Car oil in bottle gone black.

jimjames

homeless9 said:

David713 said:

homeless9 said:

I am so confused. I definitely would not have put anything else in this bottle. I am not a garage / mechanical / DIY guy. And I would definitely have remembered putting something else in this bottle.

It's still got the consistency of oils it's just that it's now almost jet black. It's Halfords ow brand..... so maybe this is why, some cheap Halfords oil made from dead rats.

But can you 100% guarantee that someone else wouldn't have put something in there?
Is it possible that at some time in the past, you carried out an oil change and what you have in the bottle is the old oil? as this is very often almost black.
For the sake of a few £s worth of oil, if there is any doubt at all that what you put in the car may be contaminated, I would also say that you should drain the engine and  refill with good oil.
Have you run the engine since topping it up?

I barely poured any of it into the engine. As I saw it was black and stopped.

I will just go and get a new bottle of oil tomorrow.

I did live with other people a year ago, that's the only way I think possibly this is someone elses bottle they have used to store something else, though this is a 5 Litre bottle filled to the top. The oil doesn't look dirty, it just looks like oil that is coloured black.

5L bottle filled to the top that's all black sounds very much like old oil that has been taken from a car. Old oil doesn't look dirty, it's generally just black exactly as you have described

strawb_shortcake

lemondrops69 said:

coffeehound said:

Sounds like used oil that has previously been drained out of the car and put in the bottle to take to the tip?

Take to the tip? Isnt that what storm drains are for?

I remember people doing this in the 80's

lemondrops69

Maybe the oil is special 'black edition'?

Ditzy_Mitzy

coffeehound said:

lemondrops69 said:
Take to the tip? Isnt that what storm drains are for?

very mischievous lemondrops69  

No, it's a good thing to do.  The oil lubricates the walls of the sewers, allowing easier transit of waste.  

Mutton_Geoff

I wouldn't think any oil would go off in the bottle, after all, it's been in the ground for a few million years before they bottled it.

Ibrahim5

I've got an imperial pint of Castrol XL 20/50 on my shelf. Must be about 70 years old. Unopened but with only a paper type of seal on it.  Still stuck down. I could ebay the empty container as a vintage item but couldn't post it full of oil. I wonder whether the oil itself is of any value. After pondering I put it back on the shelf for another year.

AdrianC

Mutton_Geoff said:

I wouldn't think any oil would go off in the bottle, after all, it's been in the ground for a few million years before they bottled it.

Not in quite that form...

AdrianC

Ibrahim5 said:

I've got an imperial pint of Castrol XL 20/50 on my shelf. Must be about 70 years old.

It's nowhere near that old... 1960s, perhaps. Castrol XL was single-weight before that.

The very first multigrade was only launched (Duckhams Q 10-30) in 1951, 70 years ago.

David713

Mutton_Geoff said:

I wouldn't think any oil would go off in the bottle, after all, it's been in the ground for a few million years before they bottled it.

Yes, but what's in the bottle isn't crude oil. It's a refined product that has additives in it and it's possible that these additives can degrade over time especially if the container isn't tightly sealed and has allowed air or moisture to get in.

Ibrahim5

AdrianC said:

Ibrahim5 said:

I've got an imperial pint of Castrol XL 20/50 on my shelf. Must be about 70 years old.

It's nowhere near that old... 1960s, perhaps. Castrol XL was single-weight before that.

The very first multigrade was only launched (Duckhams Q 10-30) in 1951, 70 years ago.

Yes I think you are probably right. The problem is that the container has a value to collectors on ebay. Is an unopened one more valuable? I have never seen an unopened one advertised. If I post it to a collector the oil will end up all over the postman.