Dirty gritty drained oil when I did the oil change today
 

So yesterday (3/6) was my first time swapping out old RL oil. It was also my first time with an oil containing ester. So as I was draining the oil, I noticed some unusual properties. 1) The oil color was milk chocolate like, mixed with some copper. RL does have a golden-amber color out of the quart. So I guess this is normal. Is it?? 2) The oil was kind of gritty. My engine has roughly 9.3K miles on it...still pretty new. Could the grittiness be because it's still in a break-in phase and those are the metal remains. Or perhaps this is normal. I probably never noticed it with other oils because of the color. Typically, all other oils were pitch black when I swapped them. RL color perhaps makes it more noticeable.

Below are some pics to help explain what I saw. Please tell me this is normal.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...1/IMG_0366.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...1/IMG_0367.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...1/IMG_0371.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...1/IMG_0370.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...1/IMG_0369.jpg

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By the looks of it; I would say Unicorn Blood. j/k

I'm running the same set up in my car RL oil with K&N filter but I have yet to change it. I don't think you have a serious issue at hand, possible some water contamination? I would refill it and run it, possibly change the oil out prematurely on the next change, I guess if something goes your under warranty. :(

It doesn't looks normal thats for sure.

^I do agree, but at the same time I don't think it is super serious, I just don't know if he can do much else besides refill the car and run it.

Thats true, Op needs to do an oil change and drive for a bit, and check the dipstick to make sure it stays clean like it has been posted already.. :tiphat:

How many miles did you put on the oil? Also, what's your start mileage and end mileage ? That looks extremely dirty.

I had the RL oil in for about 6K (minus a few miles).

Like say man, Just put fresh oil in and then run it for a shorter period and flush it out, that would be my best guess as to what to do.

Well, it has fresh oil because I just to the oil change this past weekend. But yes, I will monitor the dip stick periodically now. I'll probably shoot an e-mail containing these pics to the service department at my local Nissan dealership and see what they say.

Get back to us and let us know how it goes good luck :tup:

Thanks man.....and thank you all for your responses.

That's not too bad. Do your next oil change at 5000 miles. See if it still exists. After analysis, I was told to go 5000 miles first interval , then 5500, then 6000 etc. I'm currently at 6000 interval. After the next one, I'll go up to 6500.

I have to say...I'm not a fan of the longer oil change intervals that everybody is pushing these days. It may be good for the environment, and good for the car companies' marketing...but it's not good for an engine.