I changed the oil on my 96 the other day. It currently has 284k on it.

About 500 miles ago I had the block & head fire ringed in chassis and installed 181 dvs (in the 160 pump that is on it, the 215 was getting tuned) ddp stage 3's, 3 piece htt manifold and a HTT Quick Diesel 64.

I ran about 150 miles after the oil change and figured I'd check the oil level to make sure it was still OK. I used a white napkin to wipe it off and re-dipped to check the level and all was well, so I closed the hood.

I got to looking at the napkin and it wasn't even BLACK.. just a light gray-golden color. I was like WTH.. this isn't right. So I opened the hood, pulled the stick and sure enough the oil is still a clean honey-color.

I just put another hard 300 towing miles on the truck and it is still clean.

Crazy considering the fuel I have (soot) running in this truck and the miles..

MY 98's oil is PITCH black right after startup on a fresh oil change, and it only had 225k miless on it!

 

Well Im not to sure what to say about the 12'er. But I know on one of our 99 F-250 with a 7.3 PSD (290,000 Miles) I can run it a full 1200 miles checked the oil level and it was still nice and clean, even on a white towel.

But any other truck around here even my 01 PSD with 59,000 miles will turn dead black after the first 25 miles, that goes for my 24V, and a few other OTR trucks around here with low miles. Its all the same oil in every truck Cenex Super TMS 15W40.... Wish I knew the answer..

 

Same here: my 06 5.9 and my 6.5L tool van black in 60 seconds. my 210000 mi 12v stays clean for 1500 mi (what) I recently changed my org lift pump and it looked like it came off a 5000mi gasser.
TOMMY

 

if the truck was bone stock for a long time and you just cranked it up and you're running a stratapore filter, I could see it staying cleaner longer, but my 12v's have always been smokers, so the oil is black as soon as I pour it in

 

My brothers bone stock 96 will keep the oil amber all the way to 4 or 5 thousand miles, starts to darken up, but never gets black like my 93 does.

 

My moderately bomb'd 12v gets darker within the first 100 miles. And is fully black within prolly 500-1000 miles

 

You should have looked at the valve train when they opened the head cover. CLEAN valvetrain.

I was used to gasser engines that after 50,000 miles are all "gunked up" .
My 1st 24valves with 243,000 was as clean as it can be, the next one (12v) same results.

I had a Chevy 6.5 once, change the oil, amber, start truck to run oil through motor for 1 minute, check oil.... BLACK, and so black it was staining the towel.

I love Cummins for this, I change oil at 5000/6000 miles and it's slightly darker then the one that replaces it, not much more. And ALL my trucks have over 150,000 miles by a long shot.

 

Mine is pitch black within a few minutes of idling it after the change, I think it might stay a little cleaner longer when I keep it in valet mode as opposed to full fuel.