Colour Of New Engine Oil ...... Post service

[coupe-se]

Just read this on Scoobynet, and the guy has gone on to say that the new oil is a dark colour .......... anyone shed some light on the issue??


"Audi 2.0T Long Life Service - Dirty Oil?>?>?
Hoping someone can provide assistance here.

We had our 2006 A3 2.0T serviced yesterday, a long life even though it's only done 9k miles - fair enough it only does short trips.

Problem I have is the oil change in the service book has been ticked 'no' but longlife ticked 'yes'

I have checked the oil on the dipstick and it's not the nice colour golden I would expect on a car that's done 5 miles back from the serving dealer.
I rang them and they assured me the oil and filter have been changed, I checked dipstick again and to me it does not look like new oil.

The service guy now tells me long life oil is a darker colour and the oil has been changed, if it hadn't the ECU would warn on the dash the service hadn't been completed.

I'm struggling to believe this to be honest - I've had a look for a new oil filter but can't even see it! - anyone know where I can see the filter from to check it's new?

Is longlife oil really darker than normal?

Have I been stiched up on a £320 1st service??!!"

 

[d3fy]

mine is the same in regards to the ticking of boxes. my oil is more a dark green/honey like colour

 

[timps]

when I did my service the new long life oil looked decidedly old/ropey after 100 miles.

I know it was all done correctly because I did it myself.

I did a search on the net out of curiosity and it is a common issue and assumed it goes like that because it is quite a thin oil.

If the car is set to long life the car will monitor oil quality from a sensor in the sump. It wont tell you if the oil has been changed but it will bring the next service up as soon as the quality is below its standard

 

[icenutter]

Another way to look at it is that if the oil is dark in colour then it is doing (one of) its jobs.

 

[steve184]

the only time you will find oil a light colour is when the engine is new (mine was green when i got my last A3!) but once this gets black and coats the internals of the engine, you can never get all the old black oil out as it is designed to 'cling' to engine components - they drain the oil out but i reckon theres probably half a litre of it still in an 'empty' engine which is spread throughout the engine - then once you put fresh oil in it mixes with this small amount of old oil and then gives you what looks like dirty oil again - but its not its just been slightly discoloured by the remainder of the old oil which is in such a small quantity in comparison to the new oil - the oil can still do its job.

 

[JamS3]

It will still look new ie like cooking oil for well after 5 miles, it should certainly NOT look dark like it hasn't been changed only after 5 miles. I would demand its done again saying you are not convinced it has been done on yours and ask them to show you on a car they are servicing at the dealership.

All my cars that have been serviced the oil has looked new for a while, yes there will be a small amount of dirty oil left in but remember you are putting in at least 4 litres of new which will easily mask the dirty oil only with a very slight colour change in the new oil compared to what its like in the bottle.