Magnetic oil plug

GNICETRY

Cat&wife post starter
Joined
May 26, 2001
So its been well over a year since last oil change. Maybe 2000 miles of driving, no racing. On a scale of 1 to 10 how bad is this?
And where is it coming from?
 

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Thats normal, no worries.
Its shavings from your cylinder walls, totally normal.
Comes from the oil ring scrapping the oil off the cylinder walls, the two super thin rings on either side of the expander.
Is this a fresh engine?
Lots of miles?
Only other place that would come from is the cam to lifter contact.
Is this a flat tappet or roller cam engine?
Any ticking sounds?
 
It's a 1, from what I've seen over the years on 2 cars that are/were driven.... :cool:
It was a 10 the first time I saw it. :eek:
 
Yea it was a 10 for me too!

I have a roller cam and the engine is worn. I also had a short cheap oil filter on it (not installed by me) but now I put the bigger size Purolator.
Engine has no ticking and it one of the quietest roller setups.

I've always wanted to get the oil filter analyzed but really don't know where to take it.
 
Mine was so fine when you squished it with your fingers to get it off the magnet it looked like never-seize...
Chunks on it would be bad for sure.
I ditched the magnet when the washer split. A 1 feeling every time I change the oil now. ;)
What oil are you using? o_O :p
 
Could it also possibly be metal shavings from your steel timing set gears?
Especially if they were inexpensive cast steel gears vs billet steel hardened (nitrate treated ) timing sets? 🤷‍♂️
 
I usually see this on rebuilt engines that the shop didn't chamfer and roll the bottom of the cylinders with a 120 grit x 1" diameter flapper wheel. The piston skirt at BDC hangs out the bottom of the cylinder, and breaks off these small shards of cast iron. Not chamfering and rolling the bottom edge is also what causes scratches in the lower portion of the piston skirt, scrapes oil off of the skirt, and results in shorter skirt life, and a small horsepower loss.
Depending on core shift, boring and honing techniques, (factory or aftermarket), this can be minor or more of a major issue. Sometimes, the bottom edge of cylinders may even come to a sharp knife edge. We roll a small, but smooth radius, on every cylinder of every bore/ hone job, before the honing process. This also results in a more precision hone, as it also prevents the bottom of the hone stones and shoes from premature wear, causing the bottom of the bore to be honed smaller than the top. Sometimes as much as a few thousandths of an inch.
This is also what causes verticle scratches in the cylinders of a near new bore/ hone job when these small iron pieces get stuck in the piston skirt. They appear as small shiny dots in the skirt after the engine has been run a while.
It is very difficult to get a 3 ten thousandths tolerance cylinder hone without doing the radius first.
TIMINATOR
 
Oil analisys is better than nothing, but it doesnt tell where the metal came from. It can tell you if it is Bearing material, aluminum, gasket, sealer, or iron/steel.
Yours sticks to the magnet. It is either iron or steel, period. That means that SOME of it stuck to the magnet. Some is in the oil filter, look in there. Buy a filter cutter, they are cheap, then look!
Keep in mind, anything you find in the filter went thru the oil pump. The gears are iron and are not likely much harder than what you found. BUT! The front cover and the oil pump housing is aluminum. Much softer! Keep an eye on the oil pressure after the oil change.
Always use the same weight oil and brand, that way it is easier to spot any pressure fluctuations after oil changes.
If you are not as anal as I am, you won't worry as much, but should you?
In my world, anal is short for analyze,
I don't consider it an insult.
Just sayin'
TIMINATOR
BTW, I wasn't given that nickname by racers that I lost to......
 
He probably wants to see the electric oil pressure gauge off 0 at idle in the summer. o_O ;)
10/30 works for me. 20/22 hot idle after driving home from work (half hour on highway in 90 degree heat with front mount blocking radiator.
I know the feeling of less than 5 at hot idle, dont have the issue anymore tho, proper clearances in oil pump, oil groove in cam welded closed helped tons.
 
Oil analisys is better than nothing, but it doesnt tell where the metal came from. It can tell you if it is Bearing material, aluminum, gasket, sealer, or iron/steel.
You forgot rings. Rings are high in chromium, so if you see that, you know you have ring wear issues.

It's not going to tell you "Rod journal #6 is wearing quickly", but it gets you what you need to know. It also tells you when it's time to take it apart without having to wait for a failure. That's the difference between rolling in a new set of bearings versus having something break and be left with a huge machine shop bill.
 
I think an oil sample of the engine and trans, prior to buying a hotrod, would be a good investment!
I worked as a heavy mining equipment service engineer.
Oil sampling was a real help when determining cause of failures.
The well managed fleets had the service on contract with regular sampling.
Samples were pulled every other change.
Cheap insurance.
 
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