Help identify metal pieces found in oil filter

[Flyin Brian]

Motor has less than 2000 miles on it but alot of passes. I was changing the oil and found these pieces in the oil filter. The 2 bigger pieces were on top of the oil filter since they were too big to make it into the filter. These pieces are magnetic. Any idea where these could be from? The big one looks twisted up like it passed through the oil pump maybe. No metal came out with the oil from the pan. Graph paper is 1/8" squares. So, the big piece is 3/8" x 1/8" is size. I can't remember if these motors have a screen on the oil pickup? I don't know how a piece this big could have made it to the filter. I have the remote turbo saver oil filter setup by the way. Motor still runs fine. Oil pressure is fine. What could it be??

 

[forcefed3.8's]

How did a dime get in there??? J/K
There is a screen on the pick up. The only way they could get by would be if it was clogged, there is a bypass. Most likely these are shaving from when the engine was machined. I put a rear main seal in a GNX with 1000 miles on it. The bottom of the pan was full of shavings.

 

[DailyDrifter]

Oil pickup tube does have a screen. If it was me I would tear the engine down before the shit hits the fan.

 

[Phoneguy]

WOW, the large piece looks to be machined...a piece of a gear maybe? I would be pulling it and having a look inside. Good luck.

Bryan

 

[charlief1]

To get into the filter it has to go through the oil pump. Tear it down and check everything.

 

[Turbotre]

It might be pieces left over from the stamping process,for the base of the oil filter.

 

[m233roller]

Man, Hard to say but they are BIG!! I'd be pulling it apart.
Here are some pieces that came out of a brand new oil pump gear cover.

 

[Flyin Brian]

The big piece looks like it is a twisted up piece of sheet metal.

 

[coach]

Houston...We have a problem!!! Yank it.

 

[kevinw25645]

looks like the wire ring on the head gasket to me ever blow one

 

[ttaowner]

Probably 1 piece of something went through your oil pump gears and got ground up and probably scarred up the oil pump cavity and probably chipped up your gears as well. This is exactly what happened on a car that I bought. In my situation the missing piece of gears matched up with the big gouge in the aluminum oil pump cavity

 

[84BuickGNYorkPA]

Pull the oil pump, drop the oil pan, tell us what you find.

Chuck

 

[Flyin Brian]

I can't imagine where that big piece came from. It should not pass through the screen in the pickup. I guess I will start by pulling the oil pump to check the gears. That motor has been beat on good. Probably would be a good idea to freshen it up anyway before I have a catastrophic failure. All the hard parts are new and probably still ok at this point.

 

[Flyin Brian]

Ok, it took me a year to get around to it but I finally pulled the motor and got it to the machine shop. I have not been to see it yet so I don't have any pictures but my engine builder says the mystery chunk of metal is a piece of the oil slinger that broke off, made its way down to the oil pump pickup, passed through the little bypass door, went through the oil pump and ended up on top of the oil filter. I have the worst luck. Anyone have an oil slinger tear itself up before?? It seems really unlikely since it is captured between the harmonic balancer and the crank gear. However, I dug around in the garage and found an oil slinger from a completely different GN motor that is starting to tear out a piece right at the keyway slot and there are some indentions on the back side of the slinger from the crank gear. WTF?

 

[RmvBfrFlght]

I could see that occurring if the damper was cracked or the bolt wasn't fully torqued.

RemoveBeforeFlight

 

[Mike T]

After reading this I took a look at a stock pick up tube and it seems to me like it doesn't take too much for the sprung door to open. I wonder if in a high volume oil flow situation if this door tends to open little even without a clogged screen ?

 

[earlbrown]

I'm sure the flapper on the OEM pickup isn't a positive seal.

 

[Mike T]

I'm sure the flapper on the OEM pickup isn't a positive seal.

A least it's off to the side of the main oil flow path (the tube) and might not tend to pull open as much.

 

[Flyin Brian]

I hope to make it over to the machine shop this week to get some pictures. The harmonic balancer situation should be fine. It is a TA balancer and the bolt was tight. I ordered a new oil slinger from GM. I will be doing a test fit of the slinger with the balancer installed to make sure the slinger is in there tight. There were no clogs in the pickup screen. Does anyone use an aftermarket oil pickup with no bypass door on these motors?

 

[earlbrown]

A lot of people do. The Melling replacement doesn't have a flapper. Make sure to check your pan to pickup clearance as I've noticed the gap to be excessive in the past.