anyone know how long/miles it takes for new oil to change from that golden color to something a little darker?
That is hard to answer, when you are not sure how much dirty oil is left in the motor at the change,
Here is the lenghts people like me will go to,
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[FONT="]The question was asked the other day about how to flush when changing oil. If you use the following will guide you when changing oil, you can add many years life to your vehicle.
Motor
With the Engine at operating temperature drain your sump oil, when the oil stops running out of the sump, refit you sump bung.
Refill the Engine with at least 5 Litres of Flushing Oil. (5 is enough to do the job in all our cars even if they take more)
Use Mainlube 245 Flushing Oil, the extreme detergency package in Mainlube 245 cleans very well or if this is a little expensive I think Repco has one, (or used to) or any other flush, you need a good detergent package to clean quickly (in about 15 to 30 minutes of flushing) I flush my own Engine from 1 to 2 hours to ensure cleanliness.
If you cant get flushing flushing oil, then use flushing additive and mix it with cheap supermarket oil, this would be better than not flushing or even just cheap supermarket oil on its own is better than not flushing at all.
Kerosene and Diesel are NOT to be used as these products are abrasive and also strip oil if its lubricating qualities, you will do more harm than good with these 2 fuels mixed with oil as a flush.
Flush your Engine for 15 to 30 minutes, bringing the revs up to say
.2000 rpm for 5 to 10 seconds every 5 minutes to achieve the dish washer affect.
Drain the flushing oil (you will notice the flushing oil comes out black) once drained refit the sump plug (you would be surprised how many people forget this part) replace the oil filter with a new one, wiping a little clean Engine oil around the new oil filters rubber seal to ensure ease of removal next oil change and refill with new oil to the full mark.
Start you Engine and make sure your oil light goes out and check the sump plug and oil filter for leaks. Now the oil filter is full with oil, top the oil up, waiting a couple of minutes for the oil to drain down before you check the level, you should be able to achieve the oil level on the full mark.
Under now circumstances are you to drive your car with flushing oil in the engine, flushing is to be done under NO load.
Gearbox T56
With the Gearbox at operating temperature drain your Gearbox oil, if an oil sample is required the gather this half way through the draining process. When the oil stops running out of the Gearbox, refit you sump bung.
Refill the Gearbox with at least 4 Litres of Flushing Oil (4 is enough to do the job in all our cars).
Flush your Gearbox for 15 minutes, bringing the revs up to say
.2000 rpm for 5 to 10 seconds every 5 minutes to achieve the dish washer affect.
Drain the flushing oil, once drained refit the plug.
Now repeat the flushing process again, you need to flush the T56 twice to achieve a clean enough environment for new oil.
Fill your T56 with Mainlube 154 Synthetic Solid Boundary E P Gear Oil SAE 75w90 if you wish to quiten and extend the life if your Gearbox or fill with Transmax if you dont mind it being noisy.
Fill to slightly above the bottom of the filler bung, this way when you wish to take an oil sample you can simply ease the filler bung (within 5 minutes of running) and allow the excess to flow into your sample jar and quickly refit the filler bung.
Auto
To change and flush your auto oil perfectly you should go to your mechanic and have the auto flushed with a flushing machine, then have the pan dropped and change the filter and oil topped up again.
However, if this to too costly, I can show you a much cheaper way that will be for better than just not changing or changing oil without flushing.
With the auto warm, remove the bottom hose in to the radiator and fit a plastic tube on to the bottom hose to the radiator, put the other end or the hose in to a 20 Litre bucket in front of the car.
Start the engine and the autos oil pump will pump all the old ATF fluid in to the 20 Litre bucket, flick through the gears until the vehicle doesnt try and move, now you have most of the oil from the auto in the 20 Litre bucket.
Only idle the car to do this.
Refill your auto with new oil and repeat the process about 3 times or until the oil comes out of the auto clean, or the same colour as its going in.
You just flushed your auto without jacking the car up.
Diff
With the Diff at operating temperature, jack your vehicle up and put on axle stands making sure the vehicle is stable. Then drain your Diff oil, when the oil stops running out of the Diff, refit you sump bung.
Refill the Diff with Flushing Oil. Run you vehicle in say 2nd to 3rd gear at about 1500 rpm and flush your Diff for 15 minutes.
Drain the flushing oil, once drained refit the plug.
Fill your Diff with Mainlube 154 Synthetic Solid Boundary E P Gear Oil SAE 75w140 E P Gear Oil if you wish to and extend the life if your Diff or fill with an approved spec. Synthetic LSD E P Gear Oil SAE 75w140.
Fill to slightly above the bottom of the filler bung, this way when you wish to take an oil sample you can simply ease the filler bung (within 5 minutes of running) and allow the excess to flow into your sample jar and quickly refit the filler bung.
Power Steering
With the Power Steering at operating temperature, remove the Power Steering reservoir cap and using a large syringe (like the one you filled the in the T56 and diff with) and suck all the oil from the Power Steering reservoir.
Refill the reservoir with Transmax Z ATF fluid and turn the steering from lock to lock once, then suck the oil from the reservoir again.
Repeat this process until the oil you are removing from the reservoir is the same colour as the oil going in, then fill to the correct level.
Auto and Power Steering fluid should be changed as soon as it starts to noticeably darken. [/FONT]
Just another persons opinion,