MerlintheMad
10000 Posts Club!
Hi, All.
In my history as a car owner I have never been terribly concerned over the state of my engine oil. And that was mainly because "the damage has already been done" where used vehicles' engines are concerned. If previous owners had been casual about changing the oil, I was the inheritor of any effects good or bad. I didn't ever let my engine oil go more than a year (as near as I can recall), and as I got older I became more converted to making sure my oil got changed regularly. But the timing was more important to me than the color (darkening) of the oil.
Now, all has changed. My Stinger occupies my conscious thoughts throughout the day. Just now, I remembered that a few days ago I said to myself that I was going to check my oil level (since my Cali trip a week or so ago) with the engine stone cold. So, I put it in "N" and rolled back enough to clear the overhang in the carport and popped the hood and pulled the dipstick. The oil looked darker than I expected; sort of "mid tone". Fresh oil is just a light amber. This looks like the color of brown honey (not the consistency of, I hasten to add!). I'm wondering how quickly is acceptable for oil to darken? And at the recommended 6K miles for an oil change (I get mine changed every 4K miles), what color or darkness will the oil look like if everything is working as it ought to be?
(Depending on the answers I get, my suspicion that the service guys don't actually change my oil, just top it off, will either be allayed or heightened.)
In my history as a car owner I have never been terribly concerned over the state of my engine oil. And that was mainly because "the damage has already been done" where used vehicles' engines are concerned. If previous owners had been casual about changing the oil, I was the inheritor of any effects good or bad. I didn't ever let my engine oil go more than a year (as near as I can recall), and as I got older I became more converted to making sure my oil got changed regularly. But the timing was more important to me than the color (darkening) of the oil.
Now, all has changed. My Stinger occupies my conscious thoughts throughout the day. Just now, I remembered that a few days ago I said to myself that I was going to check my oil level (since my Cali trip a week or so ago) with the engine stone cold. So, I put it in "N" and rolled back enough to clear the overhang in the carport and popped the hood and pulled the dipstick. The oil looked darker than I expected; sort of "mid tone". Fresh oil is just a light amber. This looks like the color of brown honey (not the consistency of, I hasten to add!). I'm wondering how quickly is acceptable for oil to darken? And at the recommended 6K miles for an oil change (I get mine changed every 4K miles), what color or darkness will the oil look like if everything is working as it ought to be?
(Depending on the answers I get, my suspicion that the service guys don't actually change my oil, just top it off, will either be allayed or heightened.)
As if I researched this engine before I decided to buy a Stinger, heh. I trust Kia's designers and developers and testers (those "German guys" in particular); and I read good things about the engine, and not one whiff of anything bad; so I didn't, and don't, worry about it. Now I know that gasoline direct injection engines include the trait of rapidly darkening engine oil.
