Yes it's normal - if you get used engine oil from a diesel on your fingers
(not recommended - it'll take days for the staining to wear off!!), you'll
understand why the small amount of old oil left in the engine after draining
turns the new oil dark so quickly - it has similar properties to black dye.

Cheers, Mark

I can't comment on the Focus TDCi specifically but I've previously owned
a couple of diesels for a total of ten years and the oil does blacken
very quickly from new.

If you said you had a petrol engine then I'd be suspicious but even
before reading your post, I knew with reasonable confidence from the
subject line that it would be about a diesel engine.

This is rather disconcerting, but perfectly normal! I remember on my TDCi's
first service, it was reasonably clear after driving about a mile up the
road to work, but after the 30 mile drive home it was black. My Astra DI was
the same. Mind you it burnt about a litre and a half of oil between services
anyway! In case anyone asks, my TDCi burnt about half a litre before its
first service, and nothing noticable after that.

G.

In alt.autos.ford.focus Nick Harrison <nick@harri6760.freeserve.co.uk>:

That's fine, you should start to wonder if it wouldn't get black
pretty fast. It just shows the capability of good oil keeping
dirt in abeyance.

A diesel engine will turn its oil black quickly.