My oil is a light brown color - 1999 Chevrolet Suburban

When was the last time you changed the oil?

Pretty much universal is the color coding on vehicle lights. Brown, or another color with a brown tracer/stripe, is always the running lights. You wont see an all brown wire on these newer vehicles. Always another color with the proper color tracer. Brown=run & tail-tag lights, green is right turn and brake light, yellow is left turn and brake light, and black is the ground wire to the lights. Inside cab and under dash, You need look closer for these colored tracers.all ground wires are white. This is what I've found.

You either have a blowen head gasket or the head is cracked. this will also cause water to get into the oil on most cases. Check the oil stick and if oil looks a light brown milky color then it is the head or gasket .

Thanks for choosing FixYa and welcome. This is a sign of rust in the oil. It gives off that tannish rusty color. Make sure your coolant water is not the same color. If this is the case, it is not ideal. Since it is an older model vehicle, rust might have set up inside somewhere. Some other types of oil may give off this color also. Oil is brown when new and turns black over time.

Is coolant oil color now pink or brown?

If pink, transmission oil cooler failed.

If brown engine oil cooler failed, oil pressure is higher than coolant pressure.

Check the oil cooler for corrosion internally, problem is common.

Possible head gasket failed or worse, head cracked..

Most oils are light brown in color. If it does not look normal check the oil cap and the radiator cap when it is cool. . Turn it over after you take it off and look at it. Does it look like there is water in it? If so, you could have a blown head gasket.

get it flushed out and replaced with new coolant but it looks like early signs of a head gasket starting to go .after flushing keep an eye on color if its the same brown color two weeks later you have a bad head gasket.

Hi. apparently the mechanic did not rinse the contents out completely after the flushing was administered. During the flushing of a radiator, there may be a good amount of debris that will build up, due to the flushing compounds effect on the crude inside the radiator. This is why there should be a rinsing stage to clean out all that is removed, via the flushing procedure. If the rinse is not done correctly, some of the contaminates will be left behind to mix in with the new radiator fluid. The rust/debris will mix contaminate the new fluid that is poured in, thus, causing the brown color you have noticed.

Most radiator fluids will be green, or orange in color, but never brown or greenish brown. This greenish brown will indicate that there is some rust deposited that were not rinsed out properly, after the flushing of the radiator. I would return the vehicle to the mechanic to request a re-flush of the radiator. They should do it for free.


NOTE_ A more serious issue will be a damaged oil cooler. this will cause the same symptoms within the color of the fluid, if your vehicle is equipped with this device. Once the oil cooler has ruptured, it will cause the engine oil to be transfer into the radiator, thus, changing the color of the fluid.

the oil should be black,brown or gold(new) with no other colors in it. shouldnt be milky or streaky. the trans fluid should be light red or semi light red.as for the engine being oily its hard to discern unless you rinse it off to metal and drive it. if you mean the oil pan has black oil on it then it may be ok.

most likely is condensation in the oil because if you changed your oil and your head was bad you would see it in the oil going into the container. i would not be to concerned .with problem