Hi,

About 4 years ago I noticed small amounts of copper appearing specs in the spent engine oil. They were very small and sparse, but they were there nonetheless and had me worried.

Well, after about 50,000 miles later, with same turbo (stock), boosting the same 29 - 21 psi, I still see these darn trace amounts of copper specs left behind on the bottom surface the used oil has settled in. They're still small enough to pass through bearing clearances, but I see a little bit more than four years ago.

Anyone know for sure of what the source is?

I have a few possible culprits in mind in order of likelyness:

1) Turbo bearing wear
2) Balance shaft bearing wear
3) Something in the oil pump system wearing (other than high pressure bearing surfaces)
4) Main bearing wear
5) Corrosion debris from hot oil attacking plumbing and welds on oil return parts or any other sump surface that yellow - red in appearance
6) Rod bearing wear
7) Head?
8) Foreign contamination, i.e. gasoline (if specs are small enough to pass filer), sloppy maintenance at one time or another.

Anyone have experience with this?

 

I'll take a shot in the dark and bet on it being bearings. Accordingly, I'll select either 1, 2, or 6 from the above list. Why haven't you sent an oil sample into Blackstone for analysis yet?

 

turbo bearings is pretty much the only thing that is gold in color in all the things you listed.

 

I should but I just changed the oil and discarded the old oil

Turbo is old and been through quite alot.

What would be a good bolt-on upgrade with similar durability as the stock one I put through hell, BBK?

 

BBk or green

 

Is the green more durable than the red or black? For an upgrade I would like a little more than what the green delivers.

I've heard much good stuff about the BBK's as far as quality, aren't they supposed to come out with something new or is that project dropped?

 

yes they are coming out with a larger version of the BBK...dubbed BBK-B

take a look in the dyno results section for more info...

 

I am wondering. What oil do you run?

 

+1 and I would go with the BBK B

 

I was using M1 10.30 when I first noticed traces in the oil. Afterwards I switched to Royal Purple 10.40 and have been using that stuff ever since for about 40,000 miles.

Note that the only time I notice the yellow-gold particles is when I let the oil drain for a good bit of time during changes. Then, when I decant the oil into a container some of the particles can be seen stuck to the oil film.

Interesting to note that tearing up an oil filter does not result in any findings, a usless test for this.

I don't have time to wait for the bbk B, have to settle for the full.