What colour should the oil be on a dipstick?

[Ben82]

takes 5 mins to change an oil filter - not heard of 1 being skipped on a service for a long time tbh.

Surely you can also do the taking off part whilst waiting for the old oil to drain too? along with lubing up the new one...so the time it would actually take would just be screwing it on so less than a minute really?

[Harlequin]

actually I have a confession - a friend with a skoda only changed the oil (to his folly) and not the filter last oil change, about 18 months ago.

when we did it `properly` this time , holy **** it was thick , black and very very sludgy

[Xaccers]

This topic brings back memories.
I sold my second 205D to a mate (a wanna be boy racer) and he came back to me about a month later saying something must be wrong as the oil always looks black despite changing it several times it just didn't stay clean for long. So explained a few things to him, and also pointed out that no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't chip a 205D...

A friend's parents had a Poxhaul Cavalier (due to having a GM credit card which gave them points for money off GM cars) and his dad had a few misgivings about the quality of the serviing given by their local stealer.
So he marked the oil filter with permanent marker, and checked when he went to collect his car. The "new" filter had an exact mark in the exact place.
The garage went from saying "yes it's a new filter" to "ah, sometimes the oil and filter don't need changing if they're in good condition still" to which his dad replied "Then why have you charged me for changing the oil, the new oil, and a new filter?"
Red faces and he had the service redone at no cost with him watching. Never went back there again.
Garages cut corners, bad indie's cut corners, it's how they can get more jobs through than they should in a day. The book will say 4 hours, they'll charge you for 4 hours but it's only taken them 2 hours because they've either not done the work or cut massive corners. How many times have you called up at 3 asking if the car is ready, been told it's not gone in yet, then called at 5 to say it's ready to be picked up but charged more than 2 hours labour?
There's only a handful of people I trust to work on my cars, and none of them do it in a professional capacity.

[qprdude]

If the filter gets clogged up, the bypass valve will open and allow unfiltered oil to circulate. The bypass will normally open when the oil is cold as the filter often won't cope with the viscosity of cold oil, but once temperature has been reached and the pre-set valve pressure, the oil should be filtered.
I have a slight feeling that "I didn't have time to change the filter", is a load of old codswallop. In which case, I would be inclined to think that the oil might not have been changed either.
As has been said, once the oil starts draining from the sump, you have bugger all else to do until it's empty. If the mechanic is working on several cars at the same time, then he is not only cutting corners with your car, but his other customers as well.
An proper service garage will tell you that changing oil and not filter is NOT best practice.
Proper grade, filtered oil is the only thing stopping the friction between moving parts, turning your engine to a lump of scrap.

[Northern_Mike]

Does the oil filter look new?
I doubt anyone woud do an oil change without changing that as well,
Oil should be cleanish for a few days I'd say with some blackistness to it perhaps
but not jet black. How long (Mls.) before this 'change' was the last oil in the car?

I checked with the indie and the oil filter was not changed as he was in a hurry.

Takes me all of a minute to change the filter on my Berlingo.

Never return to this garage again and tell anyone you know not to use him either. Sounds like a complete cowboy.

[Northern_Mike]

There's only a handful of people I trust to work on my cars, and none of them do it in a professional capacity.

Almost the same here.. they may even be the same people Xac!

There's a couple of indies I trust but they know I check their work after.... they also are aware a lot of damage to reputations can be done on the Internet if jobs are done badly and/or mistakes not rectified. That's not a threat, it's a promise. I can hand on heart say I've never had any issues with either of them over many years though. Good service and much repeat custom.

[evoke]

I, too, think that the engine oil wasn't changed so I will ask the Citroen dealer to see if the engine oil they drain out looks less than a week old. I suspect it will be old oil. I won't be returning to this indie.

[addo]

Unless you're using one of those stubby filters about two inches long and flogging the snot out of your motor, there's plenty of filtration capacity over what's needed.

Beyond commonsense service aspects, I maintain that a large part of the "oil debate" is blokes struggling to find masculinity in a changing social environment.

[qprdude]

If the old filter is blocked, then there is no filtration.

[Ben82]

I, too, think that the engine oil wasn't changed so I will ask the Citroen dealer to see if the engine oil they drain out looks less than a week old. I suspect it will be old oil. I won't be returning to this indie.

For the cost of getting Citroen to do it, you could probably source all the tools, oil etc, do it yourself, and use the money you save to take the family out for a meal

[addo]

I've seen some seriously neglected motors, mostly Japanese cars, and even then despite the significant buildup of ruined oil inside them, the filters were not clogged. The Camry V6 is a classic for being hard on its oil, while owners are short on upkeep "But I changed it last year".

Ben has a very good suggestion IMO, and I wouldn't trust a main dealer on the basis of them being a main dealer, either.

[qprdude]

Ben has the best suggestion on this thread. In fact, if it wasn't snowing, I might change my oil and filter and take SWMBO out for a curry. But it is, so I'm not.

[mendedit]

Don't worry unduly as it wasn't that long ago when they would recommend two oil changes to every one filter change,
after all there's a big difference to driving in traffic every morning then evening and long higher speed
jouney's, and the effect it has on engine oil, anyway if they never done the change I would take that as
a blessing, who know's what crappy oil they would use- even worse than same filter left on!


Bye the way, if new oil turns black after only a few hours then the oil changer is not doing the job properly.

[Harlequin]

oil / air and fuel filter for my synergie 1.9TD is a total of £8 from carparts4less (change fuel and oil each time as I run bio B100 , and at £5 for the 2 its not a bank breaker)


£12 for 4 litres of Castrol gtx 10w40 from asda on there 3 times a year sale , so £20 for a service you can do yourself.

[Mandrake]

I, too, think that the engine oil wasn't changed so I will ask the Citroen dealer to see if the engine oil they drain out looks less than a week old. I suspect it will be old oil. I won't be returning to this indie.

For the cost of getting Citroen to do it, you could probably source all the tools, oil etc, do it yourself, and use the money you save to take the family out for a meal

More importantly you would know the job was done properly, and in fact had even been done at all...

Oil change and filter is bread and butter DIY work, no need to let the shysters charge you for doing it...