I am checking my oil every 2nd fill up on my 06 CTD. I check the oil the first thing in the morning before I fire the CTD up. Being a Diesel noob, I am wondering why the oil has a watery black-greyish tint to it. Does this sound normal? I am use to seeing more of a very light orange-brown from new oil with Gas burners.

 

The oil will be dirty, black as soon as you change it. Diesels are that way I'm told. I watched the guy changing my oil last time and when they started it and shut it off to check the level, it was already "dirty".

 

Soot and it should be 15/40.

 

It shouldn't be dirty on the first start! It's soot that gives it that look, unique to diesels....and normal. The oil goes in a nice honey brown, and turns black pretty quick! Do an engine oil analysis once, it's really quite interesting and educational.

 

His probably came out black right away because all of the oil didn't get drained out.

 

I agree with Jakebrake. Probably was no FULLY drained.
What did u get when u burnt the trans jakebrake?
Mike

 

The fluid was almost black (small hint of red) and some metallic particles appeared to be bronze. Also the smell was incredible. It stunk up the garage just pulling the dipstick out. When I serviced it, the magnet in the pan was 2x as big as it should have been (covered in metal). What can a say but whoops I was gonna make a trans service diy but had some issues hosting pics so I never got around to it. here's the magnet though.

[IMG]local://upfiles/30416/FBFCE72CB4944BD4B554525B3AD4E0FB.jpg[/IMG]

 

My oil was black 3 minutes after it was changed. FYI, it had sat draining for 30 min so I know all of the oil was out of it. This is one more reason I plan on installing a oil by pass system on my truck to get more of the soot out of the oil.

 

the bypass system I installed has had no effect on how quickly the oil looks black. The effect it has is to dramatically reduce the amount of damage causing 3-7 micron particles in suspension. It slows the rate of soot accumulation as well. It doesn't really affect the breakdown of the oil viscocity, or the rate of beneficial additive depletion. It does however lenghten the interval between oil changes because changing the primary and bypass filters every 5000 mi. requires 3+ Qts. of make-up oil, which adds back some of the beneficial stuff; like TBN, molybdenum...etc.
Cheers
Mike
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Cummins doesn't warrenty an aftermarket filter setup. If they wanted it on, they would have put it on. The engines are good to run 300,000+ setup the way they came.