Should I be worried?

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doogievlg

doogievlg

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Today I did my first oil change after the break in. The oil had a strange matallic look to it. Sort of like silver mixed in with it. I thought it could be the zinc additive but I still got worried. Also I ran a magnet through it and got some small shavings, nothing to big though. I'm more concerned about the oil color.

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Personally, I never use a Fram filter. look it up. Napa or Purolator Golds. How many miles, or just a few minutes of a break in run?
 
I would get a magnetic oil drain plug.
If you really want to know what in that oil, save a sample and get a free oil sample kit from blackstone labs and send a sample to them and they will tell you exactly what is in it.
http://www.blackstone-labs.com/
 
I'm thinking the color is from some of the lube I used. I broke the motor in, drove MAYBE 20 miles then did the oil change. I am guessing it got dark so quick before the rings were seated?

The car perfect. There are no leaks, zero smoke, it ran hot on the first start up but now I can let it sit and idle for 20 minutes without going past 190.
 
How long/many miles have you done on the break in oil?

And agreed on ditching the Fram.
 
I don't like Fram and refuse to use them, but the filter did not cause THIS

You have anything left of the original lube and additives? I'd examine them for color
 
doogievlg said:
I'm thinking the color is from some of the lube I used. I broke the motor in, drove MAYBE 20 miles then did the oil change. I am guessing it got dark so quick before the rings were seated? The car perfect. There are no leaks, zero smoke, it ran hot on the first start up but now I can let it sit and idle for 20 minutes without going past 190.
Click to expand...

In my opinion, you definitely got a problem! In the pic that has the flag reflecting in the drain pan the amount of metallic swirl would have me pulling the engine back out to find the source; that is never a good sign. Something is rubbing and not in a good way.

Good luck!
 
Depends on how much, I had a little when I rebuilt mine, after an oil change it went away.
 
i would run it for another 100 miles with a fresh oil chance and check it again. if it comes out the same, the motor would come apart, looking for the cause.
 
doogie, I still think it may be a little too soon to tell if there's a issue? If it runs fine, no noise, and the pressure hasn't changed a bit since startup, I'd run the new oil for a bit and see how that looks? If by chance it's going bad, it will need some further machining anyway, so I personally wouldn't have a issue running it a little more to see what you get?

I've seen a few odd oil changes in my day, and it's normal to get a little paranoid with a new build.......lord knows I was that way for most of mine.....lol.
 
OldmanRick said:
doogie, I still think it may be a little too soon to tell if there's a issue? If it runs fine, no noise, and the pressure hasn't changed a bit since startup, I'd run the new oil for a bit and see how that looks? If by chance it's going bad, it will need some further machining anyway, so I personally wouldn't have a issue running it a little more to see what you get? I've seen a few odd oil changes in my day, and it's normal to get a little paranoid with a new build.......lord knows I was that way for most of mine.....lol.
Click to expand...

xxs2 .. there coulda been a small pocket of crap that got flushed out at start-up,, not uncommon alltho undesireable.. stuff happens..

hope it helps....
 
The $64,000.00 question is: "Where did the metal come from"????? What kind is it!!

To me it looks like the wrong color to be left overs from assembly lube, the stuff on fingers looks like grit.
 
Was the oil pan perfectly clean to start with?

I'd run the old oil thru a coffee filter and see what you get
 
I've never seen the silvery oil you got there. However, small debris shown on fingers I have had over the years especially after a new build. Never experienced silvery oil.

Here's what I'd do:

Cut open oil filter and see what it trapped. Full of metal-bad news; gunky silvery stuff-sample and lab it; mostly clean inside-new filter, oil and fire it up! Run 5-10 minutes and check...if oil looks good-drive it! If you have a mechanics stethoscope ( or long screwdriver), listen with it during those 5-10 mins for noise in most probable areas. Check oil again after 20, no more than 100 miles.

Also, did the silvery oil separate over night? Might change temperature to see if it will separate (try colder first, then hotter). Would be good to get a good sample of it sent off...got my fingers crossed for you!
 
I'm going to run it a little more and do another change. If it looks the same way I'll take a sample of it. If I have to pull that motor out again then I'm going to take a little break from the hobby lol.
 
The silver swirl is normal with the break-in oil. And some of the fine silvery metal is most likely "cylinder fuzz" from the rings seating. You are almost always going to get something in the first oil change as things take a seat and break-in. It looks normal as far as I can see. Its the BRONZE colored stuff you have to really worry about.
 
I made sure to put my caps on during start up to listen for noise. The motor sounds great besides a exhaust leak. I pulled the valve covers off just to be safe and make sure they are getting oil. Everything looks and sounds perfect besides that color.
 
That's great news! I did a google search on it and others too have had the same experience with the silvery oil after a rebuild with nothing noticeably wrong. Sounds like you can take a sigh of relief and go enjoy your new motor! Good to have a guy like Mike who's seen it before give you advice...I learn something new everyday...Good luck!
 
looks like extra anti-seize lube to me

probably nothing to worry about. you could run it for a few hours and then check the oil again. my bet is it will be fine
 
There's almost always something left somewhere in the engine during assembly. The silver as everyone says - additives, cam lube, bolt lube, nothing to worry about. the gunk - if everything's fine don't sweat it. Seen much dirtier engines that went on to be fine. That's one of the reasons you drain the break in oil quickly...
 
looks fine to me. Mine break in was black, small amount of silver fine graings on magnetic oil plug. Even second oil change 500mile oil had little silvergrains on plug. After that no more.


if you don't have any weird noises you probably are fine.
 
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