Metal Shavings in the oil?
05-20-2009, 03:36 PM
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Metal Shavings in the oil? Well my buddy finished my car up last night. The engine (LT1) was just rebuilt and has about 20 miles on it. He calls me up and tells it was making some noise. He changed the oil because he figured it was just some break-in lube left over that had to come out. When he drained the oil he said there was some metal shavings in it and on the filter. He said it looked goldish like copper. So my question is what does this mean? Do you guys think the engine is junk and will need to be rebuilt again? What do you think is happening in there? We're going to call the engine shop and see what they say, but I thought I'd ask you guys first and try to get an idea of what I'm dealing with here. Thanks.
05-20-2009, 03:42 PM
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Well my buddy finished my car up last night. The engine (LT1) was just rebuilt and has about 20 miles on it. He calls me up and tells it was making some noise. He changed the oil because he figured it was just some break-in lube left over that had to come out. When he drained the oil he said there was some metal shavings in it and on the filter. He said it looked goldish like copper. So my question is what does this mean? Do you guys think the engine is junk and will need to be rebuilt again? What do you think is happening in there? We're going to call the engine shop and see what they say, but I thought I'd ask you guys first and try to get an idea of what I'm dealing with here. Thanks.
I think the only way you'd know what's wrong is to tear it down and look for bearing wear.
05-20-2009, 03:52 PM
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I'd give you a description if I'd heard it. He just told me it was making a noise, he found the shavings, and I shouldn't drive it (which I figured). I was pissed at the time so I didn't have him go into detail.
05-20-2009, 06:29 PM
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Or could be Cam bearings, same thing happened to me second day after rebuilding it about 15 miles of driving started to hear a knocking, got louder and louder coming fromunder the air intake manafold, I'm gonna start stripping it down next week, ill let you know what tghe results were.
05-20-2009, 08:01 PM
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If you're down to copper, its not good. The copper will score the cranksaft (or whatever surface it is riding on like the cam) and if it happened on the first 20 miles something is seriously wrong. Aftermarket bearings have a layer of babbit, then copper, then steel backing and you really shouldn't wear through the thin babbit unless something is wrong especially on that low of miles.
If you could find out what the noise was like that might help.
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05-20-2009, 08:33 PM
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Well we called the engine shop. They said to change the oil and try driving it. Shortly into the drive we started getting a loud deep knocking in the engine. The shop thinks the engine spun a bearing. It's getting pulled and rebuilt all payed for by the engine shop. Free for me so I can deal with it.
05-22-2009, 04:02 PM
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Yeah the motor's at the shop and is being rebuilt as I type. I'll know shortly what exactly happened and the extent of the damage. I'll let you guys know as soon as I do.
Getting impatient.
05-23-2009, 11:44 AM
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Yep it spun a rod bearing. The shop said they just need to turn the crank, so no major damage. Thanks to memorial day though I have to wait till Tuesday to get the engine back.
05-23-2009, 12:25 PM
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They need to do more than just turn the crank. The rod should be re-sized, in fact all of them should be re-sized. If they hadn't been already, ARP rod bolts should be installed.
All the bearing clearances should be re-checked/verified. The crank should be magnafluxed and thoroughly checked for being straight, thrust clearance, etc.
The block and all parts should be thoroughly cleaned because bearing material will be in the oil galleries and/or adhereing to other metal surfaces.
I'd have the bores bottle-brushed and install new rings since there's a chance the metal from the failed bearing could have damaged the rings. The pistons could have metal from the failed bearings lodged in crevices. Why re-build it and have sub-standard ring seal or allow bearing material to re-circulate through the engine, resulting in MORE damage.
It's IMPORTANT to find out what caused the failure, not MERELY repair the damage.
Jake
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All the bearing clearances should be re-checked/verified. The crank should be magnafluxed and thoroughly checked for being straight, thrust clearance, etc.
The block and all parts should be thoroughly cleaned because bearing material will be in the oil galleries and/or adhereing to other metal surfaces.
I'd have the bores bottle-brushed and install new rings since there's a chance the metal from the failed bearing could have damaged the rings. The pistons could have metal from the failed bearings lodged in crevices. Why re-build it and have sub-standard ring seal or allow bearing material to re-circulate through the engine, resulting in MORE damage.
It's IMPORTANT to find out what caused the failure, not MERELY repair the damage.
Jake
West Point ROCKS!
05-24-2009, 06:38 PM
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They need to do more than just turn the crank. The rod should be re-sized, in fact all of them should be re-sized. If they hadn't been already, ARP rod bolts should be installed.
All the bearing clearances should be re-checked/verified. The crank should be magnafluxed and thoroughly checked for being straight, thrust clearance, etc.
The block and all parts should be thoroughly cleaned because bearing material will be in the oil galleries and/or adhereing to other metal surfaces.
I'd have the bores bottle-brushed and install new rings since there's a chance the metal from the failed bearing could have damaged the rings. The pistons could have metal from the failed bearings lodged in crevices. Why re-build it and have sub-standard ring seal or allow bearing material to re-circulate through the engine, resulting in MORE damage.
It's IMPORTANT to find out what caused the failure, not MERELY repair the damage.
Jake
West Point ROCKS!
All the bearing clearances should be re-checked/verified. The crank should be magnafluxed and thoroughly checked for being straight, thrust clearance, etc.
The block and all parts should be thoroughly cleaned because bearing material will be in the oil galleries and/or adhereing to other metal surfaces.
I'd have the bores bottle-brushed and install new rings since there's a chance the metal from the failed bearing could have damaged the rings. The pistons could have metal from the failed bearings lodged in crevices. Why re-build it and have sub-standard ring seal or allow bearing material to re-circulate through the engine, resulting in MORE damage.
It's IMPORTANT to find out what caused the failure, not MERELY repair the damage.
Jake
West Point ROCKS!
05-30-2009, 11:15 AM
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Well it turned out the crank was bent as well. It was bent by .007". He put a new Scat(sp?) crank in for free and he finished the engine up last night. If all goes well the car should be up and driving today!