Oil Change today and.......

[Ron V]

I found 2 pretty small flecks of metal on the drain plug magnet. Flatish with a small curvature on the larger piece. The big piece was about 1 mm across and the smaller one about a half mil. The are dark metalish color. The larger piece has a slightly jagged edge.

Any ideas? Should I be concerned?

I am going to get the tool to cut apart the oil filter tomorrow and see if I am dealing with something more then a couple flecks.

If there is a engine/trans guru out there that can help please do.....

I will post when I cut the oil filter open.

Ron

Edited by Ron V on Sunday 9th September 22:35

[Ron V]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the replies.

The engine has about 4 hours on it since the full rebuild. This is the first time I have seen anything on the drain plug magnet.

Again, they are both very small pieces.

I am going to cut the oil filter open today, I should have a better idea of how bad it is.

I will post my findings.

Thanks again,
Ron

[Ron V]

Hi Guys,

ok, I cut the oil filter open today and did not find anything comparable to the pieces I found on the magnet of the drain plug. Spoke with my engine builder and he seems to think if was dark in color it could be a bit from one of the gears......no biggie.

I did however find quite a few aluminum pieces in there. Mostly looking like flakes of it.

I am going to run a magnet into the oil pan tomorrow and see if it pulls out anything bigger or similar to what I found there yesterday.

Given my engine is still probably breaking in a little (only a few hours since a full rebuild) would it be normal to find some aluminum in the oil filter? Have any of you guys ever opened one up to see what its catching?

It was running strong without a hiccup last time out so I am not so sure there is something really wrong with it.

I am going to bring my oil filter element to my engine builder tomorrow and let him have a look.

Stay tuned for more.......

[Ron V]

ok, for information purposes......

Went to my engine builders today. I had him look at the oil filter from the very first run after the full engine rebuild. It had quite a bit of aluminum in it.

The oil filter from the last 4 Days out had some but much much less. It had 4 times the runtime of the first oil filter.

We have determined it was something rubbing such as the clutch basket and it seems to have found its happy place since I am not finding the aluminum in any kind of large quantity any more.

The small chunk of dark metal was determined to be a piece of a gear in the tranny. Given my first couple time out I wasn't shifting the car as smoothly as I am now, I can see this as being a reasonable explanation.

He told me that if at any time I am finding a bronze or brass color in the oil filter then we have a problem.

I get to go to the track this Friday!!!! Looks like my season isn't over quite yet.