Is anyone else experiencing black (more than normal) oil? My 2008 now has approx. 9800 miles. I changed the oil the 1st time at 1100 miles. I have now changed it 2 more times. Immediately after start-up the oil is black. This is my tenth light duty truck. I have also had numerous other trucks and tractors and I have never experienced this. I am using Shell Rotella 15W40. My 4 other cummins and 5 powerstrokes would never have oil this black unless it was right at changing time or a little over. I normally change at 5000 miles or less if I am working them hard. I am using Mopar filters. Any ideas?

 

My oil is black 5 minutes after I change it, nature of the beast, sure can't depleted in 5 minutes. Everybody has their opinion on it, but I feel their using some kind carbon alloy in the rings or cylinders . I might be off base , but it sure ain't from fuel contamination,blowby, or any other combustion process, it's just too fast. I have tractors that have blowby,one cylinder missing half the time, and the oil is clean as when it goes in a month later.

 

It's due to all the emissions crapola the engine has. They started doing this in the 5.9's for the 04.5 trucks. Normal..... Welcome to the EPA world of greenhouse gases.

 

You can thank EGR for that.. The soot is being fed into the intake and subsequently the engine produces more of it due to the whole process. The oil being black is normal for the 6.7. Read up on unplugging the EGR at Cumminsforum and see what you think..

 

My 5.9 has black oil 2 minutes after I change it. You can thank AlGore and his henchmen for your dirty oil.

 

Diesel fuel combustion byproduct is soot, or burned carbon - look in the end of your exhaust pipe to get a sense of that concept - rub your finger around the inside for an up close and personal first hand experience of that concept - normal high-compression blow-by past the piston rings dump soot into the crankcase, contaminating the oil - when oil is changed, only the oil in the sump is replaced - the oil pump, the oil galleries in the engine block, the passages in the crankshaft and heads, the oil cooler and lines, all retain contaminated oil after sump oil is replaced - crank\start the engine and over a quart of old sooty oil blends with the fresh clean oil, and voila!....yer fresh new oil is now nasty - fresh, but nasty - been happening since the first Diesel hit the streets, long ago and far away, in another time, another century, long B4 EGR and CCV..............

 

Mine runs great even though the oil is blacker than india ink

 

yep, it's the egr pumping all of that lovely soot back into your motor. that system is the work of the devil!! if you want your truck to last like a diesel is supposed to, then get rid of the egr system. and the dpf.

 

Yeah, but I can run my tractor with the 8.3 cummins 150 hours pulling hard, and the oil is not near as black as what comes out of my 06 Dodge cummins after 5000 miles of easy driving. Oil is like ink, and it stains your hands and it's hard to get off too. You should see the oil that comes out of the newer Dodges and you will understand what they are talking about. I'm betting that the 6.7 is worse than my 06 5.9. Mine just has the cam shaft egr and the third injection event.

 

All emmission stuff thats it. Cut and dry. My 5.9 doesn'teven look black after 7000 miles.

 

The oil in the 6.7 is darker that I have ever seen. My 97 has blow-by, I expect that with the air and fuel I give it, but its no where near as black or thick as the 6.7 and I only have 5500Km on it.

 

There is a very good reason and explanation for that, Swayse - if your 8.3 regularly sat in traffic jams during the daily 2-way commute like most Diesel pickups, your oil would be much blacker - a Diesel engine pollutes much less when loaded than when idling or running unloaded at low rpm - fe, both my '96 12v and my son's '06 CRD load-up around town, evidenced by the powdery black appearance of the tailpipe - takes a good 2hour hiway run to clear up the exhaust, evidenced by black tailpipe - then the soot begins to build again during the weeks of normal low-speed traffic and traffic jams - the tailpipe is black when clear, powdery black when loaded-up - city-life is problematical for Diesel engines, even with low-sulphur fuel and low-sulphur oils which are formulated to reduce soot emissions - then there are those whose first post is 'I wanna blow smoke - all my (teeny-bopper) friends think black smoke is cool - tell me how to make my truck blow smoke' - black smoke is soot - black smoke is increased blow-by pollution in the crankcase, and the sump oil - and, as we all know, black smoke is unburned fuel, high EGT's, and decreased fuel economy - check the tailpipe on a smoker, looks like a layer of black cotton in there - imagine what the engine oil looks like............

 

I have a remote bypass filter setup. I can drain the oil, replace the filters and pour in 3 gallons of brand new oil. Drive for at least 30 min so the oil will circulate through the bypass filter. When I check the oil level afterwords. It's just as black as it was before I changed it.
I do send off an oil sample after each oil change. My results are good. After 12k on the oil, Its about half used up. (TBN is at 4). But 12K, is as far I will go.
When changing the oil, wear long sleeves, rubber gloves and a face shield. Don't get it on anything you can't through away.

 

this is the 6.7 part of the forum gmctd. the tail pipes here should be as clean as new if the nac, doc, dpf are doing their duties. As stated by others.....with the injection event that began in 05 the oil started getting black in the 5.9's in short order. The new 6.7's get so black so quick that I've been accused of NOT changing the oil on a couple occasions. The 6.7 also has an allowable amount of fuel dilution to the crankcase due to the regen events which aids in turning the oil black.

 

Understood, J Body - my point is that, whether the engine is P-pumped, VP-44'rd, or CRD, Diesel fuel combustion byproduct is soot, which will contaminate sump oil - the 6.7 emissions devices you mentioned are intended to scrub the exhaust effluent way past the exhaust valves - they do nothing for crankcase contamination due to blowby, which is pre- exhaust valve - adding fuel late in the combustion cycle results in unburned fuel, which is even more soot - Diesel engine oil will turn black in short order - not a bad idea to have an oil sample analysis once in a while if adhering to extended oil change intervals