i think he just checked the dipstick expecting a lighter brown color whereas he got a black reading so he got suspicious and siphoned more out da dipstick tube.

i check my hobby car's oil every weekend before da drive so i know at a 500mile old oil looks like. it definitely does NOT get dat black dat soon.

 

I used a 1/4" OD clear vinyl tube and a plastic syringe to draw it out.

Just in case the dealership didn't change the oil (I'm pretty sure they did) or replace the filter (not so sure), I went ahead and had the oil changed again. Walmart didn't have any Mobile 1 in stock so I got Pennzoil Platinum 0W-20 full synthetic ($22.50 for a 5 gal jug) and a Fram XG7317 ($9.00) filter. So I'm using full synthetic now and I'll probably keep it that way from now on with no more dealership oil changes. But ....now it's even more difficult to read the dipstick.

Anyway, I just got back from another 500 mile trip so tomorrow I'll try and siphon an oil sample to see what it looks like. Hopefully I can post a pic of it.

 

I always change my own oil at 5000 using Mobil 1 and factory filter. At first I was shocked by how black it was. Wife's Toyota uses same oil. It's just as black.

Works out well.. Wife's car need 6-1/2 quarts.. Honda takes 3-1/2... 2 gallon jugs and I'm good!

 

Well, the sample on the left is straight out of the 5-gal jug and the sample on the right is from the engine after my most recent 500 mile trip. The one on the right is slightly discolored - about what I expected.

So from now on:

* full synthetic oil
* synthetic filter
* start having the shop I trust do the work (can't do it myself anymore). I like the fact that the shop allows me to watch the mechanic work on my car -and by the way, he had no problems with those problematic splash shield plastic inserts. He didn't need the extras I brought along.