Black Diesel Oil

[AleXc90]

I know I may sound a bit daft and stupid.
However never owning a Diesel before they are a few things I am still learning about.
Having owned the car just 3 months.
I filled up the water bottle tank and had a quick observation check of the coolant, power steering fluid etc, just to make sure levels were all ok and ready for if we get the bad winter weather.
However when I checked the dipstick my engine oil is nearly black, is this normal for a diesel?
Supposedly the car was serviced a couple of weeks before I got it in the middle of September 2013, obviously in a petrol car it takes quite a long time for the oil to go black unless there is something wrong obviously, or it is an old car or high mileage etc.
Is this how my car should be 4 months into a service, or has the previous garage only done what they thought was necessary to send it on it's way.
Is there other things I can check or should check to see if the work was definitely done or am I worrying for nothing.
Kind regards.

[Shadeyman]

Its normal for oil to go black but if it worries you flush the engine using some cheap oil then refill with a quality oil of your choice and don't forget to change the filter.

[Thanatos]

Quite normal on an oil burner mines black after about 10 miles

[wrinkles]

Its a diesel quite normal even within a few miles of oil change there is also dirty oil left in the oil cooler that dose not come out ehwn you drain the sump.

[Finbo]

A few miles is all it takes for engine oil in a diesel to turn from golden to black!

[GJB]

Oil is doing it's job

[Jonathan_angelo]

Originally Posted by Thanatos

Quite normal on an oil burner mines black after about 10 miles

I'm running my S60 D5 on Shell Helix and it took about 2000 miles before the oil started to darken. It's always been run on a decent oil and not Castrol which causes the black death. Open the oil filler cap and its absolutely mint inside!!

So use the right oils and fuels and your engine will stay cleaner and more efficient for longer...

[poisondart]

Originally Posted by Jonathan_angelo

I'm running my S60 D5 on Shell Helix and it took about 2000 miles before the oil started to darken. It's always been run on a decent oil and not Castrol which causes the black death. Open the oil filler cap and its absolutely mint inside!!

So use the right oils and fuels and your engine will stay cleaner and more efficient for longer...

How's Castrol Edge not decent oil? Why do Volvo use it?

[Shadeyman]

I use Castrol Edge in my XC90, brilliant stuff ...

[enscjb]

It's certainly more involved than just getting a good price. BP (Castrol) and Shell work very closely with engine makers to do research to get good performance, economy, emissions and durability. They often produce a new blend specifically for a new engine.