Dirty oil

dr5chrome · **Posted:** Sun Feb 01, 2015 6:19 am

1st Ill plead ignorance..

Since this is my 1st diesel, I am unfamiliar with even the basics.
I changed the oil just recently. I have never seen such a dirty oil, but my experience is only with gas..

This week, after a few weeks from the oil change, i thought i would check the oil level. To my amazement, the oil I had just changed was again very dirty, or at least dirty to me with my gas engine experience.

Is this common for a diesel engine? or is there something wrong..?

dw

diesel_guy86 · **Posted:** Sun Feb 01, 2015 9:43 am

Yep, nothing to worry about. Diesel creates soot when it burns, some of it gets past the rings and into the oil. When you change it theres pockets that hold old contaminated oil. Every diesel engine I've ever serviced, darn near has the engine oil back to black after the initial startup to re prime the filter after an oil change.

If your really worried about it you could change the oil a couple times in a row. It would stay cleaner longer but will turn black eventually, wasting your money.

gmctd · **Posted:** Sun Feb 01, 2015 11:43 am

Try using a clear oil, such as SHELL ROTELLA
- check the oil every day for a week to observe absorbption of soot
- also, never change oil without new oil filter, no matter what you may hear from spark-infested engine owners
- this Diesel engine has a built-in oil-to-water cooler on the side of the block which retains a certain volume of old oil, so early soot-darkening is normal

papaindigo · **Posted:** Sun Feb 01, 2015 12:20 pm

I've driven Dodge Cummins diesels and the CRD diesel and as folks say "dirty" oil soon after an oil change is not at all unusual. Of course even on a gas engine oil gets "dirty" and a favorite mechanic scam is to say "oh your oil is dirty so you need an immediate oil change/engine cleaning/whatever other wallet cleaning you can stand".

Best thoughts:
1. long oil change intervals are not your friend unless all your driving is long distance and you do regular oil analysis. Even then I'm not fond of the idea.
2. good oil change interval is ca. 6,000 miles with a new oil filter
3. oil dip stick accuracy is variable. Correct fill amounts are 6.3-.4 qts with OEM size filter (ex. WIX 51516) or 7 qts. with oversize filter (ex. WIX 51515) - other filter options are Mann, Mobil1, NAPA Gold. Note what level a full fill is on your dipstick based on these numbers by driving a bit; parking on a flat surface (even my slight driveway slope wildly impacts apparent oil level); and checking after say 10+ minutes of oil drain down time. Do not overfill - just blows out thru CCV to turbo to intercooler to intake.
4. use only quality turbo diesel rated synthetic oil. Lots of good options including 5W-40 Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel or ESP or Shell Rotella T6 Full Synthetic
5. some have said oil stays visibly a lot cleaner with GDE tunes. I'm not so sure but I love the GDE tunes for many other valid reasons.

As to other fluids do not depart from OEM specs. For example failure to consistently use HOAT antifreeze (ex. Xerex G-05) can cause severe problems.

ebbnflow · **Posted:** Sun Feb 01, 2015 2:10 pm

The EGR on these CRD's will soot your oil up very quickly and turn it into black ink.

When I got my CRD at 65k, my oil was blacker than black. A GDE tune and a few oil changes later, my oil stays translucent for the entire 5000 mile service interval.

I use shell rosella t6 and a 51515 filter also.

dr5chrome · **Posted:** Sun Feb 01, 2015 5:24 pm

Thanks guys!! I am planning to do the GDE tune as soon as I recover from all the recent service.

The GDE folks replied to an email on our quere -
They stated I could send them the chip to flash [500$], or buy the flash tool and flash it myself for another 200$.
The only reason I would need the flash tool again is to save the factory flash in case I needed to reinstall the factory info.

Do I really need to save this [buy the flash tool]? or have them flash the chip for 500$ and never look back??

best regards.. dw

gmctd · **Posted:** Sun Feb 01, 2015 11:32 pm

dr5chrome wrote:

Thanks guys!! I am planning to do the GDE tune as soon as I recover from all the recent service.

The GDE folks replied to an email on our quere -
They stated I could send them the chip to flash [500$], or buy the flash tool and flash it myself for another 200$.
The only reason I would need the flash tool again is to save the factory flash in case I needed to reinstall the factory info.

Do I really need to save this [buy the flash tool]? or have them flash the chip for 500$ and never look back??

best regards.. dw

Doesn't the GDE ALIENTECH POWERGATE 3S flash\scantool also read KJ DTC's?

ebbnflow · **Posted:** Mon Feb 02, 2015 12:39 am

Yes it does. It is the only scanner I have used with my CRD to read and clear codes.

dr5chrome · **Posted:** Mon Feb 02, 2015 12:52 am

'Do I really need to buy the flash tool? or have them flash the chip for 500$ and never look back??'

dw

dirtmover · **Posted:** Mon Feb 02, 2015 9:19 am

ebbnflow wrote:

The EGR on these CRD's will soot your oil up very quickly and turn it into black ink.

When I got my CRD at 65k, my oil was blacker than black. A GDE tune and a few oil changes later, my oil stays translucent for the entire 5000 mile service interval.

This is exactly my experience. It took a couple of changes to get there but now I can change it out at 10,000km and it more closely resembles well used oil out of a gas engine than the jet black stuff that used to come out. The difference was quite dramatic and came as a bit of a surprise.

I note that others have reported no or minimal difference with the tune so there must be other factors at play here.

gmctd · **Posted:** Mon Feb 02, 2015 10:51 am

dr5chrome wrote:

'Do I really need to buy the flash tool? or have them flash the chip for 500$ and never look back??'

dw

No, you don't really need to buy the flash tool, long as you promise to not come back on here later crying as to which scantool you need to read the DTC's because your Check Engine Lite is on - 'course, then again, you might not even see the CEL if you never look back (at it), eh.................

dirtmover · **Posted:** Mon Feb 02, 2015 12:35 pm

ebbnflow wrote:

Yes it does. It is the only scanner I have used with my CRD to read and clear codes.

The CRuD responds just as badly to this device as it does to any other I've used. I have an Innova 3100 and Elm327 based device that will read everything the flash tool does.

dr5chrome wrote:

'Do I really need to buy the flash tool? or have them flash the chip for 500$ and never look back??'

dw

I bought the tool because I was concerned about shipping my ECU cross border plus didn't want the downtime.

Glad I went this way because I've had a couple of tweaks to the tune plus if I decide to switch to 5V glow plugs GDE can provide the support in a simple emailed update.

PALiftedKK · **Posted:** Mon Feb 02, 2015 1:07 pm

don't worry about the black oil. it will look like that only after a few miles. only worry about low or high oil levels.

dirtmover · **Posted:** Mon Feb 02, 2015 3:09 pm

PALiftedKK wrote:

don't worry about the black oil. it will look like that only after a few miles. only worry about low or high oil levels.

Soot induced wear on diesel engines has been well researched and documented. I guess it's up to the individual owners to decide if it's something he wishes to worry about :wink:

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Mon Feb 02, 2015 5:45 pm

To get rid of the soot, get rid of the EGR and FCV; completely remove them!!!
Then tune it yourself from the Squeeto thread so you do not have a DTC and can pass any inspection if required and gain a little more power and fuel mileage... :mrgreen:

Never look back! Motor is happy, and you will be to! :BANANA:

SOOT from the EGR is a known engine killer! :dead:

Dirty oil

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