Ever seen oil look like this on the dipstick?

After I got my V6 Tacoma with 40k miles on it I noticed the oil looking strange as in the picture. I changed the oil (Castrol 5W30) after 5k miles and now have driven it 7k miles total, 2k miles on this oil change. Then I got gas on a rag and rubbed the dipstick hard for 90 seconds trying to remove any film. Then I sanded the dipstick with fine sandpaper for 30 seconds and then I took this picture.

This is how the oil looks on the dipstick after the truck has been sitting for several days. After driving it for 20 minutes the oil is more evenly spread across the dipstick, but still leaves blank spaces. If it did this inside the engine, leaving metal on metal, it would be serious.

Any idea why it is doing this and if it is a bad sign or one not to worry about. My next step is a Blackstone analysis.


Thanks,


BigRedWeather

 

pic?

 

im not seeing a picture?

 

yes pic please

 

Here's the pic

 

Looks normal too me??
Oh see what you are looking at, I don't think i would be too concerned personally.
Blackstone like mentioned about would defiantly tell you if something was amiss.

 

i think hes talking about how its spread over the dipstick and cant get a proper reading?

 

and it looks a little red to me

 

Yeah that's normal for the 2nd gen dipstick issue. Try this (it works for me): let the truck sit overnight, then before starting it next day pull the dipstick out and read it immediately right then -- don't wipe it and put it back in for a "reading dip" or whatever. The reason is, when the dipstick is pulled out, it drags oil up the dipstick tube which will put oil on the rest of the stick when it is reinserted, making an accurate reading difficult unless it sits for hours again.

 

It would be nice to get a good reading of the dipstick, but I am more concerned right now with whether this indicates something wrong with the oil or the engine.

...and, do you have more of a description of " The dreaded 2nd Gen dipstick issue"


Thanks,


BigRedWeather

 

looks like the oil is doing it's job, cleaning whatever was in there from previous oils...

to make the dipstick better for reading, besides the sandpaper method (which i never found to work that good), you can crisscross small lines in x's in that area with a small saw, obviously just lightly touching it so it marks the dipstick better...

 

hmm the visual looks like a prelude to a serious manifestation of an engine's folly




________________________________________
"If it ain't broke, why fix it."

 

OK, it looks normal to other Tacoma owners. That's good to know.

Thanks for the replies.

I've never gotten so many replies on a forum this quickly.

 

^I'm surprised your spelling is so good with all the 'free time' you have.

Looks to me like some of the oil just got smudged off upon removing the dipstick.

Looks like a decent reading otherwise to me.