Oil Colour

CarPark2

I have a 2006 Ford Mondeo. ~130,000 miles (yes miles, i brought it in from UK).

I don't know a lot about mechanics or under the bonnet of a car.

I got it serviced today at a main dealer. I checked the oil straight afterwards, before i drove away. The oil was a very dark colour. I would have thought that it should be yellow to brown. This was more or less black.

I don't check this often, but on my previous car (Ford Focus), i remember somebody checking my oil and saying that i must have had it serviced recently, as the oil was a kind of caramel colour.

So have i been robbed? Did they actually change the oil, and just use an oil that happens to be darker, or is this just a top up of oil, with no change?

Supergurrier

Always ask for used oil filter as alot of main dealer monkeys will just top it up with the cheapest oil possible

CiniO

From my experience after changing oil and filter, colour that you can see on dipstick is rather gold or dark brown (whatever you describe it).

However after few weeks of driving it becomes pure black.

PauloMN

Is it a petrol or diesel OP? If diesel, that's perfectly normal.

CarPark2

CiniO wrote: »

From my experience after changing oil and filter, colour that you can see on dipstick is rather gold or dark brown (whatever you describe it).

However after few weeks of driving it becomes pure black.

So does that mean that if it is black immediately after the service that it hasn't been changed, just topped up?

CarPark2

PauloMN wrote: »

Is it a petrol or diesel OP? If diesel, that's perfectly normal.

It is Diesel. I should have specified. My previous car, where i noticed the golden brown colour of the new oil was a petrol.

So is fresh oil in a Diesel car normally black?

PauloMN

CarPark2 wrote: »

It is Diesel. I should have specified. My previous car, where i noticed the golden brown colour of the new oil was a petrol.

So is fresh oil in a Diesel car normally black?

Soon as the engine has been running, it'll be black, maybe only slightly less black than before the oil change. I change my own oil and filters in a petrol and diesel we own, and the diesel oil goes black straight away. The oil in the petrol will always look dark golden brown.

knifey_spoonie

Supergurrier wrote: »

Always ask for used oil filter as alot of main dealer monkeys will just top it up with the cheapest oil possible

This utter drivel is what is ruining the motoring forum. What use is the oil filter going to be, how does the op know what their oil filter looks like.

OP, Its perfectly normal for oil to quickly darken after a service especially in a diesel, as carbon deposits over time will build within the engine, darkening the oil quickly.

sean1141

diesels will turn oil black very quick. even running a few min to check for leaks etc and topping up will have it a dark colour

Toyotafanboi

Supergurrier wrote: »

Always ask for used oil filter as alot of main dealer monkeys will just top it up with the cheapest oil possible

ah stop, thats a massively false sweeping generalisation.

a petrol engined car will keep its oil a nice gold/ caramel colour for a good few thousand miles, but a diesel will turn black almost instantly.

darragh o meara

sean1141 wrote: »

diesels will turn oil black very quick. even running a few min to check for leaks etc and topping up will have it a dark colour

Yep as said above. I serviced two cars today, both diesels and the oils was black after a few mins. But don't worry I asked the same question myself some time back. Apparently the little bit that's left over in the engine changes the colour of the new stuff coming in. Once it's not mayonnaise like your fine.

Ronnie Beck

The oil in my diesel engine stays a golden colour for about 3000 miles. It has 125k miles on it. I service it with 5w30(vw 507) fully synthetic oil every 6-8k miles.

In the OP's case I would guess the oil being badly pumped out, rather than through the plug, leaving enough oil in it to turn the new stuff black.

Supergurrier

knifey_spoonie wrote: »

This utter drivel is what is ruining the motoring forum. What use is the oil filter going to be, how does the op know what their oil filter looks like.

OP, Its perfectly normal for oil to quickly darken after a service especially in a diesel, as carbon deposits over time will build within the engine, darkening the oil quickly.

It's not drivel i know when i get it that it's been changed, it's very simple really.

It's the best representation that it's been changed rather than taking out a colour chart beside your dipstick.

Even better mark it beforehand, then again if you can get to it to mark it you can probably change it too.

ljpg

Supergurrier wrote: »

It's not drivel i know when i get it that it's been changed, it's very simple really.

It's the best representation that it's been changed rather than taking out a colour chart beside your dipstick.

Even better mark it beforehand, then again if you can get to it to mark it you can probably change it too.

and if its a paper filter how do you propose you mark it?when your mechanic shows you a filter as proof of a change,how do you know its yours? it could be anyones
.

Wheres My ForkandKnife

Supergurrier wrote: »

It's not drivel i know when i get it that it's been changed, it's very simple really.

It's the best representation that it's been changed rather than taking out a colour chart beside your dipstick.

Even better mark it beforehand, then again if you can get to it to mark it you can probably change it too.

Sorry but it is exactly that,drivel.

You are assuming that all cars are the same as yours in that the have a metal cannister type filter which is not correct.

No garage would leave the filter unchanged as they are a very cheap part to begin with.If they were going to cut corners they would use the cheapest possible oil which would have the same golden colour as expensive correct grade oil.If your level of trust in the garage is that you have to mark a filter then a)Why would you leave your car there in the first place and b)Are you going to take a sample of the fresh oil and send it to be analysed to make sure its the correct oil.

Oil in diesels will be black as soon as you collect the car.The engine wil have been run to make sure the levels are correct and that there are no leaks.They cant just throw in x amount and know its right.The have to check it and they have to run the engine to do this.Nothing to worry about OP.

Supergurrier

ljpg wrote: »

and if its a paper filter how do you propose you mark it?when your mechanic shows you a filter as proof of a change,how do you know its yours? it could be anyones
.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Security-Marker-Pen-UV-Light/dp/B001AWTVNY

Wheres My ForkandKnife

Supergurrier wrote: »

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Security-Marker-Pen-UV-Light/dp/B001AWTVNY

And you can use it to mark exery other part of the car to make sure the mechanic hasn't robbed any other parts off you car. It must be a fun day when you get your car back from a service:):)

Supergurrier

Wheres My ForkandKnife wrote: »

And you can use it to mark exery other part of the car to make sure the mechanic hasn't robbed any other parts off you car. It must be a fun day when you get your car back from a service:):)

No just the oil filter, my dad started doing this years ago when a reputable toyota main dealer kept just topping up the oil instead of doing it properly, needless to say he would have did it instead but he wanted the stamp in the logbook of a car he was owning from new until 2 years old.

Just picked up the habit, we are actually very trusting people, problem is alot of places take the piss because 95% of people don't know a thing about cars

Toyotafanboi

seriously i dont think any car trader no matter how half arsed, never mind a main dealer will risk their reputation/ franchise etc by topping up a cars oil instead of doing an oil change.

i mean for the love of god an oil change is a very simple task on 99% of cars and the price garages pay for oil (when they buy it in bulk) is not so expensive that they will need to be scrimping on.

ljpg

Supergurrier wrote: »

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Security-Marker-Pen-UV-Light/dp/B001AWTVNY

what good is that for paper filters??????thats only gonna work for steel ones

CarPark2

Thanks for all of the replies.
Apart from marking the filter, is there are easy-ish way to check the service on a diesel car? I just paid €150 for an intermediate service and the main one is more expensive. I'm doing ~ €25,000 miles/ year, so the services are fairly regular. With such an outlay, it would be nice to have some reassurance that the quality of the service is good.

Ronnie Beck

The easiest way I can think off would be to take off the undertray and put a make shift tippex tamper seal on the sump bung and filter housing.

Here is how to find them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L--kaIb5GoI

I don't know how mechanics would react to seeing these though.

Toyotafanboi

i think if you deal with a reasonably legit garage your mind should be at ease tbh. i've gotten many oil services done at fast-fit, €79 each time (when i havn't had time to do my own) which is a fair price i think.

they are hardly going to take my keys off me at 9am, hand them back to me at 5pm, charge me €79 and never even move my car out of the parking space and lie to me saying they changed the oil and filter when they simply didn't. it's just an insane scenario.

Mech1

Some of the best fun I had in years was watching a customer trying to workout how I had charged him for front pads but according to his tipex marks the wheel nuts hadnt been undone.

99% of mechanics also own tippex.

CarPark2

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

i think if you deal with a reasonably legit garage your mind should be at ease tbh. i've gotten many oil services done at fast-fit, €79 each time (when i havn't had time to do my own) which is a fair price i think.

they are hardly going to take my keys off me at 9am, hand them back to me at 5pm, charge me €79 and never even move my car out of the parking space and lie to me saying they changed the oil and filter when they simply didn't. it's just an insane scenario.

Well maybe an insane scenario, but there is motive (increased profit) and opportunity (most people who get their car serviced don't have a way of checking that it has been done as described).

Motive + opportunity means that it is possible. How probable it is, I don't know. I am just wondering if there is a possibility of reducing the blind faith from 100% to 90%, I.e. getting some concrete indication that the service has been carried out as described.

johndaman66

Mech1 wrote: »

99% of mechanics also own tippex.

Not sure how you arrived at that percentage figure but would suggest its too high;)

Supergurrier

ljpg wrote: »

what good is that for paper filters??????thats only gonna work for steel ones

Works on the sleeve of paper filters fine

The actual connection isn't paper

darragh o meara

Ronnie Beck wrote: »

The easiest way I can think off would be to take off the undertray and put a make shift tippex tamper seal on the sump bung and filter housing.

Here is how to find them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L--kaIb5GoI

I don't know how mechanics would react to seeing these though.

Mech1 wrote: »

Some of the best fun I had in years was watching a customer trying to workout how I had charged him for front pads but according to his tipex marks the wheel nuts hadnt been undone.

99% of mechanics also own tippex.

And about the same amount don't even go near the sump anymore, they suck it out through the dipstick tube. Reason being is that cars nowadays have a lot of under guard protection which takes ages to remove and most have alloy sumps which are prone to stripping the threads if you over tighten the sump plug any bit.