[dbtenner]

In my short experience of owning my 34’, I’ve had vacuum leaks at the carb and misfiring which lead to the oil being “black” (smelt like gas). Was burning pretty rich at idle to compensate for the loss of vacuum air. I haven’t had a chance to change it out since the misfiring/vacuum leak issue was resolved to see if it would maintain the normal oil pink color.

But I think it’s more common than you think to have a relatively “black” colored oil. The model A group I’m part of said it’s fairly normal just as long as it’s not burned out the exhaust (blue tint smoke) or like sludge on the dip stick. I’ve been curious myself now that my car runs well to but I had changed the oil out before the misfiring/vacuum leak.