Oil Change and Oil Still Looks Dirty

[C-SIDE]

I changed the oil (synthetic blend 25w 40) in both engines today along with the filters. I then started my engines and let it run for about 2-3 minutes. I checked my oil to make sure I put enough in, which I did. However, the color of the oil looked anything but fresh, which I thought was weird. Anyone else experience this? Is this unusual?

 

[Almightys]

How many quarts did you take out?


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[C-SIDE]

How many quarts - not exactly sure. However, I sucked it dry as I checked the oil after I sucked it out and the dip stick was dry as a bone. I'm pretty confident I took all the oil out. Also, the engines holds 5.5 quarts and that's exactly what I put in and the dip stick indicated perfect levels

 

[JVM225]

My guess is that there was some residual oil left in the pan below where the dipstick reads, and it mixed with the fresh oil to give it the darker color.
I made it a habit to measure what I took out before I add the fresh oil, and after doing many oil changes on the motors in my Sea Ray I sold back in June, I was never able to get every drop of oil out through the dipstick tubes. I estimated that there was always about a half a quart or more that stayed down in the pans.
It made me wish I had installed an oil change system when I re-powered that boat. Live and learn.
We have an 18' bowrider with a little 3.0 mercruiser that my kids use. It has an oil drain hose that is connected to the bottom of the pan. The other end of the hose has a threaded fitting and plug. It allows you to run the hose out the boat's drain hole for oil changes out of the water, or pull oil out of the bottom of the hose with a pump for in the water oil changes. Being able to get oil out of the bottom of the pan is a much better system.

 

[scoflaw]

Had the same thing happen with a newly purchased boat. I figured the PO never changed the oil. So probably a lot of blackness covering everything inside the motor. After 4 or 5 oil changes mine cleaned up.

 

[Almightys]

The dipstick doesn't read to zero quarts and may not even show oil in motor until it has several quarts. Probably had near a quart left when you emptied it


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[Irie308]

Did my oil change yesterday and noticed smilier results. Not as dark as old oil but darker than new after running the engines for a few mins.

 

[Nmor830]

I changed the oil (synthetic blend 25w 40) in both engines today along with the filters. I then started my engines and let it run for about 2-3 minutes. I checked my oil to make sure I put enough in, which I did. However, the color of the oil looked anything but fresh, which I thought was weird. Anyone else experience this? Is this unusual?

I just changed my oil about a week ago using an electric pump. When the pump ran dry I pulled the drain hose out and shoved it back in a few times. Youll be surprised how much more oil will come out. About another 3/4 quart. Using a pump limits the amount you are able to get out however "fishing" the drain hose will pull out a lot more of the old oil.

 

[Joel_MD]

In my experience, the darkness of motor oil is meaningless. The stuff that makes it dark is microscopic (otherwise it would lodge in the oil filter) and harmless to your engine. If you really want to know the health of your engine oil, draw a sample and send to Blackstone Labs for analysis. I've had Blackstone do a used oil analysis on diesel oil before, which turns coal-black immediately after an oil change, and even after 15k miles the amount of 'insolubles' never exceeds 0.5%.

 

[Boatingnut]

Just consider all of this "preparation" for owning your next boat, which will hopefully be a diesel! I ain't seen clean oil in 13 years in my engines. You get used to it. Not sure how long you have owned this boat, but as suggested above, time may solve some of this.

Fully agree on the oil analysis, I also use Blackstone.