Has this oil been changed?

[FreeLitres]

I just my company car back from an annual oil service from a popular (?) fast repair place.

(VAG 2.0 TDi, 2nd longlife service, ~40k miles)

It's been a while since I last had it serviced, but I had it in my head that straight after an oil change the oil on the dipstick is fairly clean looking, only slightly darker than what you would see in the tub.

This is the colour of the oil;


Does that look right?

Given the reputation of the garage, I had wondered if they might have just added new oil on top of the old stuff to rush the job through.

[Scrump]

I think that is fairly normal with a Diesel engine.
Has the filter been changed? If they changed the filter then I doubt they would have not drained the old oil.

[thiscocks]

With Turbo diesel the oil goes black almost straight away so would be hard to tell. Maybe could get a better clue by looking at the filter

[Ham_and_Jam]

FreeLitres said:

I just my company car back from an annual oil service from a popular (?) fast repair place.

(VAG 2.0 TDi, 2nd longlife service, ~40k miles)

It's been a while since I last had it serviced, but I had it in my head that straight after an oil change the oil on the dipstick is fairly clean looking, only slightly darker than what you would see in the tub.

This is the colour of the oil;


Does that look right?

Given the reputation of the garage, I had wondered if they might have just added new oil on top of the old stuff to rush the job through.

It really doesn’t take long for oil to discolour in an engine. I doubt a national chain would not change the oil.

[KTMsm]

With a diesel it's impossible to tell by looking at it - some remains in the oil cooler etc and instantly makes the new stuff black

[MDMA .]

Looks clean for diesel oil. Unless flushed, it will never look like it is in the tin after a few miles.

[FreeLitres]

Scrump said:

I think that is fairly normal with a Diesel engine.
Has the filter been changed? If they changed the filter then I doubt they would have not drained the old oil.

To be honest, I have no idea what they are supposed to have done. The lease company keep most of the documentation so I haven't seen the service schedule. I just phone the lease company up when the service reminder shows up on the dash.

The old oil was jet black so I guess they must have drained most of it out to get to that shade. I just don't trust 'em.

[Krikkit]

KTMsm said:

With a diesel it's impossible to tell by looking at it - some remains in the oil cooler etc and instantly makes the new stuff black

This! As soon as it's circulated the particulates left in the engine completely blacken it. You'd probably have to do 3-4 oil changes at least before it came clear again.

Also, once it's run in warm conditions, anything with an oil-cooled turbo will start darkening the oil (perfectly normally).

That oil, to me, looks like reasonably recent as it's not sludgey etc.

[FreeLitres]

Thanks guys - you put my mind at rest that all looks normal.

[QJumper]

My mind was always at rest when I had a company car. Not so much now.

[Oilchange]

Ham_and_Jam said:

I doubt a national chain would not change the oil.

I'd never assume this. Ever.

That oil looks ok to me, I used to change it in the 75 every 7-8k and it looked like that.

[Smint]

Some engines drain really well, some don't, even if the drain plug was used don't suppose the plug was left out for an hour to allow full drain and entirely possible the oil was sucked out, either way enough old oil left in to immediately contaminate any fresh oil used.

BMW 320d daughter had at one time you couldn't tell 5 minutes after restarting if the oil had been changed by looking at it, in comparison, my 17 year old 110k mile Prado 3 litre Diesel still has clean oil up to around 800miles after changing, all the Toyota 4x4's i've had with this engine over the last 25 years have been the same.

[Oilchange]

The problem lies with folk who don’t service their cars regularly.
Sucking 4 3/4 litres out using a pump after warming the engine, removing the filter with all the old oil in and replacing together with ~5 litres of new stuff is the key.
Remnants of old oil is fine the problem is simply not changing the damn stuff at all.
Also, better to suck the stuff out than trust a brain dead mech to not over-tighten a bronze sump plug into an alloy sump thus destroying the thread!

And don’t get me started on ‘longlife’ servicing bullst. There’s nothing a car maker wants more than for your engine to seize on oil the consistency of treacle.

[vikingaero]

That oil has been changed. When I got my Bussat back from the VW dealer, I check they've done their job. If you look at the oil, it's a light grey colour as it instantly gets contaminated, as opposed to dark grey/black of used oil. It's one of those diesel anomalies.