[GWRmotohead]

Once I made a crack about long posts being a warm up for Dostoyevsky, but I was wrong

 

[Anunnaki]

You are right about the viscosity. I made a mistake when I said 10W20. The dealer is using 10W30 oil.
I've owned the car for three years and have had three oil changes. With 12,700 moles on the Stelvio 2.0 that makes a little more than 4,000 miles per oil change.
My last car was a MItsubishi Evolution which I drove pretty hard and sometimes stretched the oil changes but I never saw black oil at the dipstick (which I used to monitor the state of the oil).

I looked at a couple of Youtube DIY oil change videos and the oil came out black. But the tech seemed very surprised at the oil being black, which was a concern.

I had Subaru WRX and yes there were always contamination and darkening to some degree. I think it is normal as drove the car from new to 200 000km in 8 years and never had problems with the engine besides it was the biggest fuel and oil eater I ever had, but this is totally normal for that engines. I will remain WRX and Evolution fan , because they were very reliable and excellent performing cars. I must say also, that the Subaru was the most reliable car I ever had, although very spartan far far away from the Stelvio in comfort, handling and design . You say now 10W30 ??? I don't understand why they use this ???

 

[ALFAOFFROAD]

Correct me if I'm wrong @Anunnaki , the WRX doesn't seem to have a particular weakness with oil pumps, do they?

I'm not saying this is an issue with all engines nessessarily, some have more problems with carbon then others, most have the issues effect them in different ways. With Alfa it seems to be the pump/solenoid most commonly.



Also... Don't Subarus have a 6000/7500 mile oil change recommendation? I looked up the 2021 WRX and it says oil and filter change every 6000 miles/6 months at least, that might be new.

 

[Anunnaki]

Correct me if I'm wrong @Anunnaki , the WRX doesn't seem to have a particular weakness with oil pumps, do they?

I'm not saying this is an issue with all engines nessessarily, some have more problems with carbon then others, most have the issues effect them in different ways. With Alfa it seems to be the pump/solenoid most commonly.



Also... Don't Subarus have a 6000/7500 mile oil change recommendation? I looked up the 2021 WRX and it says oil and filter change every 6000 miles/6 months at least, that might be new.

Mine was 2005. 2.0 T . Never had problems either with carbon deposits or oil pump. For 200K km changed the clutch and recycled the turbo. Also the radiator leaked around 120K km and I made aluminium reservoirs for it instead of the oem plastic. That is all. But, man, I never abused another car so much like this in my life. Not that I am babying Stelvio but the Subaru was tortured to the limit on and off road. I was changing the oil around 10 000km or once a year . That was the recommendation if I remember correctly. It was eating oil from the beggining - around 0,5L , at the end - around 1,5L , if you drive very hard even 2L.

 

[bhvrdr]

Mine was 2005. 2.0 T . Never had problems either with carbon deposits or oil pump. For 200K km changed the clutch and recycled the turbo. Also the radiator leaked around 120K km and I made aluminium reservoirs for it instead of the oem plastic. That is all. But, man, I never abused another car so much like this in my life. Not that I am babying Stelvio but the Subaru was tortured to the limit on and off road. I was changing the oil around 10 000km or once a year . That was the recommendation if I remember correctly. It was eating oil from the beggining - around 0,5L , at the end - around 1,5L , if you drive very hard even 2L.

Ive had a couple Audi 2.0tfsi engines that burned 2l between changes. The rings were **** on the longitudinal models but never died at least. Just burned some oil that passed the rings.

 

[ALFAOFFROAD]

The WRX didn't go Direct Injection till 2015 at which point Subaru began suggesting 6000 miles oil changes minimum, severe duty 3000 miles, either that or every 6 months. There are some discrepancies, a few sources I found said 7500 miles, none say 10k.

Interesting huh... 🤔 Seems like the "reliable" brands are wanting more frequent oil changes in the DI engines. No argument that Subaru is a reliable brand really, especially the engines.

 

[ViscontiVerde 164L*]

Should be the name for some new Reggae Band
"BLACK OIL"

We have already had Average White Band so why not?

 

[ALFAOFFROAD]

Article some of you may find interesting, sort of on this subject.

Interview with Matt Dickmeyer of Dickmeyer Automotive Engineering. They are considered one of the best if not the best engine builder/repair center in the US, and arguably the world. Matt himself has won an award to this effect.



Quotes: “We put the oil in the vehicle that the manufacturer requires, not the oil that you want,” Dickmeyer says

"People aren’t being educated on oil. It’s a lubricant, a coolant, a hydraulic fluid and a dispersant. It has so many functions other than just lubricating."

"With today’s ultra tight clearances, things just jam up when you change your oil too late,” he says. “There are manufacturers out there recommending 10,000 to 12,000-mile oil intervals on a direct injection engine. And you get TV commercials saying change your oil once a year. "


Article below, goes into depth as to the design flaws and problems with direct injection and why he says those things. It is a generic article about the tech in general, it isn't about the Alfa engine specifically.

Solving Gasoline Direct Injection Issues: The facts and fictions of GDI

Gasoline Direct Injection or GDI has seen rapid adoption by the automotive industry over the last several years in lieu of multipoint fuel injection systems due to advantages in fuel efficiency and reduced emission levels.

www.enginebuildermag.com

 

[Anunnaki]

The WRX didn't go Direct Injection till 2015 at which point Subaru began suggesting 6000 miles oil changes minimum, severe duty 3000 miles, either that or every 6 months. There are some discrepancies, a few sources I found said 7500 miles, none say 10k.

Interesting huh... 🤔 Seems like the "reliable" brands are wanting more frequent oil changes in the DI engines. No argument that Subaru is a reliable brand really, especially the engines.

Yeah man. I was about to say that mine was port injection. High oil and fuel consumption was normal for these engines.I was talking about km not miles.

 

[ALFAOFFROAD]

Sorry, as an American educated by conservative establishments in the 80's, I find the use of metric measurements to be confusing...

Too simple, actually makes logical sense,..... Don't know how you people work with that... 🤣

 

[shpuncik]

on DI (direct injection) engines some fuel passes through piston rings and gets into oil. on diesels this is not very visible but on petrol you can clearly see how oil has been thinned by petrol fuel. seen some neglected engines where oil hasn't been changed 20-25k km and when draining oil was flowing like water.

 

[ViscontiVerde 164L*]

Sorry, as an American educated by conservative establishments in the 80's, I find the use of metric measurements to be confusing...

Too simple, actually makes logical sense,..... Don't know how you people work with that... 🤣

Dumbest thing thing America never did...............factor of 10 measurement....WOWWW!!!! v stupidity of inch,foot, yard, mile etc......

Now more than ever, how you drive should be the ultimate determinant of the change interval. My RR than does bimonthly 373mile x 2 trips is just fine with the longer interval. The Quad and Masi that often do commuter duty (only 11 miles each way, granted highway) get done more often. Don't have to worry about the Lotus Toyo motors, pre DI.

 

[Stelvioturbo]

I have a 2018 Stelvio Ti Sport with 13,750 miles. I just had my third oil change at my local dealer. It was a year since my dealer performed my last oil change but the car had only 3,000+ miles since the last oil change.
The tech noted that the oil removed was a "dark black".
Now, I've done a number of oil changes myself and seen others at a garage and I have never seen black oil before. I've never had this with any of my cars and trucks.
I've done some canyon carving but I never abuse the motor. I always take it easy at first and have never done high speed driving. I'm a handling guy.

Is it normal for Alfa 2 liter 4 cylinder with 0-20W oil turn to black after 3,000 miles?

Is black oil normal or am I in trouble?

It shouldn’t be so black but is not bad when I give over mine when I would use mobil one 0w30 and my car drives a bit better and now the oil doesn’t get as black try it out we have the some car mine is a 2019

 

[Plutonium]

I really screwed up and actually ran our Stelvio for 12000 miles....wifes car mostly except road trips and with Covid we werent doing any. Oil didnt look any worse than what comes out my Ecoboost F150. Normally I do it at 6000 so yeah not good, should have sent a sample in for analysis but had already dumped it when i realized the how many miles it had gone. I dont worry too much about color as long as it isnt starting to get sticky which means breakdown. I deal almost exclusively with industrial diesel engines and have seen it so bad it drains out in blobs like honey.
The only sure way to know is an oil analysis. Anything else is just educated guesswork.