I just changed the oil in my 04.5', went about 8000 miles and changed this weekend. I have to say that is the worst oil change I have ever done lol. The oil in my 03' was never that filthy. Has everyone else encurred this ?? I wondered if it was because I went a few extra thousand miles before changing, I usually changed the 03' about every 5000 miles.

 

I think there were a few threads about the oil turning darker quicker when the 600s first came out...

I would guess it is normal, but you could always send in a sample for peace of mind.

 

I agree you can't tell by looking or smelling it. The only way to know is to send it in for analysis.

 

How many miles are on the engine?

 

Funny thing is, when I look @ my oil it looks like honey after 2K miles. I sometimes wonder if it ever circulates to even get dirty. It is a common thing for diesels to dirty their oil quick. Wonder why the .5 and up the oil darkens quickly, while the 03 - 04's don't? Curious minds need to know.

 

yes... diesel engine lube oil gets soot contaminated and turns black... it is normal. older engines get darker quicker than new ones. the color has no effect on lubrication quality

3rd event injection... they have the 3rd shot of fuel real late in the combustion process, which ends up not burning completely, which is needed to keep the cat hot enough to do the job of oxidizing... and the cam timing is a little different too.. more retarded than the 03-04 engines. there might not be enough time for proper cylinder scavanging during overlap so some exhaust gets left behind in the new fresh air charge, and on compression when you get blow by, that sooty exhaust goes by the rings and into the oil.. and not that it is a bad thing.. the newer engines need that CI+4 or something like that.. it has a higher soot holding level in the oil...

 

3rd event injection... they have the 3rd shot of fuel real late in the combustion process, which ends up not burning completely, which is needed to keep the cat hot enough to do the job of oxidizing... and the cam timing is a little different too.. more retarded than the 03-04 engines. there might not be enough time for proper cylinder scavanging during overlap so some exhaust gets left behind in the new fresh air charge, and on compression when you get blow by, that sooty exhaust goes by the rings and into the oil.. and not that it is a bad thing.. the newer engines need that CI+4 or something like that.. it has a higher soot holding level in the oil... [/B][/QUOTE]

Ahhhh, yes, that may be the culprit. Thanks for enlightening me....

 

Ahhhh, yes, that may be the culprit. Thanks for enlightening me.... [/B][/QUOTE]

 

Nonford it's all about taking the pollution out of the air and shoving it back into your engine. The epa would rather you had a gunked up engine that you had to pay to clean than a clean running engine with smoke coming out of the pipes.. Look at it this way at least we don't have EGR and closed crankcase ventilation... Ever seen a VW TDI intake?

 

or gm 6.5td with egr & ccv...

i wonder how the new vt365/6.0psd's is doing with their egr & ccv...

 

My question is: If soot is bad(as implied on the advertisements for diesel oils), then why is it ok to be so present in the 600's,610's? I mean my oil is black as coal in just a few short miles. It reminds me of an old 1985 Ford 6.9 we had.. That stuff would penetrate the cracks in your hands and be there for the next several days. Does everyone really think this soot is fine for the motor?

 

moonpie, that is exactly how the oil was when i changed it in my 600. It would penetrate the cracks in your hands like a stain.

 

I work on a cargo boat powered by 16 cylinder cat diesels. One of the filtration devices we use are these things called enmar (spelling?) filters. They are small tank-looking things with pressurized oil flowing through them. They have a piece of special paper in them that you roll into a tube shape when you replace them. The oil is caused to spin in a circle as it passes through the housing. It basically acts as a centrifuge. The paper is the filter, and it collects carbon. That's the whole purpose of the enmar filter, to collect carbon. We change the pieces of paper every 1000 hours as part of scheduled maintenance, and they are LOADED with the purest carbon I've ever seen. I don't know if that carbon is the result of soot in the oil, because the oil is still black as night when we change it. All 225 gallons of it. It may well be that the carbon is another contaminant, not the same thing this thread is talking about. Whatever it comes from, somebody deemed it important enough to put a whole separate filter system on the engine for it.

 

I have a SO CARB engine which evidently produces more soot than either the 2003 48 state SO or the HO, as it's designed to run cooler for lower nitrogen compounds in the exhaust. As a consequence I have a 3750 mile severe duty oil change interval. Soot levels seemed to drop in a lot of the 2003 engines, but increased in some of the later models. In newer big OTR diesels soot level seems to be driving the oil change interval as they're also dealing with EGR. The newer CI-4 and CI-4+ oils are designed to have better soot carrying capability, where they're supposed to keep it suspension until it gets changed as opposed to depositing the soot in the engine. For this reason I wouldn't extend oil change intervals, regardless of what kinf of oil you're using. Synthetics will offer better hot and cold temperature performance, but they won't have better soot carrying capability or have the ability to decrease the increased wear with higher soot levels, which is why in part most diesel engine makers say that you shouldn't increase oil change intervals just because you're using synthetics.

 

Same goes for the GM 4.3L V-6 that was used in the Chevy Celebrites and Pontiac 6000 cars. Sticky crap.