Hi,
My ride: 2011 g37s 6mt sedan
Question: I have a bit under 3K miles on the car. I checked the oil dipstick and noticed it was more than half empty and the color was a very dirty dark color. Should the oil be light colored when it's clean and dark brown colored when it is dirty and in need of an oil change? Thanks in advance to helpful responses.

 

oil color has no correlation with cleanliness. it turns black after a week or so.

dipstick only measures the top quart of your oil pan

 

Oil color doesn't tell you if your oil is good or bad. I'd be more concerned that it was more than half empty.

 

For reinforcement. The color of the oil is NOT an indication of how "well" the oil is doing. If you're interested in how long, between intervals, you can stretch your motor oil for, try a UOA (used oil analysis).

 

Id say just change it at 3k to be sure. You should always do the first change a little sooner since the engine is new and jist breaking in.

 

Like everyone said, the color isnt a huge indicator of much of anything. At 1200 miles the dipstick on my car came out perfectly clean, but I changed the oil shortly after and what was coming out of the pan sure was dirty

I would be more worried about why you were missing 1/2 quart of oil (the space between the 2 dots on the dipstick represent 1 full quart)

 

Time for a oil consumption test...

 

My G consumed oil during break in. This is normal. Pretty sure it even says that in the owner's manual.

 

I thought mine was too, rechecked the oil another two times and it came out fine. For some reason it seems really easy to catch the dipstick on something on the way out, smearing the oil and not showing the true level.

The oil consumption test (that applies to years other than 2011 I think) shows the acceptable consumption range based on miles on the engine. There is no oil consumption TSB for the 2011s (the OP has a 2011), so I dont know if it still applies or not.

 

Engine oil color is a result of 2 things.
Thermal break down and/or suspended particles in the fluid.

Compare the consistency/viscosity of the fluid with new oil.

Also, when did you check the oil. Right after you drove or when the engine was cold.
if right after you drove, the oil will read much lower than on a cold engine.