oil smells bad
 

Ok, so a few weeks ago my girlfriend bought a 1996 toyota camry :Rage:, I just got done changing the oil and it looked as if it had been neglected for quite a while oil was almost black and lost most of its viscosity, and it didnt even smell like oil anymore, it smelled like a mixture of gas and ammonia, I know on carbed cars bad seats and flooding will give it a gas smell, but what about fuel inj, and what gives it an ammonia smell?

edit: the car has the 5S-FE 4 cyl

sorry posted in wrong section, can a mod move this to the correct section?

as gas ages, it becomes MORE viscous. Viscosity is how thick it is.. its ability to move fluidly.

and as for the smell... no idea.

I know, I was talking about the oil. It ran like water and it was almost solid black. I'm trying to figure out why it would be so thin (it obviously isn't new oil) and why it smells nothing like oil and primarily of ammonia.

well, a few things.

A.) if the oil was that bad, i would change the new oil you just put in the car at no more than 1000 miles then change it again. more than likely, it will be completely trashed too. Use a premium oil filter and also check for signs of metal shavings on the end of the oil drain plug and in whatever you dump the old oil into. If there are shavings get rid of the car ASAP!

B.) the oil you took out could have gas in it from worn valve seats, worn piston rings, or a scored cylinder. All of which would be results of neglected maintenance and high miles.

ok.. that is really odd.


I'd probably run a good cleaner through the oil system before you change it. (seafoam or similar)

there was no shavings in the oil this change (if there was the car would already be on CL). I called my dad up and he said the ammonia could be from an additive somebody put in the oil...a LONG time ago thats broken down..also sounds like its got got bad valve seats, going to get a compression test soon to check for rings..
thanks for the help

yea, I've never even heard of anything like it...oils already been changed, going to pick up some seafoam tomorrow and change oil again in around 300mi