well i bought the car back in september and spun a rod bearing put a brand new oem crank, mahnley rods, acl bearings, wiseco hd pistons and block was sent out to get ported and cleaned. had a brand new stm oil cooler with oil cooler lines. the shop says the whole engine was cleaned. before i did the set up i am on now it had 1,500 miles i changed the oil 3 times and all 3 times there was slight metal shavings in the oil nothing big just tiny lil speckles. mechanics and some oher forums said you may not have any metal shavings and you may have metal shavings up to 3,000 miles. i have not fired up the new set up due to waiting on a few more parts. i am hearing the metal shavings is from the pistons breaking in the cylinder walls and since they are a heavy duty piston the rings will gradually take longer to set in. is this true? i tryed searching came up with nothing. i just dont feel like ripping this motor alll back apart yet again to replace everything yet again.

also brand new oil pump housing and oil pump as well

Cut open your oil filter and see what its catching. When you cut it open, do not saw it. Try to use something like a can opener. If you use a saw it will make more metal shavings and you will not be able to tell what is going on. The real story will be in the filter.


-Em

i also run dimple oil plug magnets and black hole magnets around the oil filter.. id highly recommend everyone do the same.. the dimple magnets are strong enough to hold 10lbs of weight to them..

and they will help you with situations like this to diagnose what the crap looks like as well.

I am by no means an expert but does your RS have an oil cooler? You stated it had the STM oil cooler and lines but I wasn't clear on whether the car had this before you spun a bearing or if this was installed after the rebuild?

I seem to recall people saying if you had a failure like that you needed to change the oil cooler out too because it will trap the shavings and then inevitably they will get free and travel. I just wasn't able to comprehend when the thing was installed based on what you said.

In a properly cleaned, built and assembled engine there should NEVER be any visible metal components in the oil. You should need a microscope and/or spectrograph to detect any metallic components.

Your vision is extremely subjective. Send some oil out for analysis and get real numbers.

Also note that magnets will only attract very few metals: Specifically Iron, Nickel and Cobalt. They WILL NOT collect any chrome, moly, aluminum, tin, lead, copper, zinc, etc. - which are the real wear points in modern engines.

Oil analysis is your best friend for those components.

last time i did an oil change (2 days ago) i found some goop stuck to my oil plug magnet .. what do you think that is then? because it was somewhat magnetic right since it stuck to the end of the magnet?

i agree though, if i seen shavings in my oil id be freaking out.

Well it could have been residue from some ferretic asteroid that managed to get into your engine, or perhaps your engine had been abducted by extra-terrestial aliens but that's unlikely. And difficult to document, except for the rather large dents that asteroids seem to make.

Did you save it for analysis? Do you have a microscope? Still have a virgin sample of that waste oil for analysis? How long had it been on that magnet? Any new parts recently in the engine?

lol.

ya i do have it in my shed in storage until i take it to autozone to get dumped.

it was more so like a thick residue that you could get off with a rag/paper towel..

it was definitely surrounded around the magnet though.

the oil was around 1500 miles old i guess? and it did sit outside in car for 3-4 weeks without moving.. im not sure if cold weather can break oil down or not?

other then that the viscosity of the oil as i was pouring it out seemed normal to me..

i normally change oil every 1k or less, and use oem mitsu filters only.

no new parts in the engine.

The 2 oil changes right after the re-build I did have a "pearly" sheen in the filter but I can't feel any grit rubbing the stuff between my fingers. Subsequent changes the oil looked fine.
Good luck man!

once i get oil in the motor i will drive it for 50 miles and drain it and cut open the oil filter. unfortantly i through the old oil filter away along with the old oil. i rubed it with my hand and did not feel any grit or anything. but next oil change i will send some out to get analyzed thanks for the tips guys

Did you use a moly-based assembly lube? That's pearly looking.

By the time you feel "grit" in the oil, the engine and the whole oiling system is way past done. Anything hard that's over 100 microns does permanent, fatal damage. I suspect you couldn't even feel 100 microns in your fingers.

A few engines i broke in (stock and built) had some metallic sheen in the oil during the first couple thousand miles. Never had issues with them. If its still there after 1,000 miles and another oil change, then worry.

I broke in a couple motors this past year, same deal. It's completely normal. The big thing beyond everything mentioned is that inside the first 100 miles you're seating rings, which is, for lack of an elegant explanation, grinding them to match the minute imperfections in the cylinder walls to get a perfect seal.

Just for kicks though, you did replace EVERYTHING right? Pan, pump, pick-up, cooler, filter housing, lifters, hot tanked everything, old AND new?

yes sir brand new oem pan, brand new stm oil cooler with lines and fitting, new oil pump and housing, everything was hot tanked new lifters, im pretty possitive the shop charged me for a new pick up. and i been running brad penn 20w50 if that somehow may or may not deal with this situation