Discoloration on dipstick

[Garth]

I was out with my son looking at a used car today. We were looking at a 2005 Freestar at a used car lot. I checked the oil and discovered that the dipstick was dry. Furthermore, the lower portion of the dipstick was discoloured, kind of a brownish colour.. Of course, the lack of oil is a real flag for me but I was wondering if anyone knows what the discolouration of the dipstick is indicating as well. I’ve never come across discolouration on dipsticks and am not sure if it indicates an overheating of the engine or is something that doesn’t tell me much. Thanks for your input.

Topic

[John]

Does it appear the stick metal itself is discolored or there is a varnish on it that makes it look discolored? Some manufacturers used cheap mild spring steel for dipsticks, they discolor quickly. Others used stainless steel that will (under any normal condition) never discolor. If it’s just a varnish a spritz of carb cleaner would take it off. That could be anything from normal to saying he let the oil turn to varnish before he changed it.

Either way…a used car with no oil in it…don’t walk, run. And be glad the dealer didn’t just dump oil in it and never say anything.

[Richard Kirshy]

Either way…a used car with no oil in it…don’t walk, run. And be glad the dealer didn’t just dump oil in it and never say anything.
I agree.
Low oil is never a good sign.
Did you happen to remove the oil fill cap and have a look?

Discoloration is doesn’t scare me, most times it’s normal.

Attachments:

• head-2.PNG

[Garth]

The discolouration on the dip stick did have a varnished look to it. I did remove the oil cap (with a lot of effort!) and took a peek. The area inside looked quite dark and also had that varnished look. I’ve checked this vehicle off my list. The great thing is that I learned something new again from you guys!! Thanks a bunch!!

[Rob]

[quote=”nightflyr” post=173212]Either way…a used car with no oil in it…don’t walk, run. And be glad the dealer didn’t just dump oil in it and never say anything.
I agree.
Low oil is never a good sign.
Did you happen to remove the oil fill cap and have a look?

Discoloration is doesn’t scare me, most times it’s normal.

[/quote]
dude where did you get that picture from???? Dude that is weird man… that looks like plated metal not stained metal…. I have seen them plate heads before….. why it doesnt look stained to me is the part is wiped down and is perfectly consistent on the color .ike perfect…. and the color matches perfect to a plating color technic…. ya when you would wipe it down it would of changed color slitly… only thing I see is the two rails are diffrent colors then the rest but mach perfectly to geather… and those metas are the same metal…. sorry to me that looks like it was plated not some old stain but I could be wrong… I’ll like to check that out

[Richard Kirshy]

That is my 2002 Xterra 3.3L engine.
I did a intake gasket set and while in there replaced the valve cover gaskets.
What your seeing is exactly how it looked when I removed the valve covers.
There is no after market plating done, also it wasn’t wiped down or washed.
The color change is solely due to 14 years of oil changes
If you’ll notice there still is oil pooling …

Even the inside of the valve cover was fairly clean …

Here what some look like when not maintained properly:

Attachments:

• head-2-2.PNG
• valvecover.PNG
• BH2.PNG
• BH3.PNG
• burnthead-2.PNG

[Rob]

ya I saw the oil in some of the groves… sweet engine…. ya it really looked like to me that it was plated… uselly when ever I wipe it on my cars it comes off and starts to show the orginal metal

[Author]

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