Dirty gritty drained oil when I did the oil change today
 

So yesterday (3/6) was my first time swapping out old RL oil. It was also my first time with an oil containing ester. So as I was draining the oil, I noticed some unusual properties. 1) The oil color was milk chocolate like, mixed with some copper. RL does have a golden-amber color out of the quart. So I guess this is normal. Is it?? 2) The oil was kind of gritty. My engine has roughly 9.3K miles on it...still pretty new. Could the grittiness be because it's still in a break-in phase and those are the metal remains. Or perhaps this is normal. I probably never noticed it with other oils because of the color. Typically, all other oils were pitch black when I swapped them. RL color perhaps makes it more noticeable.

Below are some pics to help explain what I saw. Please tell me this is normal.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...1/IMG_0366.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...1/IMG_0367.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...1/IMG_0371.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...1/IMG_0370.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...1/IMG_0369.jpg

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By the looks of it; I would say Unicorn Blood. j/k

I'm running the same set up in my car RL oil with K&N filter but I have yet to change it. I don't think you have a serious issue at hand, possible some water contamination? I would refill it and run it, possibly change the oil out prematurely on the next change, I guess if something goes your under warranty. :(

It doesn't looks normal thats for sure.

^I do agree, but at the same time I don't think it is super serious, I just don't know if he can do much else besides refill the car and run it.

Thats true, Op needs to do an oil change and drive for a bit, and check the dipstick to make sure it stays clean like it has been posted already.. :tiphat:

How many miles did you put on the oil? Also, what's your start mileage and end mileage ? That looks extremely dirty.

I had the RL oil in for about 6K (minus a few miles).

Like say man, Just put fresh oil in and then run it for a shorter period and flush it out, that would be my best guess as to what to do.

Well, it has fresh oil because I just to the oil change this past weekend. But yes, I will monitor the dip stick periodically now. I'll probably shoot an e-mail containing these pics to the service department at my local Nissan dealership and see what they say.

Get back to us and let us know how it goes good luck :tup:

Thanks man.....and thank you all for your responses.

That's not too bad. Do your next oil change at 5000 miles. See if it still exists. After analysis, I was told to go 5000 miles first interval , then 5500, then 6000 etc. I'm currently at 6000 interval. After the next one, I'll go up to 6500.

I have to say...I'm not a fan of the longer oil change intervals that everybody is pushing these days. It may be good for the environment, and good for the car companies' marketing...but it's not good for an engine.

^^ Well, I was under the assumption that with full synthetic oils, the intervals don't have to be as frequent.

With a synthetic you can wait longer, the Nissan ester oil is recommended for changes around 3750 I believe while RL and others say you can go around 5-6k. The issue blackflag is having is these companies doing oil changes every 10-12k.

Quick one AK!: As you know, I own an '04 Touring Coupe; I've been using Mobil 1 (non-ester oil) since the mid-nineties, with NO complaints at all. Should I go the ester way, or is Mobil 1 O.K. for my year model?? This ester thing has me thinking. I know 370s should get the ester formula synth' oil, but, how about my 350Z? THANKS.

I'd suggest stick to MB1, Syn wont hurt, but if it ain't broke why fix it....:tiphat:

Thanks, Tripleman! That was my logic, too. My main issue is that I stocked up with Mobil 1--cases and cases!--so I GOTTA keep using it up till I exhaust it! Thanks, again.

Absolutely - that's ridiculous.

(Though, even with synthetic, I still do 3k-4k. Call me crazy. Carbon builds up in synthetic oil, too, and that filter still fills up.

The last car that gave up the ghost on me went at 230k miles. I miss that car.)

My Pennzoil Platinum looks almost new when it’s drained at 4K….

Would love to have taken an oil filter cutter to that K&N and seen what was inside.

Did you save any of the oil for analysis?

Oil filter is long gone. I do still have the oil but don't know if it's any good because I did an oil change on my wife's vehicle, as well as mine. So the oils are mixed together.

That's not good (the mixing part). Maybe next time. You actually have to bring up the oil temp (I bring it up to 210 usually) before getting the sample.

As many said, change your oil now. Run it for maybe 3-4 months (or 4000 miles whichever comes first) and then see what's the end result.

Good luck man! :tup:

sorry to say man, but that looks terrible... i would definitely be concerned. what happened to the gasket on the filter?

Nothing wrong...the rubber gasket just comes of easily.

I just want to make something clear. I'm afraid some might be getting the wrong idea. When I said the oils are mixed, I was referring to the oil in the oil pan. I did two oil changes that day. Mine and my wife's. I wasn't actually mixing oils and dumping it into the engine. By having the oils mixed in the oil pan, it will be difficult to get a sample.

Are you saying that I should change the oil again, after the fact that I did that this past weekend?

^^ Yeah, I'll be sure to do that next time.

AK,

Should we make a separate thread about this and move all related posts there?

So I had a scheduled visit to my dealer today to get my rear hatch lift-springs replaced. While I was there I brought up my situation about the oil. They said that from what I described, they've never seen or heard such a thing. They asked if I had an oil sample (like many of you had asked). I said no because I did two oil changes on the same day...mine and my wife's. And mine was last. So the oil that I have in the pan is mixed. Then they asked if I used Nissan's oil, because it contains the ester additive. I said "no, but I used Red Line, which also contains ester." Then they said, "well, we can't really do anything for you at the moment. Next time you do the change, if you see the same thing, bring in a sample...OR...have us do the next change so we can see it first hand." So, I was like "ok."

Oh but when I was describing the oil, they said that copper/brass fragments could be from some bearings. But again, to determine that, they'd need a sample.

So I think I'll do my next change in three months instead of five or six, and see how it looks then.

Or you could drain some out right now for a sample and then just top it off to bring it back to proper fill level. If there's a chance your bearings are disintegrating, do you really want to wait three months and risk your engine grenading on you in the middle of a freeway?

I hear ya. Maybe I'll do that. However, I won't be able to get to it till next weekend. I'm gonna be away for this one. Damn it....ugh....well, if something does go wrong, I'm hoping that it's covered under warranty.

That's not such a bad thing. Let it run for a week so that the oil 'represents' what's going on better. If you do it too soon, there's a chance the oil would be too clean and wouldn't accurately represent the problem.

Yeah, I agree. Actually, I wonder if even at two weeks is too soon. Maybe at three or four? What do you think. Looking at my dipstick earlier, it still looked pretty clean.

Were you able to see the flecks on your dipstick before? If so, wait until you see them there again.

Semtex -- Nah, before this issue, I haven't been checking the DS on a regular basis. Just every now and then. It's a new car. In my mind, I felt like I had nothing to worry about. But I will try to monitor it while I wait till the next change.

You know, if you weren't checking your dipstick on a regular basis, I wonder if you were actually low on oil, which in turn led to metal wear. You said you had this oil in for 6k miles, right? I checked my dipstick at 2700 miles and was down about a 1/2 qt.

Hmm...yeah I don't know. I hope that wasn't the case. You probably don't know this but at what oil level would the sensor warn you?