I know that color of oil doesn't have a lot to do with its efficacy, but when its black (opaque) on the stick in 500 miles on a 15,000 mile OCI, my old fashionedness can't help but come out. I guess I thought that the (arguably) best diesel oil known to man and the "easy on oil" cummins would keep it clear(er) for at least 1000 miles! What is it with these 600s? Can't wait to get my UOA back on my last fill of dino to see how it held up and how my Air Raid is performing. For those of you with AirRaid drop ins I will post my results, as it was my 1st interval entirely using the oiled filter.

 

by the way, has anyone used the Donaldson ELF filter as part of their extended drain interval/ synthetic oils program yet? This looks like a good compromise for the bypass system.

 

I thought the general feel was that the 600 was not easy on oil, from a color test at least. Most everyone's oil got black right away. No?

 

Mine gets black almost instantly. However it does NOT get sludgy like my old 6.5 did. I would say the 600 is easy on oil. I'm doing the 7500 mile intervals, though, considering that I do a good sum of towing and then some around-town. At least 60% of my mileage is long highway trips, most of the time with a trailer attached.

 

A diesel mechanic told me that dark oil is normal and not to worry. That the combustion process is working properly if the oil is dark or black.

Regards

 

Mine is black within 200 miles.

 

First there's that matter of the "missing" quart of oil that never drains out when we change lubricant. It's black enough to cloud the incoming new stuff.

Then there's the matter of diesel combustion. Our engines make a bit soot and a portion of it ends up in the oil. I'm not sure that's an entirely bad thing as it's merely a carbon product... Pretty neutral on the scale of what hurts and what doesn't.

As long as the oil retains it's lubrication properties and isn't overly contaminated by acids, metals, or dirt particles, there isn't much to be concerned about. Fact is, I'd say your oil is doing exactly what it's intended to do.

 

diesel oil turns black after a while. the soot gets to it [like stated in above posts] but it seems the 600's are making the oil darker much sooner than the 555's.
i've got duron 5w40 base3 "synthetic" in my engine right now, and it's been in there for a while now. and last time i checked it [i check it every time i fuel up], it was still pretty clean looking [a little darker than new, but not black yet]. i'll run it till early spring and then change it and run it until late fall...

 

I change my oil in the dark with no work light... It looks black going in.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by nord
[B]First there's that matter of the "missing" quart of oil that never drains out when we change lubricant. It's black enough to cloud the incoming new stuff.


Whoa - I'm wondering now if I overfilled my truck - I put in 12 quarts on my first oil change. It looked just a milimeter or two over the 'safe' hash marks on the dipstick. Should I drain some out?

Also, I used Rotella for the first oil change, and that truck stank for about 1000 miles. Has anyone else experienced that?

 

I've always just thrown 3gal in. Did you check it after starting it? Maybe the bit over was the oil that should be in the filter.

Rotella has a rep for being a smelly oil.

 

Rotella has an odor very normal. I use amsoil it also has a smell to it just not nearly as strong.

I fill mine with about 2 7/8 gallons and I always come out perfect on the max mark.

Jamie

 

Don't worry about draining any oil out, you're fine. You're still not goign to be anywhere close to having the oil level up to where the crankshaft is spinning, don't worry.

Last time I changed the oil in my truck it took about 3.5 gallons including the filter. Go figure. Maybe I got a special dipstick?

 

To get just under the max line, when my truck was stock it took about 11.5 -11.8 quarts. Just dumping in 3 gals resulted in an overfill, and definitely more crankcase breather odors.

As far as the 600 goes - they all dirty/blacken the oil quickly, smoke on start up, lol. I hope it was worth that itty bitty power gain! J/k. It's crazy how clean burning the 555's are though. At 10,000 miles on the oil it's not black - you can see clear right thru it on the dipstick. However, I wouldn't worry though - both my MB and VW diesels turned the oil black within 50-100 miles. Both of them had nasty EGR systems though. I don't doubt the CAT and whatever other emissions changes they did to the 600's are causing the dirty oil.