stock

I've been getting all my oil changes at the Honda dealership.

I noticed after my oil change, the oil is reddish in color. I took a look in the oil filler hole on the engine and there's reddish oil everywhere. Is the Honda 5w20 oil a red dye color? I asked the service department and they said it was dyed red to make it easier to see the 5w20 oil because it's so thin. Is true? Are they using recyled oil? Should i be concerned with the color?

By the way, it's not ATF.

ctx66

Well, its not really honda oil. My local honda dealership uses bulk Exxon Superflo. So.. it really depends on who provides your dealership with their oil.. but no oil i know of has a reddish tint to it when new.

01HonderCivic

iTrader: (7)

Technically Royal Purple has a red-blue tint to it...

Jrfish007

iTrader: (3)

Interesting...

By reddish color you mean like a red-brown color? Or just red. I don't remember seeing an oil (well, an oil that a Honda dealer would use) that is red. The idea that they die the oil because it's to thin is stupidity at it's best. What exactly are you going to confuse engine oil for? It's not like it looks like 7up or coca cola, what in the world are they thinking?

Just a side note though, red diesel is used for farm equipment, if you are caught with it in you tank, your in deep crap. I don't think it applies to engine oil though, but maybe the red means something.

ctx66

royal purple says purple, not blue or red.

http://www.synerlec.com/pdsfa/rpmoamsds.pdf

01HonderCivic

iTrader: (7)

Red and Blue make Purple....

ctx66

i'm aware of this.. so if you were to see a red car, would you say it has a magenta-yellow tint to it? or would you say its red?

01HonderCivic

iTrader: (7)

Well it's nice to know you didn't get the joke. Thanks for trying anyways

ctx66

its difficult for me to sense sarcasm over the internet, sue me.

S2000man01

iTrader: (1)

A. royal purple is purple crap.

B. your oil should not be red. they didn't "dye" anything.

C. Honda oil is rebadged mobil drive clean, which is NOT red.

ctx66

its also thought to be exxon superflo in the bottles. but drive clean and superflo are basically the same things anyways

crazyasian

iTrader: (9)

if i were u i would be worried like crazy cause no engine oil should be any other color except a light brownish color except mayb royal purple(never used it before or seen it used for engine oil). ive seen some cars come to the shop with a brownish mayb with a bit of red on it around the engine oil cap and on the dip stick when u pull it out and this is b.c water has gone in the car causing mildue crap grow. its nasty. not sure if thats wats gone wrong with yer oil but i would get that **** checked out fast. sometimes we put trans fluid thro the engine after the regular oil has been drained out, which cleans the engine if the oil has a nasty burnt color. not sure if thats wat they done and if they did wat a crapy job.

stock

When I check the dipstick the oil is kind of brownish color with a slight tinge of red. When I check the filler cap and look in the engine it's reddish on the parts that I can see.

Maybe Honda didn't fully drain out the old oil during the change and just added the new? Maybe they didn't replace the oil filter? Maybe then just put in dirty oil?

Where can I get the oil checked? Obviously not Honda!

I don't notice any problems and the car drives fine. I'll try a different Honda dealership.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

it should not be red, thats atf. i have never even seen red oil except in the auto trans. honda rebadged oil comes from exxonmobil and is the normal oil color, light brown. there is nothing they could have done wrong to make the oil red, unless they used the wrong kind.

Jrfish007

iTrader: (3)

I think some of the lines of Red Line oil are red, but I'm VERY doubtful your Honda dealer is putting $5 per quart oil in your car.

Al Gore FTW

iTrader: (19)

it sounds like a mystery

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

its no mystery, they got confused and used atf. its confusing how they actually pulled that off, unless they use bulk atf which isnt good in itself. if it were me, i would be getting an oil change somewhere you can trust. dealer mechanics aren't exactly the best cookies in the jar.