$10 Oil Filter

[Tangent]

Originally Posted by alphalanos

Just a quick question for you guys. I don't have a Blazer but I figured this would be the best place to ask this. I have a '96 Civic, and I change the oil about every 3k miles, and it comes out totally black. I use Mobil 1 Extended and a Mobil 1 filter. Could the engine really be that dirty? I guess the person that owned it before me didnt really take car of it.

You can't use the color of the oil as an indicator of anything. I just did an oil change using Castrol GTX last weekend. This weekend my radiator started leaking and through my own stupidity damaged a fitting on my oil cooler in the process of towing it home. This less than one week old oil drained out as black as oil that's gone through it's entire 3000+ mile use.

Here's something I found online:

And don't worry about the engine oil turning black. It will lose it's golden-brown colour within a few hundred miles of being put in to the engine. That doesn't mean it's not working. Quite the contrary - it means it is working well. It changes colour as it traps oxidised oil, clots and the flakes of metal that pop off heavily loaded engine parts. Just don't leave it too long between oil changes.

[DINO55]

Originally Posted by alphalanos

Just a quick question for you guys. I don't have a Blazer but I figured this would be the best place to ask this. I have a '96 Civic, and I change the oil about every 3k miles, and it comes out totally black. I use Mobil 1 Extended and a Mobil 1 filter. Could the engine really be that dirty? I guess the person that owned it before me didnt really take car of it.

I think you anwsered your own question in the last line, My 98 blazer's previous owner (friend of mine) changed the oil with Mobil 1 synthetic every 2500-3000. When I drive it approx 1200 miles and pull the stick, it looks like I just changed it (STILL GOLDEN COLOR)...In my case, at 2500-3000, it still looks good going (GOLDEN/BROWN COLOR) in to the oil recovery bucket. 83,000 miles on the truck.......

[MagicRat]

Originally Posted by DINO55

I think you anwsered your own question in the last line, My 98 blazer's previous owner (friend of mine) changed the oil with Mobil 1 synthetic every 2500-3000. When I drive it approx 1200 miles and pull the stick, it looks like I just changed it (STILL GOLDEN COLOR)...In my case, at 2500-3000, it still looks good going (GOLDEN/BROWN COLOR) in to the oil recovery bucket. 83,000 miles on the truck.......

I agree. Engines that receive regular oil changes stay cleaner inside.
Oil that quickly turns black often indicates the engine missed some oil changes and has dirt/sludge deposits inside.

The alternative is that the oil is being turned black by being dramatically overheated, which is bad thing.

[wolfox]

Also consider that different engines are made, well, differently. A no brainer - but the way it treats the oil also depends on how quickly it wears out. IMO, an oil that stays clean is just not doing it's job, or - the engine is extremely efficient and clean burning. I have heard and read in other areas that Civics are just a little tougher on oil, especially if you drive them hard, but I would attribute the fast darkening more to suspended carbon particles. These high strung motors hammer up oil pretty quickly. I had a Subaru, a 95 in fact, that would turn a fresh batch of Mobil-1, though the engine inside was spotless; into black looking goo in a very short time. This car carries a 2.2 liter H-4 EJ-22 block. When the oil started getting heavily loaded with whatever crud this engine just seemed to generate, she would start to consume oil. At about the end of a 7,000 mile stint on oil, she'd eat about 1/4 quart, and quickly. Otherwise, it was a clean-burning engine, no problems, she just dirtied and consumed oil quick,and it was the nature of that little beast. The only way to really tell what's in that oil when it's done is to have an analysis done after you took a sample of the oil. Have a particle count and if possible, a breakdown of what the suspended particles are to get an idea of what's going on.

[alphalanos]

Yeah I actually baby the car pretty much, and it has 117k on it so I assume its just alot of carbon. Im not too worried about it, as long as it lasts another year or so.

[Cloud Strife]

Most engines aren't efficient. I believe car engines run below 30% efficiency.

[bhesson]

From what I've been able to find out, the Bosch filter is basically the same filter as the Mobil 1 but slightly cheaper. I'd go with either Mobil 1 or Bosch ...