dark oil

[BmErBoiE36]

i run fully synthetic mobile 1 oil in my car. i change it every 3k miles. so thats about once a month for me. i dont know how i put so much miles on her but i do. i was wondering why my oil comes out so dirty/dark??? should i change more often?? and i flush the engine with a couple quarts of oil everytime since my friend works at toyota and they have the oil pump. freee oil from toyota and i fill her up with store bought mobile 1 european formula 0-40

[beatniks325]

not sure what would be causing the dark oil besides normal use but 3k on mobil 1 is too short in my book. if you are going to change your oil so much you should just stick to regular oil and save some money.

[bmwfreak96]

i run fully synthetic mobile 1 oil in my car. i change it every 3k miles. so thats about once a month for me. i dont know how i put so much miles on her but i do. i was wondering why my oil comes out so dirty/dark??? should i change more often?? and i flush the engine with a couple quarts of oil everytime since my friend works at toyota and they have the oil pump. freee oil from toyota and i fill her up with store bought mobile 1 european formula 0-40

make sure u are using the right weight 0w40 sounds not quite right, check ur manual

[Spennie]

0w40 is the right weight for temperatures from -30C to +30C I believe.

I also run mobile 1 synthetic in my car and I found that it wasn't even all that dirty after about 10,000km which is when I change my oil usually.

[BMWgr]

I believe dark oil is ok, it doesn't mean it's burnt or something. Try touching it when you empty it and smell it. This is the best way to check you oil's condition.

[vinay]

the manual's i've seen have 5w30 and 15w40 (i think) for different temperatures

I run M1 0w40 euro year round too.

[Beamin']

I run 10w-30 Mobil and it turns black after 1K.

I change my filtre at 3K and put 6K on my oil. I sent my oil off to blackstone and they said my oil was fine and I could push 7K out of it.

[BmErBoiE36]

soooo from the responses i get the color doesnt really matter. now about that smell... whats a good smell and a bad smell??? thanks to everyone that replied. im glad i found this forum

[Beamin']

soooo from the responses i get the color doesnt really matter. now about that smell... whats a good smell and a bad smell??? thanks to everyone that replied. im glad i found this forum
does it smell burnt?

[Boondoggie]

I've found that synthetic rarely smells like it's burning when it is...

There's a lot of debate about Mobil1 turning dark quickly, it does it on a lot of cars. Theories as to why include:

It's dark because it's cleaning your dirty engine.
It's dark because you have blow by.
It's dark because your PCV system is kaput.

Pick your theory. If you're concerned, send it out for analysis.

[maxell0405]

quit guessing and get an oil analysis. $20 and two weeks, and you will know if you have a problem, and whether you can lengthen your change interval. I used Blackstone and I feel a whole lot better. :)

[BmErBoiE36]

how do i go about getting an oil analysis???

[TrunkImpaired]

how do i go about getting an oil analysis???

Yeah, explain this blackstone thing to me. I've never heard of this

[Beamin']

See thread:
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=337588

[maxell0405]

Thanks Beamin. I shoulda put in a link, but I think a google search will bring them up, too.

[BmErBoiE36]

ordered the kit form the site to do the analysis... 2-3 weeks seem so long... i guess ill just have to wait. thanks for all the replies and the links