Worry About Dark Engine Oil After 1000mi?

[bushbean]

Howdy,

Why does the engine oil on my 3geez turn dark only 1000 miles
after changing the oil and filter? The engine oil also has a wiff
of gasoline smell. However, the exhaust does not blow any kind
of unusual color smoke, and the engine pulls quite strong for
an engine with 220000 miles. I have been doing oil changes every
4000 miles, but I'm thinking I need to do it every 2000 or maybe
15000 now considering the unusual condition of the oil.

Thanks

88 LX 2.0 carb, 220000 miles,

[Jasonf860]

A common misconception is that high quality motor oil should come out of an engine looking clean at the time of an oil change. Nothing could be further from the truth. If the oil is doing its job of cleaning the engine, then it should be dirty when it is drained. Motor oil will start looking dirty a short time after it is put to use. In the case of diesel engines, the oil will look dirty within a few hours of operation. These are signs that the motor oil is doing its job of keeping soot, dirt, and other combustion contaminants in suspension to be carried to the filter or removed from the crankcase when the oil is changed. Most motor oils have been formulated to hold these contaminants in suspension until they can be removed with an oil and filter change. Hope that answers your question.

[2oodoor]

I would be a little concerned about the gasoline smell. I would check a few things
1- air filter and pvc valve in good cond
2- choke operation, and warm up cycle functioning close to acceptable
3-let the car sit and cool off after a run for about 10 minutes, about the time it takes to get the breather crap off, and with engine NOT running shine a flashlight down the throat of the carb and make sure no gas is dripping anywhere, or botttom throttle plate stuck open. Certain things on these carbs can cause the secondary throttle controler to hold open the throttle and possibley drip gas down the motor while its not running, among other things, search the forum for like contaminated oil or something OK.
4-Yes , start changing the oil more frequently, say 2500 miles and use castrol or valvloline, always change filter.
Nothing to freak out about here with dirty oil, like Jason says. Some things to consider are you may not be sure of the oil change history of the car, it may have a little cleaning out to do, which will happen with the recommended oils and changing it before 5000 miles. You will see the oil get cleaner and cleaner, never use magical engine cleaner crap !!!!!
There was a post by Lost4awhile last week about the exhaust running right under the oil pan, which creates a lot of heat in the pan while the car is resting after a good hot run or commute, I would be interested to know how many of you out there have a dark spot on the end of your dipstick of your 2.0 engines, like a burnt spot.

[Jasonf860]

Yeah, I forgot to mention the gas smell. That IS something to be concerned with, but can be caused by any # of issues like Roodoo said. When I first bought my car, the guy before me changed the oil every 5k and I always do it every 3k or thereabout. I have noticed that my oil is slightly cleaner now, but nothing significant.

[Vanilla Sky]

the gas smell is most likely blow-by. these engines are getting old, and rings are getting worn out of tolerances. with 220,000 miles, i'm sure you're getting much more blow-by than an engine with even 100,000 miles.

as for the dark oil, don't worry too much about it. like has already been said, quality oil not only lubricates your engine, it cleans your engine and keeps contaminates suspendid in the oil. this is why i am picky with my oil filters.

as for oil choice, you may want to stay with a dino oil. synthetic typically is higher in detergents, and will clean deposits that may be keeping your engine running the way it runs now, sealing up small leaks and keeping blow-by down. the same with oil cleaners such as seafoam. they break this stuff up, and you don't have the seal left by years of deposits anymore. you're left with a nice leak. this is the reason why people claim that synthetic oil destroyed their engine.

with a fairly clean engine in very healthy condition, you should be able to run 5,000 miles on mobil one 10W40 with a good filter (STP, make sure it's identical to the bosch of the same application, or purolater pure one are both good cheap filters). i would go 5,000 miles in my truck, but it consumes about a quart over that time. i simply change it when it gets low, which is always right at 4,000 miles. the oil is still pretty clean at that point, with either the STP or the pure one filter.

you may want to check out the BITOG forums at http://www.bobistheoilguy.com if you're really into keeping your lubrication up to par.

[shepherd79]

With older engines design that has 220000 miles, i would stay away from synthetic oils. I have seen too many high mileage engine start blowing smoke after using synthetic oil. MY first engine did that, so i know what i am talking about.
Quality of the oil will play big role in color. I know in my wife's 01 civic, oil get a little brown after 5000 miles, it is almost clean when i drain it. I use nothing but Mobil1 synthetic oil in the engine for the past 30000 miles.
quality oil filter can make oil last longer.

[w261w261]

Boy, when you start getting into the Wonderful World of Oil, it's amazing how deep the waters are. Some people are *really* into it. It kind of makes you feel like you've just entered a new dimension.

Anyway, I think you might benefit from having your oil tested. This is valuable in two ways: first, it might tell you the first time you do it if something is headed south in your motor. And, after a period of time, if you do it again, you can compare results.

Check Google on "oil test kits," or go to this web site:

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/index.html

They only charge $20 a pop, so you can't expect the same thing as a $120 test, but it's enough to get you going.

[88Accord-DX]

Gas smell is more than likely blow-by from the rings & PCV valve. Your changing you oil every 4,000 miles, so you can expect you oil getting dark after 1,000 miles. Your not changing it often enough. Consider useing quality oil filter too. As mentioned, don't use sythetic oil on older engines, the oil is too slick & can a various problems.

[Vanilla Sky]

i just want to go on the record saying that i've had no problems with synthetic in an old motor YET. i'm on the fence about using my good friend, mr. mobil1, in my 3gee which has a junkyard engine.

i'll probably run dyno at least once and see what it looks like after a change or two. if i'm getting any real metal coming out, i might consider a change to my standard. if my oil is crappy after 2000 miles or so, then i'll stick with dino. in the case that synthetic does cause my engine to go, then i guess i have to just live with a carbed accord for a while because that means a rebuilt bottom end.

[88Accord-DX]

Don't get me wrong, I have seen older engines run ok with sythethic oil before. The thing is, you need to run sythetic oil from the get go. Switching from conventional oil to sythethic doesn't do some older motors good. I've seen some spin rod bearings before, beleive it or not.

[Jasonf860]

Dino, synthetic, what to use? They solved this problem already... Semi-synthetic oils are like the best of both worlds! Personally, I only use Castrol GTX 10w-30 high mileage in my car. Have not had a single issue yet. if I lived in a more temperate climate, I'd go with a straight 30 weight. Less polymers to deal with.

[2oodoor]

Dino, synthetic, what to use? They solved this problem already... Semi-synthetic oils are like the best of both worlds! Personally, I only use Castrol GTX 10w-30 high mileage in my car. Have not had a single issue yet. if I lived in a more temperate climate, I'd go with a straight 30 weight. Less polymers to deal with.

Good plan man, Good plan
I stay away from synthetics, and dont know enough about them to say anything, except if your new car says use it, yea use it. And if you start a new car out , using it , any kind of car, stay with it.
As for used cars, it really isnt worth the extra cost to me and I cant afford a Z06 Vette, so I will never know some things, ever.

[carotman]

Well I've switched to syntetic oil on my 87 Hatch. (has around 200k miles). The previous owner said is has been runnningon syntetic but I'm sure it was on semi-syntetic. Anyway, I'll see if it does any harm, chich I doubt. I switched my 120k miles Civic to syntetic and it has been running fine since then. Syntetic oils have additives that will allow oil seals to expand and clog any leaks created by the detergents. If you get more blowby from syntetic oil, the engine was doomed from the beggining. Deposits will not allow a good cylinder seal anyway.

What might be the problem is deposits clogging an oil passage tough.

[Blkblurr]

I switched to synthetic on my 89 SE-i about two years ago. I think people that have had problems with synthetic oil are really just experiencing coincidental problems. They would of had them anyway. Just my two cents worth. I ran one quart of kerosene with 3 quarts of 10W30 non synthetic to clean deposits from my engne when it had 180,000 and then again when it had 230,000. Can't get a better cleanser than that. It caused no problems at all. I have never been as good as some of you about changing my oil at 2500 or even 5000. I always did mine at 7500 and most of the time changed the filter but not always. My car has 250,000 on it and uses very little oil. The only engine work I have done as far as engine internals is concerned is rebuilt the cylinder head. That was a result of a clip getting sucked into the throttle body.

[Blkblurr]

Got rid of double post.

[WindsAloft989]

1 part Kerosene and 3 parts non-synthetic? Did you just poor that down through and let it drain out the plug into the pan? Or did you actually run the car with that mixture.

[speedpenguin]

Dino, synthetic, what to use? They solved this problem already... Semi-synthetic oils are like the best of both worlds! Personally, I only use Castrol GTX 10w-30 high mileage in my car. Have not had a single issue yet. if I lived in a more temperate climate, I'd go with a straight 30 weight. Less polymers to deal with.

I had heard that there is no real benefit to using a blend when compared with dino oil. Where did you hear differently?

[1ajs]

well my dad was changing the oil every 10,000 kms...... he works in the petrlium industry :P

he used sythetic the hole life of the motor 2 years ago it started smoking so he put in none sythetic as an exsperiment :S got worse dam rocks in the rad over heated the motor 3 years ago motor nearly quit runing but then the motor has 1million kms on it. were going to pull the motor apart to see why it was smoking so it sits beside million k 3gee now waiting to be hauled into the basement


use the same oil from day one!

[Blkblurr]

1 part Kerosene and 3 parts non-synthetic? Did you just poor that down through and let it drain out the plug into the pan? Or did you actually run the car with that mixture.

I ran the engine with this mix in it for about 5 minutes. This is a trick engine mechanics taught me that they use to clean engines before they work on them. Yes it was non synthetic

[snoopyloopy]

I ran the engine with this mix in it for about 5 minutes. This is a trick engine mechanics taught me that they use to clean engines before they work on them. Yes it was non synthetic

so you drain your old oil, run the oil-kerosene mixture, then put in a new filter and oil?

[Versanick]

Dino, synthetic, what to use? They solved this problem already... Semi-synthetic oils are like the best of both worlds! Personally, I only use Castrol GTX 10w-30 high mileage in my car. Have not had a single issue yet. if I lived in a more temperate climate, I'd go with a straight 30 weight. Less polymers to deal with.

This is a good idea. Personally, I'd start using 20W-50 oil. A thicker oil will help reduce blowby, and so on. If your car seems to run fine, and you've gone through some of the others' suggestions above (which are excellent), you probably are not running rich.

If you were running very rich, your oil will turn black and smell like gas very quickly, for obvious reasons. This is cause to change your oil VERY quickly. You'll badly wear every metal part in the engine for the remaining 2,000 before changing oil, and your bottom end bearings (all of them) will probably wear at an (especially) incredibly accelerated rate. Your engine won't last long that way.

The 20W-50 or straight 30W oil will allow much less blow-by, protect your metal parts better, and hopefully turn less black as a result. Check it at 500 miles instead. If you have a blown ring, you're probably burning oil too. See if you can smell burning oil coming from your exhaust with the engine under load (or just idling). White exhaust flying out the back will also be an indication (unless it's cold outside, then it's hard to distinguish from the condensing water). If this is the case, just change your oil frequently, and make sure your oil stays at a reasonable level full every so many miles.

I, on my b20a, sometimes even run Lucas. You need to find a cheap oil with no additives (10w-30 or 40 is fine, which I use), and 1 quart of Lucas with 3q of the cheap. The oil is about as thick as peanut butter, but just like with the 20W or 30W oil, your motor will be better protected. It sounds like fuel in the oil is the big problem though. Bad piston ring or too much fuel in the a/f mix.

[Blkblurr]

so you drain your old oil, run the oil-kerosene mixture, then put in a new filter and oil?

I drain enough oil so that I can put in a quart of Kerosene. Run the engine for 5 minutes, drain the mixture, put the drain plug back in and put a new filter on. I then change my oil again in about 1000 miles because the residual kerosene will thin the oil a little. By running it for about a 1000 miles you get more of the deposits to mix with the oil and then removed during the oil change. I do this about every 50,000 miles.