Oil Color
 

Maybe its me. On MIata.net in the FI section someone asked if it was okay that his oil was black when he did a change. Here was Tom@FFS reply

"My engine only has 135,000 miles so it is relatively low miles and I am only running 15PSI+ but, after 3000 miles, the oil is still honey colored. If yours is turning black after a couple hundred miles, I would guess you are having blow by past the rings. A quick leak down check will confirm."
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Is it me or is this guy fucked up. Jesus my oil was black berfore the turbo. Maybe the engines all fucked up and I havent noticed it in the last 40 k miles

Sounds pretty close to me.

My motor has around 180k miles on it, after 6000 miles with Mobile1 its still honey colored. I have very low leakdown.

Friends motor has very high leakdown (like 60+%) after about 60 miles his oil turns black and smells like gasoline.

Combustion gasses blowing by the rings and getting into the oil will discolor it.

yeah mine also seems to get thinner so maybe it is fucked up. Oh well

That would be fuel by passing your rings. Which can be caused by cylinder wash from running too rich.

Hold on. Shouldn't the first question be, "How long has it been between oil changes?"

Now, provided the interval is within a reasonable range (and is a consistant habit), then I would look at other culprits for color change...

- L

Well I also have the black bumper to prove the running rich theory, so greddy turbo kit only add on is BIPES. 5 PSI. What would be the fix? And is a fix neccessary?

Yeah. Ring wash is not a good thing. Why don't you have a wideband O2 sensor? You need to run a different disc in the vortec maybe in order to decrease the amount of fuel you're running.

3 k miles

went basic and as cheap as possible Time to start thinking again maybe Thanks for your help

i've read numerous times that oil color has nothing to do with oil quality.

Technically, sometimes, it can. On a normal running engine when oils detergents and lubrication properties break down and are no longer effective, thats generally when the oil will start to discolor. I've used that basis to change oil on almost every vehicle I've ever owned.

Just because you've put 3 or 5k miles on oil doesn't mean its done.

Yeah.. Friends car also runs 10:1 under WOT thanks to PC-Pro. :gay::robert:

my 240 does too when its running on all 4 injectors

Shitty, my oil gets black quickly and smells of fuel (not to strongly but I don’t remember it smelling of gas before) …the engine is stock and has ~80k on it and while I was at the glen would run at 7-7.6k for 20 minutes at a time. The shop that sets and techs the car for track days (also sets up spec and track miatas as well as other race/track cars) feels my car is down on power. Guess I should do a rebuild before slapping a turbo on.

Nonsense poopiepants! Slap the turbo on now and build another motor. :D

ya but if i have a "fun" blow out at the track its apparently bad form to take out half the pack, some you collect with the now spinning car as the rear wheels lock when the motor seizes and the rest get to find your oil slick and spin in to you and your new buddies you just took into the wall with you a few seconds before

yes, causing the "british car flag" to come out is generally a bad thing. maybe I'm just a noob, but I don't see how a seized engine would drop oil. you'd want a snapped rod to do that properly. a turbo will help you get there.

as for the smelling of fuel, just pull the dipstick and put a flame to it. If it lights, you have blowby!

I was at NHIS and a 968 turbo build threw a rod or was that 2 through the motor and oil pan this oiled the track and stopped the motor from spinning effectively locking the rear wheels as the driver “momentarily lost presents of mind” and didn’t put the in clutch adding insult to injury as the car spun into a tire wall

the "british flag" kills me every time.