OK. So this afternoon I was able to change the oil. I noticed that the residue on the oil drain plug was thicker than usual. I also noticed the oil that was drained in the container was more "magnetic" than the first oil container I checked with a magnet. Here are the pictures.

 

I'm at a loss here. I would pull the head completely and check out your cylinder walls.

 

I haven't checked this thread in a while but from the pic, it looks like metal on the magnet...

 

If those are hard pieces of metal attached to your oil drain plug magnet that engines done.. i cant tell what that picture is though its weird looking.

so those are the actual shaving pieces of the valve cover i guess.. thats so sad.

 

Tom, it is weird looking. Very true. The best way that I can describe the feeling is that it feels like chocolate pudding. There are NO hard substances AT ALL in what I have found. When I pour out the oil from the filter, it is a grayish-brown color. I have bought a filter cutter from a good recommendation and was told that if a bearing was spun there would be goldish-bronze flakes, shavings, etc. The cutter should be here by the end of this week.

 

I would pull the oil pan. I had a friend who had a bad rod knock and when we drained the oil it was clean. Pulled the pan and there is all was. That exact metal paste and bearing material. You probably wont have bearing pieces but i would pull the pan.

 

I will try to take a look at this before the end of the week, my friend.

 

if that stuff is not metal and its just sludge then you may be ok.. i get sludge on my magnet .. what magnet is it? mines a dimple.. they are strong and can pick up around 7lbs hanging off them.

i feel theres no need to remove the oil pan to see if you spun a bearing or not.. for one thing if you spun a bearing you would know it.. it sounds horrible.. it would sound like theres someone in your engine trying to get themselves out hitting the block with a hammer.

if you drain oil you will see gold shavings as i said above.. same thing your buddy said.

the shavings would be on that magnet anyways..

does the car knock? does it have rod knock?

 

Tom, yes, it is just sludge that stuck to the magnet like cake batter or pudding. As for the magnet type, I have no idea as I stole it from my daughter (smiles). You are referring to the magnetic drain plug, huh? Well, I got this version: http://www.maperformance.com/mfactor...eng-02.htmlCan you send me an invoice to the Dimple version you have? I have verified the first container of oil that I drained 2-3 days before dropping the car off and last week, I verified the second container of oil and neither had a showing of anything gold, bronze, copper or any other color other than used oil.Nope, there is no sound from the engine other than the nice blop, blop, blop from the cams. There is no ticking, clanging, tapping, knocking, or anything else that either rhymes or ends with “ing” with the engine. The only thing the engine is doing is falling dead when it gets to normal operating temperature which is why I posted what I believe could be possible culprits earlier in this thread.

 

I checked the in-line filter today when I got home from work. I sprayed some WD40 through it and noticed several bronze shavings. I guess this makes it official that I have spun a bearing, right?

 

I am still curious to find out what's in the oil filter but it does sound like bearing material man... sorry

 

For the in-line filter, it was more like dust particles. I did cut the oil filter open last night and saw a few small chips. I will post the picture later. When I get home, and since no good football team is playing, I will drop the pan for further verification.

 

yes now you should remove the pan to check.. it will show tons of shavings if you really did.. i don't think you did yet though based on the stuff you're seeing.. and if you did, then you caught it really early before it could do any damage.

 

This is encouraging. I also received the Dimple oil drain plug in the mail today.

 

Yesterday evening, I went to see about dropping the oil pan and after seeing the various parts I would have to remove to get to it coupled with the free time I have (which is not a lot), I said, "Bump it...!" I bolted everything back down and currently giving the mini battery a good charge. I have checked both filters and the oil twice without finding hardly anything. I am firing the car up when I get home from work today and just going to let it run until it melts, blows up, or something else catastrophic. I have listened to all that you have said and speculated, but I have too much invested in this car to sell it without knowing 100% that the engine is trashed from a spun bearing.