows how important using diesel rated oil is. Diesel rated oils are designed to keep their properties even when fouled with a ton of soot

what I do whem my oil is black?
 

Drive It!!!
Change oil every 3,500 miles or 5,000 miles with a new filter!

Drive It MORE!!

Euro 240Ds didn't come with oil coolers so there must be other places for the old oil too hide, dont know about the the IPs but they must hold at least a cup.

The oil in my truck's Cummens stays honey colored for 3 or 4 K with only a slight darkening.

When I was a completely ignorant new diesel owner in 2003...took it in for its first oil change....got it back and saw the jet black oil....took it back to the service center claiming that apparently they hadn't changed my oil. :D

As Dr. Booth used to say, the blackness of the oil is a feature, not a flaw.

yeah, but that truck is DI, and fuel rail, also it's got 12 quarts or something... and it's and industrial engine. drool...

I wish I had paid closer attention to the heavy duty engines I worked around on tugs, I wonder about "Cats", Jimmys, and the others. Does their oil turn black fast:confused: I remember Marshell B. talking about the soot being suspended in the lub oil, which "was OK";)

I'm going to agree and support the consensus here. There's lots of places that the old oil is going to stick. On the surface of every part in your lubrication system, for example. Soot is very fine and it doesn't take a lot of it to turn your new oil black. I was surprised when I saw this on my first diesel as well until I understood that this was completely normal.

If you want to get it totally clean, you could probably do an oil change, run the car around the block,and rinse and repeat a few times. If you suspect that something's wrong with the oil, you can always take a sample and send it to a lab for analysis.

My CAT 3208 does not get black as fast.

I knew they were cold. I didn't know they were black.

I change mine every 3,000 to 4,000 miles (At the most, normally I get to it around 3,500) I overkill though and change the filter with every change.

I will have to accept your judgement. I never got to know one that well. :D

This is a dirty oil thread remember. Seems to be still gathering momemtum.

the oil is black because it is suspending soot. if it wasn't black i'd be worried.

Give up, and enjoy the ride.

Don't use "10 Minute Engine Flush or ATF.

Change oil and filter and enjoy the ride.

I agree with bobo above, but if you were going to flush with anything, I don't see anything that would be more cost effective than just some cheap oil from Wal Mart. Not worth the risk of possibly contaminating something.

Thanks everyone.

My question wasnt driven by alarm or over concern. I change the oil, drive and repeat. My Duramax, Cummins, and 6.5TD stay clean much longer. The Cummins and the Duramax make it clean the furthest.

Think about how much food coloring it takes to make a glass of water colored... Or how much spilled oil or gas it takes to contaminate a large body of water.
Youre talking ratios... A little bi of susprnded soot makes a lot of oil black. The oil has an additive package that suspends it. Even after thousnds of miles, it is still less than 2% soot suspended in the oil. A little goes a long way to stain the oil. It is within design.

The oil stays clean in my 85' 300sd for about 2 weeks and then starts to darken never had it go black instantly. I change oil and filter every 3000 miles with Rotella 5w40.

Do you drain your oil cooler as well when you do an oil change? I don't and my oil is black in 30 seconds after a change. I change mine every 3-4k miles with 5w40 Rotella.

Nope cant say that i do that. When i first bought the car the oil got pretty black soon after a change but that went away after the 2nd or 3rd 3000 mile change with the rotella. But it was never instantly .... maybe a few hours of driving after. I am pretty picky about 3000 miles though it usually gets done around 2900 dunno if that has anything to do with it. I also run b100 in the summers and keep fresh fuel filters in it (every 3rd oil change, or when changing back to dino diesel in the winter).

this thread is funny