Engine Oil Color Normal?
 

Dear Xoutpost members,
Just checked the oil on my X with 39,000 miles and 3 green bars remaining on the service indicator and the color looked a little dark to me on a white paper towel. Is this the normal color for synthetic oil?

Looks normal to me, I change my oil every 4,000KM and it looks like that.

sethro: Thanks for the quick reply.

It was just that I checked the oil in a Honda and it was almost light yellow whereas the BMW is almost dark brown (looked like burnt oil to me) so I wanted your experienced/expert thoughts.

And, looks normal to me...
our crummy Honda CR-V's oil stays golden for a long time, as does my '87 Honda Hurricane, and '94 Honda Gold Wing,
as does my 8 yr old Generac generator. My Harley oil goes black in a few hundred miles, and our '01 X5 oil looks like
yours in a thousand or less, after change.

Not very scientific and certainly not oil analysis, but I wouldn't wring my hands over it, imo.

Besides the "3 green bars", has it been a "long time" since last change?
GL, mD

motordavid: We bought the car in May this year with 36,000 miles and I am assuming BMW changed the oil during their CPO inspection before selling it. Never had a oil change after that.

The oil color looks fine. I am not sure if a CPO inspection changes the oil or not, but the dealer should be able to give you the date of the last oil change.

We just had the oil changed <1k miles ago and it looks like yours.
You're fine.

I was told it had something to do with type of alloy the block is made of that causes the coulor change , maybe all crap but thats what BMW told me when i questioned them over it.

You should see brand new 5W 30 oil on a Diesel....?Its black:(

Oil colour is not an indication of quality or cleanliness. New oil is generally gold coloured, but after that it doesn't mean a thing.

Diesels are a good example: the soot will make the oil black in 5 minutes, and that is normal.

The exception is if the oil is milky, indicating likely water in the oil.