citationtech

I changed the oil in my '05 LS6 with 103,000 miless today and had a small copper streak in the oil as it drained. I refilled the oil and listened to the top end with my stethoscope and didn't hear anything while it was cold. When the engine is warm it has a slight "tick" in the 2nd bank area. Oil pressure is good both cold and hot, no fluctuations. I haven't cut the oil filter yet to see what's lurking in the pleats. I pulled the rocker covers but didn't see any discrepancies. I'm going to pull the valley tomorrow and have a look at the cam, but I'm thinking a plain bearing is making metal.

Does anyone know the cam/main bearing base metal beneath the babbit surface? If it's a bad plain bearing I want to change quick before it spins!

DMM

I vote cam bearing.

jsteele90

iTrader: (13)

yeah it sounds like cam bearings to me also. any mods?

citationtech

No engine mods, just exhaust and CAI. I'm leaning towards pulling the engine and sending the short block off for a rebuild before it eats my crank up.

citationtech

So today I opened the oil filter and pulled the element apart. I found 3 small pieces of thin, silver plating, about the size of a ball point pen tip. I also strained the residual oil through a strainer and didn't see any metal particles. I'm going to run the car for a few miles and send the oil off for analysis.

DMM

You have an '05 with 103k miles. If it was going to blow, it would have already. These things are more durable than most give them credit for. I would put a new oil pump (I like the LS4 pumps), LS2 timing chain, front cover and water pump gaskets, new TTY crank bolt and let it ride.

I would drive it like this until I figured out what else I wanted to do and planned for it.

I'll add that most have this problem with their cam bearings and NEVER knew it until they went to install a cam. Lord only knows how long they go like that for. The older oil pumps have been proving problematic, I've replaced three in six months.