my oil is dark, red or brown?

[SOLSTER]

Hi!

I am about to change oil, i dropped a bit from the crankcase before doing it, and it is REAL dark, red or brown.

my question, i've recently cleaned the egr (in the last 50 miles) with carb cleaner, and I run a full tank of chevron techron. the oil before all of this (say 500 miles ago) was nice and clean, so i wonder, what caused this oil to change color? was it the carb cleaner, the egr deposits that washed out during the cleaning, the carb cleaner, a combination of the above, or some other cause? It would be comforting to know.

thanks a bunch
SOLSTER

[mwt]

The carb cleaner may have had something to do with it.
I have thinned oil out by doing that before but I don't think it turned red

Mike

[amigo-2k]

If it was your frist time using chevron that could be the cause of the dark oil.

[rodeo02]

Some motor oils darken up quicker than others. Dark does not mean much. Fuel adds can work their way into the oil in trace amounts, but you'd only see it by getting an analysis done on the used oil. For the $20-30 that would cost you, you are better off just doing another oil change. The only time I'd worry about the color or the oil, is if it were light brown, milky, foamy, or thinned out & smelling strongly of gasoline. Those would indicate problems with the engine. New oil in a diesel turns BLACK in just a few hundred miles. Just check your oil weekly & change it out with a schedule that works for you. I do mine about every 4000 miles with regular old 5w-30 or 10w-30 (usually havoline, napa, or carquest oil & filters). Equates to about 4 oil changes a year.
G/luck
Joel