Oil change or not?

When I purchased my 2012 Passat TDI SEL, the local VW garage changed the oil, filter, Blue Def exhaust fluid etc. The car had 130K on the Odo. Their next oil change sticker suggest new oil etc at 149K. Car now has 131500K.

The oil on the dipstick looks terrible but I guess that’s bc it’s a diesel?

Anyways, am I good on the oil change for at least a while now? I’m a fanatic about clean oil in my vehicles.

Thanks all.

Diesel engine always make oil black immediately upon the oil change. Its normal high mileage will make it black. New diesel engine will take a while to turn it into black.


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Yeah, black oil is the norm for diesels. It probably tastes terrible too . Assuming they actually changed the oil with the correct spec stuff, you should be good for awhile. On the other hand, I wouldn't fault you if you wanted to start from a known baseline and change it yourself. The 10k mile oil change intervals are a-okay if you have doubts.

Fresh oil is semi-transparent. After engine is started for first time after fresh oil change it will be solid black. This is normal for a diesel engine, nothing to be concerned about.

I'd change the oil every 10k as that is what VW recommends - 120k, 130k, 140k, 150k and so on...

Wait, the oil was changed at 130K and then nothing happened until you rolled 131,500K?

131 million miles has gotta be a record for a '12!

I didn't know these digital dash's went that high

wvmountains said:

The car had 130K on the Odo. Their next oil change sticker suggest new oil etc at 149K.

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If I were you, I'd stick strictly with what the service manual tells you to do. If I'm not mistaken, the engine oil change intervals are 10,000 miles for normal driving. 19,000 miles (as the sticker recommends) is, in my opinion, way too long. Oil isn't that expensive, and neither are the filters. It is a paradox that the best deal on oil and filter can be had at your local VW dealer. I would also highly recommend you do this ultra simple job yourself as the dealerships, let alone places like Jiffy Lube, cannot be trusted to put in the correct grade of oil.

Slightly off the topic here - your vehicle should have had its timing belt replaced at 120,000 miles. You need to find out whether this vital work has, in fact, been done. If not, have it done ASAP. If the belt snaps, it will cause very extensive / expensive damage to your engine.