I'm looking for some input on how long your oil stays clean on your Evo. This question comes on the heels of a post I read about oil scavengers and getting that last bit of oil out of a Dyna's engine to keep it cleaner longer. That post aside, I JUST changed my oil after my cam swap, and have well under 500 miles on this oil. I regularly change my oil and filter and have never in the two years I have owned the bike even hit the 2500 mile recommended interval before changing. Is it me or does this oil seem black. I included a dab of fresh oil right next to the old oil as well as the spark plugs. I included a picture of the plugs because I'm sure the first question will be....is it running rich. I feel it is not. So any insight from fellow Evo riders on my oil is greatly appreciated. Is this perfectly normal to get this black almost immediately, or should I start looking for a problem??? Please advise.

Edit: Just a side note. When I bought the bike 2 years ago it had 12K on the ticker and a stripped oil pan. Its "possible" that the previous owner changed it once, stripped the piece of crap stock oil pan and never changed it again. BUT... when we just did the cam there wasn't so much of a trace of sludge on the innards. Just wanted to mention that.

 

It isn't possible to remove all the old oil in an engine, there will probably be a cupful or there abouts left behind. Having ridden bikes for over forty years I cannot get excited about that! I have had a couple of bikes with oil coolers and drained them as well, but with my current bikes (all Harley stable) I just change filter, drain oil and refill.

I read somewhere that life is too short to peel mushrooms! I think oil falls in the same category.

 

I had a 4-stroke dirt bike that the oil would turn dark fast. High revs will do it. Maybe your 80 mph highway runs is the culprit.

 

My Ducati's engine has a window on the side where I can see the oil level. It turns black pretty quickly. However, you can't tell the quality of an oil by what it looks like, unless there is water or something else obvious that's mixed into it. The black color is simply from carbon which makes its way into the oil as it blows past the rings; this carbon does not have any significant negative effects.

 

Oil has detergents in it. It causes oils to blacken. It means it's doing it's job.

 

Whatsa Dyna?

The official HD shop manual says not to try to get the last bit of oil out of your crank case at an oil change. That's good enough for me. Otherwise, I just change my oil at about 2 to 2.5K mile intervals and don't worry about what color it is (black) or when it got that way.

 

Well, now thats why I ask. If this were my Shovel I wouldn't bother to ask as they filthy up the oil in a hurry. But I was just wondering if you guys have the same results with Evo's and it seems you do. I guess keeping it changed is all you can do. I'm thinking those scavengers aren't really worth the money either but I just don't know enough about them.

 

For some reason, synthetics seem to get dark quicker than dino oil - well for me anyway.

 

...love it on a dirty girl. (sorry, could not resist this)

 

Without using an oil scavanger you are leaving almost a quart of old oil in there.That turns the new oil black as soon as it mixes up.Personally I dont like leaving almost a third of the old oil in when doing an oil change.