Oil is black after 500 miles

[Free Ranj Egg]

Hello peeps

Recently had an oil change on my car and its the second time this year where after the oil change in less than 500 miles the oil is black as opposed to the goldish color its meant to me.

My car has done over 180k miles now.

Is this something I need to be concerned about or is it normal for this type of mileage.

Vtec engages fine, and the car seems to run well and is quiet. Is there anything I can use to clean the insides of the car if need be? Oil gets changed every 5k miles due to the mileage.

Cheers

Regards

Ranj

[vanzep]

what oil are you using?
dont think there is anything to worry about tbh
oil always seems to go black fairly quickly

[Free Ranj Egg]

Castrol gtx 10w 40 mate.

Theres 3 things that the lude always gets...

1.) Quality oil
2.) Quality brakes
3.) Quality tyres

lol

[bennyboy]

I wouldn't worry.
Oil is not just for oiling, it's a little known fact that a quality oil is actually supposed to collect deposits too and thereby 'transport' them through the filter.
If all else is working well and you're putting in a good quality 10-40 semi synth, I'd not be concerned

You could switch over to something like VPower fuel to see if the cleaning properties help, but it would be a long term thing I'd imagine.

[wurlycorner]

Fuel wouldn't do anything to clean the oilways of the engine, tbf. The only thing that really makes a difference to is injectors, valves and combustion chamber (and I'm very dubious how much of an improvement it would actually make on an old engine versus marketting gumpf!)

As Benny say though, oil is there to clean and transport dirt back to the filter, as well as to lubricate.

How long have you had the car free range? If you've not had it for most of those 180k miles, it might not have had regular oil changes from a previous owner? In which case, an engine oil flush might be worth a go to remove gunk build up around the engine.

[Free Ranj Egg]

I have the car for about 4 years mate, and it was purchased from a guy called Gillywig who I believe was on a lude forum which is no longer in existence (I cant remember the name).

The car has only recently started to do this this year. As the car got older, I thought it would be wiser to change the oil more often and now do it every 5k miles.

From the service history the car looks well maintained and has had regular oil changes.

I have recently ran some Redex through it as well and 90% of the times the car gets Tesco premium fuel.

Its not affecting the performance or the drive of the car, but I might take up Wurlys advice and give it a flush next time I service the car. (Whats a good flush to use)

Speaking of which has anyone every used that Lucas Oil additive?

[Vtecmec]

It's not broken, no need to fix it.

Oils don't need an addictive (Lucas or otherwise).

Be mindful that a flush may dislodge crap that causes blockages or other issues.

[Free Ranj Egg]

True Vtecmech. I think more frequent oil changes is the way forward. Although how much more frequent can one get than 5k miles.

I have never an engine flush. Some people say they are good others say stay well clear.

[Dennis van dijk]

Did flush on my h22a7 couple of weeks ago and oil still doesnt look black

Did about 700 km

[vanzep]

Castrol gtx 10w 40 mate.

Theres 3 things that the lude always gets...

1.) Quality oil
2.) Quality brakes
3.) Quality tyres

lol

i was using castrol gtx 10w-40 as well and it did turn black quickly but it does say on the tin that its bit better than most oils at removing gunk
ive switched to shell helix fully synth (as it was on cheap deal at eurocarparts) and that seems to take a bit longer to turn black

your lude will love more oil changes - probably the best bit of maintenance you can do imo...