So Worried - Flakes In 3500 Oil...

[1988GTU]

Damn that sucks. I know if I could score another engine for 250 shipped or less I'd bite on that bullet.

[PCGUY112887]

Alright, I cut open the filter today. Damn that was a pain in the ass! My hack saw is no match for Mobil 1 filters.

There were a few metal flakes inside of the filter... inside the metal cage in the center, but I believe most of them were there due to the obscene cutting of the filter, most seemed too large and gritty to be anything else. Plus metal caught in the filter would be in the actual filter element, right?

I expected to see silver powder looking material all over the filter element it's self, but there was none. I flushed it out with kerosene and tore through it looking, nothing compared to the horror pictures I have seen on here and other places. It seemed like a filter in fine condition.

Hummmm!?!?!

[asylummotorsports]

Here is what "I" would do.

Fill it up with a good SPEC inexpensive oil (5w30) and drive it.

Check oil pressure on the gauge and see what you get.

If pressure is OK give it a good run, drain it out and see what you get.

More chunks = BAD!

No more chunks and everything seems happy (unlikely but you never know) then carry on!

FWIW

[robertisaar]

yeah, this does seem like a situation where drive it till it dies may be necessary. either that or swap out to a known good motor or rebuild...

who knows what will happen? might last 300K miles, might last 3...

[PCGUY112887]

Could a motor being run for a short period of time with say maybe 3 quarts of oil cause some flakes? I made a thread about this, but I was using 4.5 quarts with my extended filter instead of 5 quarts, and when I changed my oil I knew I was running a bit low on oil, a bit more than 3 quarts came out but that's it. When I refilled, I put in the whole 5 since I know the correct spec now.

Oil pressure has always looked good, however on startup it doesn't seem to read as the motor cranks, only after it fires and I tap the gas once to get her started up then the moment I tap the gas I get pressure. Otherwise, the motor usually dies on startup unless I tap the gas and oil pressure never gets a reading. Sometimes I can manage to get her started without tapping the gas, then the oil pressure just takes a moment or 2 to read. Seems normal I think? I have some trouble remembering if this is how it has always been.

[Superdave]

mine usually shows a little pressure while cranking, it depends on how long it's sat.

[60dgrzbelow0]

Could a motor being run for a short period of time with say maybe 3 quarts of oil cause some flakes? Oil pressure always looked good, however on start up it doesn't seem to read as the motor cranks, only after it fires and I tap the gas once to get her started up then the moment I tap the gas I get pressure. Otherwise, the motor usually dies on star-up unless I tap the gas and oil pressure never gets a reading. Sometimes I can manage to get her started without tapping the gas, then the oil pressure just takes a moment or 2 to read. Seems normal I think? I have some trouble remembering if this is how it has always been.

The low motor oil level issue you pose is a problem with serious considerations for three reasons:

(1) Motor Oil doesn't just lubricate to prevent M2M friction. It also acts to flush out the dirt aspirated via the air intake system and then picked up by the fuel and oil on the cylinder walls. It also is the means by which the by-products of incomplete combustion make it past worn pistons and rings. Contamination from black carbon and unburnt gases and liquid hydrocarbons then make their way past and down into the oil supply. Less oil in the engine also means that all this crap gets concentrated in the oil filtration system, making the filter work harder against the thickening, dirty oil. In some case, it can get so bad that the emergency oil bypass valve will open and allow all that filthy, black liquid crap to flow freely through the engine block. Also, the dirtier motor oil becomes by the presence of unburnt fuel, the less lubricity it can maintain. If there is a shallow volume of oil to draw from in the crankcase, when motor oil becomes less "oily", the engine begins to suffer break down damage from the increasing amount of friction and heat because it has become incapable of doing its intended job.

(2) Motor Oil also acts to transfer HEAT away from bearing surfaces and cylinder walls from below where the pistons and rings make contact. Less oil means less heat transfer, which translates into more metal to metal contact and increased wear and tear on engine parts. Increased heat also affects the chemical composition of oil and its natural tendency to lubricate...especially organic or natural motor oils vs. the sturdier, robust synthetics.

(3) Motor Oil has a "Critical Mass" which the entire oiling system must be kept at from a volume standpoint in order to function properly. In addition to the affects mentioned earlier...less oil means there is a much greater chance for the oil pick up tube to suck in air, causing cavitation and oil pump failure. This is more likely to happen when the vehicle make turns (or during power shifts while racing), causing the oil to drift to the sides and back of the oil pan leaving much less available down in the bottom for pick up. This can also happen when the engine is turning at higher RPMs. Then the oil pump will churn more oil in the top end of the engine and this takes time to flow back and re-collect in the crankcase pan. If the oil pan is nearly empty, the oil present in the top end will arrive too late to keep the level above the baseline of the pick up screen. If this happens, cavitation and engine death will soon follow.

All four stroke gasoline engines must necessarily consume and burn some motor oil from the crankcase. The amount of this consumption varies with engine design, the care and maintenance and the cubic inch displacement or bore/piston size of the various engines. And so it is almost universal that for these and the above three important reasons, all car makers tell us:

"Check your oil level at every gas re-fill and change your oil and oil filter...every 3,000 miles..."

If your engine is either supercharged or turbocharged...then more frequent oil changes are required because these air/fuel methods induce more fuel exposure to engine oil, causing it to thin down rapidly and lose protective qualities.

[01GPGT]

My cars always develop problems when I baby them.

x2 thats when i get my trans problems if i beat on the thing the TCC works fine i baby it and it stops locking up and throughs a code


sorry you are having these problem