First off ive been looking into goin full synthetic. any way i pull my truck into the garage at my job today to hopefull do a nice easy oil change. i jack up the front end and go to take the fill cap off to help it drain and it wont move, so i wrap a strap wrench around it and realy had to lay into the plastic cap but it finaly came loose........o take the cap off and it looks like some one sprayed it with a effin hose, its soaked, and a nasty brown rust color all over the inside.
ive had a little condensation before but this was alot. then i crawl under and remove the bolt, oil is black, black black. doesnt smell burnt though. but at the last few drops come out there is a few lines of a milky white color in the drops..........wtf. put the plug in take the truck off the jack and fill er up with castrol 5w30 (never had a problem with this oil...ever) let it run then sit for 5 min before checking the level and i pull the dip stick and its got these little lines of like a white foam on it. i dunno what the hell is goin on but i wasnt happy........ oh and the last thing the first mopar oil filter that i ever baught that i diddnt take out and inspect first, go to put it on and its got a huge dent in the bottom..... not a fun oil change

 

just to add its a 2004 hemi qcsb 68k miles and ive never missed a 3k mile oil change by more than 50 miles

 

I wouldn't be too concerned. The condensation inside the oil fill cap is very normal. My truck was also a rusty brown color and now I just wipe it out every oil change. The condensation is from running the engine for a short period and not letting it get good and hot. Mine gets up to temp but really doesn't get hot enough to burn off all the condensation. My trip to work is only 8 miles.

 

is the milky streaks in the oil from the condensation

 

i dont see why your oil would be extremely black after 3k? i run full synthetic a lil different but its still newish looking at my 5500 interval, i dont wanna go a whole lot more than the 3 k but they say you can go like 7-8 with full synthetic..

 

If you are doing a lot of short trip running in the winter, just change the oil at 1500 miles or so. Yeah it'll cost a bit more but an engine is a LOT more expensive. The milky streaks are from the condensation. My oil is very black after 3000 miles. I run Napa Gold filters and Napa 5W-30 oil.

 

If the radiator fluid is ok don't worry about it, it's just condensation. If you have oil in your radiator and alot of emulsion in your engine then that's a different story.

 

i agree with this statement i too use syn and do my changes 5k or with in a few miles of it....try switching and you could up your intervals....another thing start your truck as soon as you wake up then go get ready for work maybe by the time you get ready it will be hot and burn off some of that condensation....my fiance has mobil 1 in her car i do it of coarse but she has a 10 min ride to work and about 5 miles and i dont have any probs with her oil.....

 

Black oil has nothing to do with short runing intervals. It has to do with the amount of DIRT in the air. Depending on where you live will determine how soon the oil must be changed. The milky white has to do with short intervals, but that amount of milky goo in the oil changes everytime it runs. That tiny bit will not have any major efects.
A truck driven in the desert will need to have the oil change much sooner than a truck driven on a city highway due to the amount of dust particles that are in the air. The Black oil is the dust particles that get past the air filter!

 

Black oil has to do with carbon which is a product of blow by from the rings! Not dust that the engine has consumed. It can also be from sludge from localised hot spots in the engine overcooking the oil. The older / more mileage the engine the quicker the oil will go black.