Dealer “forgot” to change the oil...

[Rodeoflyer]

If you don't have the time to check it at the dealership after the service I would def check it as soon as you get home. It should still be light on the dipstick after the drive home and a good idea anyway since they (obviously) often overfill. I always check any service work afterwards no matter what it is.

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[mwilk012]

+1 - low quality oil either before or after the change - if they changed it. What else would be free? New synthetic oil in a healthy engine shouldn’t turn that black in 400 miles - my experience.

disagree. It will, and does.

 

[Carolina Jeeper]

After 400 miles oil can get somewhat dark, but the camera image is not definitive enough for me. I would need to see it and shine a flashlight through it or even do the finger test already mentioned to be able to more accurately ascertain the oil condition.

I absolutely do not trust any service center to work on my vehicles and not check behind them. Here's what I do every time I've had my oil changed by a dealership. I bring a paper towel from home and after I arrive I pull the dipstick and wipe it on the towel. Then when they'er done I do the same thing beside the dirty oil. It is obvious if they've changed the oil or not. Believe me they do forget or simply just don't care and oil never gets changed. Paperwork says it was changed, but its impossible for them to argue with a clean vs dirty oil sample.

 

[myers688]

I just sent out an oil sample to Blackstone Labs, so stay posted for the results!

 

[Rodeoflyer]

I just sent out an oil sample to Blackstone Labs, so stay posted for the results!

This should be interesting

 

[Hoosier Jeep Lover]

I think you’ll mostly likely be disappointed when you get the test results.

The results will be a pile of gibberish to most people. It will give particle count and size, residual of additives, etc.

The only way to get a meaningful result is to send in a new sample to compare to the used oil.

Example....our diesel oil had a TBN of 14. Competitors may only have 8.5. There probably isn’t one in a thousand people that know what TBN is, or why it’s important. If you don’t have a baseline to compare to, I think you’re chasing rainbows

 

[Hoosier Jeep Lover]

They won’t do that. You need to know what contamination level or minimum additives level your engine will tolerate. Then you make the call on when to change oil.

Our oil was about 50% higher in cost than competitors. But, our additive package was about 2-3 times theirs, and we added a side stream filter to remove particles down to 1 micron. I had customers extending their change intervals from 400 hours to 1,200 hours. But, you have to know what you’re looking for.

 

[myers688]

I think you’ll mostly likely be disappointed when you get the test results.

The results will be a pile of gibberish to most people. It will give particle count and size, residual of additives, etc.

The only way to get a meaningful result is to send in a new sample to compare to the used oil.

Example....our diesel oil had a TBN of 14. Competitors may only have 8.5. There probably isn’t one in a thousand people that know what TBN is, or why it’s important. If you don’t have a baseline to compare to, I think you’re chasing rainbows

This is a sample report from blackstone labs. It looks like they make the numbers easily understandable to the regular person. Yes it would be better to compare the used oil to new, but I have no idea what kind of oil the dealership used. At least from this I will be able to see if there is likely excessive wear by looking at the concentration of metal particulates. Additionally, if the TBN is excessively low (i.e. 1.0 or less) then I know that the additives in the oil are spent and are no longer active. I think that there is enough information in the test report that I can make a good judgement call on whether the oil was changed or not.

 

[myers688]

I just got the results for the oil analysis back! Looks like, yes, the oil was changed at the dealership, as the quantities of metals in the oil are very low for the pentastar engine. Additionally, the TBN came in at 4.7 indicating that there were still active additives remaining in the oil. Looks like a healthy engine (as it should be only having 12,000 miles on it)! Either way I am glad that I changed the oil myself because the dealership did indeed add too much oil (6 qts). I will be changing my own oil from now on. Thanks everybody for voicing your opinion! I learned a lot about how brand new oil can darken VERY quickly.

 

[Rodeoflyer]

Very nice...now you have a good baseline for future UOA's.

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