[arlok789]

What color does your oil come out? How many miles are on the car? I have seen cars where it comes out looking brand new with 70 thousand miles on the clock and cars where it comes out black when it is brand new. What are your ravs doing? Mine is quite a dark brown at 102 thousand miles.

 

[Mohit]

Mine still comes out golden brown (but just a shade darker). My RAV's done 134,000 km (83,263 miles). I'm using Castrol Formula R full synthetic oil (5W-30). Oil is chaged every 10,000 km (6213 miles).

 

[mensajero]

I'm using 5W-30. I change it every 3,000 miles. Color, with the oil cooler, it's always clear gold for a long time [about 1,500 miles] then when it''s time to change it, it's light brown. Also, I use motor flush every other oil chage.

 

[arlok789]

Yeah, I think my father revving the thing to six grand cold every morning to keep it idling (faulty idle control valve and dirty throttle body) have drastically shortened the life of my engine.

 

[Jeff]

My Rav has 71K miles and I have been using Mobil 1 5W30 for the past 60K miles. The oil goes in light brown and comes out medium brown, which I think is perfectly normal.

Regular dino oil will always come out looking darker than synthetic just because of the type of oil it is. Synthetic can withstand higher temperatures before it begins to break down so it will not darken as much, or actually I should say it takes longer to turn dark brown.

Revving to 6000 RPM when cold? Get that man away from the vehicle! I hope you are running synthetic motor oil! Heck I don't even break 3000 RPM until my engine hits operating temp.

How much the oil breaks down (turns to sludge) is determined more by the design of the engine than the mileage on the engine.

 

[arlok789]

The man is a horrible driver. Now that he has a brand new TSX 6 speed, he is even worse. The quiet powerful smooth nature of the 2.4 liter in that car totally screws him up. Leaving the thing in 4rth gear on the highway and such is a regular occurance. He also never focuses on driving. let him ruin the tsx..

 

[Jeff]

Reminds me of all the people I know who think they know how to use a manual transmission. They just work the clutch and jam the gears, not realizing that there is some coordination and finesse involved. And then they wonder why the transmission fails or the clutch dies at 30K miles.

 

[ag0w]

What are you guys on - my oil comes out jet black - allways has in every car I've had or serviced.

Do you drive the car?

 

[mensajero]

What is the brand of your Oil? I guess here you will find the answer of why it is always JEt black..

 

[peterpogi2005]

the color change, i believe, is because of the carbon that gets washed off the cylinder walls, not weather the oil breaks down or not!! i've noticed that the darkness of the oil depends on what gasoline you use!!

 

[ag0w]

What is the brand of your Oil? I guess here you will find the answer of why it is always JEt black..

Mobil 1 and occasionaly I use a specialised performance brand only available in England that you boys won't have heard of!

How many miles do you go between changes?

 

[mensajero]

I use Castrol 5W-30, religiously ever 3,000 miles. A motor flush every other oil change. I guess the oil cooler that I installed helps a lot also.

 

[Mohit]

ag0w, there's something wrong if your oil comes out jet black!

 

[ag0w]

ag0w, there's something wrong if your oil comes out jet black!

I don't think so - the hundreds of cars I have worked on over the years are ALL like that

All I can think is we have a differing grade of fuel?

It is also customary to keep oil in cars in the UK for around 10,000 miles some cars now have oil service intervals of approx 20,000 miles

 

[PirateVI]

you cant tell the difference in used or new oil in my 98, its amazing. Maybe we have good gasoline or something... the largest oil refinery in the west hemisphere is here on the island, which also means cheaper gas

 

[RAV4EVR]

Are you guys DRIPPING YOUR OIL LONG ENOUGH at oil changes?

I drip mine for over an hour.
I Use 10W30. PENNZOIL.
After 3000 miles, my oil is still gold brown with a little brown shade.

 

[Mindscape]

What's the difference between 10W-30 and 5W-30 again? I know that, practically, it has a lot to do with the range of outdoor temperatures that are likely to be encountered, but I don't remember which was which. I've had cars that take only 10W for so long, I've never had to remember.

 

[shilly]

I came on this forum because I was worried about my oil. I have a 2005 Rav4 with just under 30k miles on it. I took it in for an oil change around every 3 to 4,000 miles.

When it had 20k on it I decided to do my own oil change. Again, the oil had about 3 to 4k miles and it was blacker than black. I decided to put full synthetic in it with a bosch filter after that. I changed the oil again about 4k miles later and it was still dark black, not as dark as before but still very dark even with the synthetic.

I know it is normal for oil to darken as the vehicle ages and as the oil gets older, but what concerns me is the car being so new with less than 30k on it scares me.

After reading your posts, I think I will take it in to the dealership while it is still under warranty. Not sure what they can do though? I doubt they will do compression tests or anything else to prove excessive wear.

 

[MrCC]

I came on this forum because I was worried about my oil. I have a 2005 Rav4 with just under 30k miles on it. I took it in for an oil change around every 3 to 4,000 miles.

When it had 20k on it I decided to do my own oil change. Again, the oil had about 3 to 4k miles and it was blacker than black. I decided to put full synthetic in it with a bosch filter after that. I changed the oil again about 4k miles later and it was still dark black, not as dark as before but still very dark even with the synthetic.

I know it is normal for oil to darken as the vehicle ages and as the oil gets older, but what concerns me is the car being so new with less than 30k on it scares me.

After reading your posts, I think I will take it in to the dealership while it is still under warranty. Not sure what they can do though? I doubt they will do compression tests or anything else to prove excessive wear.

If you are really worried, you can get an oil analysis done. You can learn a lot by perusing the Car and Truck Gas Engine Oil forum at Bob the Oil Guy's forums.

 

[vicco27]

Blow By ( combustion pressure leaking past the rings ) is what causes the oil to turn black, on a new vehicle or rebuilt engine the problem can come from the piston rings not being broken in ( sealed ), on a older engine the piston rings wear out do to age, dirty oil, milage, improper lubrication etc, or get weak do to the engine getting to hot and the the rings loosing there tension against the cylinder walls .
On our 1999 Rav4 with 148000 miles the 5W50 Castrol syntec oil and Fram filter are changed every 3000 miles and the oil comes out a dark amber. On our 1984 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z with 52000 miles the Mobil 1 5W50 and Fram filter are changed every 2000 miles and the oil comes out a dark amber. On our 1975 Dodge 1 Ton Club Cab Duely truck the Pennziol 10W30 break in oil has not been changed yet, the new motor only has 900 miles on it. The oil is nearly black already and will be changed before this hunting season. the oil will be changed to 5W50 Pennzoil synthetic and the oil and Fram filter will be changed every 1000 miles . ( I like to spread my wealth around ) :wink: :wink: .


Paladin......Have Rav , Will Travel ! :cheers: