What is this in my oil?

[nwilson44]

Okay so this is what my oil looked like on a white paper towel. Its 10w-30 royal purple and it has a royal purple filter. The oil was changed a little over 1k miles ago. I changed my whole ignition system, plugs and injectors today and still have a terrible miss in the car (P0306). I have attached a pic of what I am seeing in my oil and it looks like silver crap in the oil. Any ideas?


This engine only has about 8,000 miles on it and its a GM crate motor assembled in a GM plant, however its on its 4th oil change so should I still be seeing assembly crap in the oil because I have never noticed it before and I check it every time I get gas.....

[1997Canadian3.8]

Re: What is this in my oil?

If you take a magnet to it, does it stick?

[nwilson44]

Re: What is this in my oil?

If you take a magnet to it, does it stick?

Good question. Dont know.

[WarShrike]

Re: What is this in my oil?

All I see is brown, looks like a sinus infection to me.

Did you run synthetic right off the bat? It was recommended to me on these engines to run conventional oil for a short break-in period and then make the switch to synthetic.

I also ran a magnetic drain plug to help get some of the metal flashing out of the loop.

[bigbrian442]

Re: What is this in my oil?

If you take a magnet to it, does it stick?

Babbitt from the bearings doesn't stick to a magnet. The friction surface of the bearings is lead/tin/copper. You won't see magnetic material until a bearing spins or cam lobe wipes.

[bigbrian442]

Re: What is this in my oil?

Okay so this is what my oil looked like on a white paper towel. Its 10w-30 royal purple and it has a royal purple filter. The oil was changed a little over 1k miles ago. I changed my whole ignition system, plugs and injectors today and still have a terrible miss in the car (P0306). I have attached a pic of what I am seeing in my oil and it looks like silver crap in the oil. Any ideas?


This engine only has about 8,000 miles on it and its a GM crate motor assembled in a GM plant, however its on its 4th oil change so should I still be seeing assembly crap in the oil because I have never noticed it before and I check it every time I get gas.....

Right here is what happened to it.

http://youtu.be/QqYn9gPg24s


http://youtu.be/TV-OYenMj70

Looks like abuse to me.

[nwilson44]

Re: What is this in my oil?

Right here is what happened to it.

http://youtu.be/QqYn9gPg24s


http://youtu.be/TV-OYenMj70

Looks like abuse to me.

I'm not the argumentative type but I have taken excellent care of my car because I know I may be harder on it than most. SO because of that fact, I spend more money on things like Maintenance, parts, oil, and gas. Now nothing lasts forever but I dont think jumping on it every once in a while will cause it to break, but rather just expose issues that were there. None of my other cars display this much negative behavior, but none of my other cars are V6's.

I can guarantee you that I am wayyy harder on my 550i than I am on this car. Hell the 78 trans am I am almost finished restoring gets driven once a week and after a good warm up, it gets driven hard. The corvette I just drove on an east texas tour this past weekend (houston to tyler, to plano, to dallas, back to houston) and averaged over 90 the whole time with no hiccups. I could give other examples but the point is I dont drive this car the hardest but I do take care of it exceptionally well just like the other cars I own.

[nwilson44]

Re: What is this in my oil?

All I see is brown, looks like a sinus infection to me.

Did you run synthetic right off the bat? It was recommended to me on these engines to run conventional oil for a short break-in period and then make the switch to synthetic.

I also ran a magnetic drain plug to help get some of the metal flashing out of the loop.

No the dealer had their stuff in it for the first break in period of like 2500-3000 miles. Then I had 2 AMS oil changes and then 2 Royal purple oil changes, with the respective filters.

[bigbrian442]

Re: What is this in my oil?

I'm not the argumentative type but I have taken excellent care of my car because I know I may be harder on it than most. SO because of that fact, I spend more money on things like Maintenance, parts, oil, and gas. Now nothing lasts forever but I dont think jumping on it every once in a while will cause it to break, but rather just expose issues that were there. None of my other cars display this much negative behavior, but none of my other cars are V6's.

I can guarantee you that I am wayyy harder on my 550i than I am on this car. Hell the 78 trans am I am almost finished restoring gets driven once a week and after a good warm up, it gets driven hard. The corvette I just drove on an east texas tour this past weekend (houston to tyler, to plano, to dallas, back to houston) and averaged over 90 the whole time with no hiccups. I could give other examples but the point is I dont drive this car the hardest but I do take care of it exceptionally well just like the other cars I own.

I haven't seen anyone have as much trouble with their 3800 F body as you have. First engine... maybe the guys who did the work are to blame.... second or third engines, I would point my finger at an abusive driver. When you run out of things to change looking for your miss, do a compression test. Burning up your new CAT in 2 weeks, that could be abuse too. Not arguing, just saying it like i see it. BMW and a Corvette, aren't those cars built to run laps on a track and drive on the street?

[nwilson44]

Re: What is this in my oil?

I haven't seen anyone have as much trouble with their 3800 F body as you have. First engine... maybe the guys who did the work are to blame.... second or third engines, I would point my finger at an abusive driver. When you run out of things to change looking for your miss, do a compression test. Burning up your new CAT in 2 weeks, that could be abuse too. Not arguing, just saying it like i see it. BMW and a Corvette, aren't those cars built to run laps on a track and drive on the street?

Well I did mention that I had pulled a leaky EGR tube off of a junk yard car since GM discontinued the part. So I had a lean condition and the car threw a P0420 code. After the EGR delete I havent seen the P0420 code since.

The first engine had around 170k on it and the guys that rebuilt it were idiots. I cant be any more plain.

There is nothing I have done to this car that was shortcutted or cheap, so my expectations were for it to run as if that were the case.

BMW's are first meant to operate on the street first and foremost, but you can take them to your local track and run them if you want. The vette is kind of a different animal, its america's sports car but that engine was rebuilt before mine was and hasnt had not one issue every since.

I understand that a hard driver can cause issues, when you dont know how they take care of it, or if they take care of it at all. However I take very good care of my car, and there is not one part on this car that hasn't been replaced, despite the cost. Its easy to point the finger at hard driving, but the fact of the matter is that these issues would have just taken longer to manifest themselves and we will see what the issue is once we get word back.



Lastly I want to thank you and everyone else that has helped me along with this car, since I am fairly unfamiliar with them. Yeah I have had a lot of issues and a lot of them were from previous owner neglect. They didnt take care of it. So thanks everyone and I will keep you updated on whats going on. If you guys have anymore ideas feel free to express them.

[PalmHarborBlkv6]

Re: What is this in my oil?

Given you have a warranty with the dealer you spent big money on for this crate engine,
why not bring the car back and put the issues in their lap and stop trying to do everything yourself. At some point, most people just want stop screwing with their car and drive it.
Maybe that is not you.

[ssms5411]

Re: What is this in my oil?

I would agree , if you have a warranty might as well use it.

[nwilson44]

Re: What is this in my oil?

Thats what I did. It is being checked out! Hopefully something simple.

[nascar24jd]

So, what was the outcome?

[nwilson44]

Re: What is this in my oil?

We got some top end noise coming through the motor, and we are assuming that the crap in the oil is coming from premature wear due to whatever is making the noise. Its actually a really similar noise to the one I posted earlier this year on the other motor. We are waiting until next week to schedule the appointment with the shop foreman to get it addressed. Its really loud now. I can post a video so you guys can take a stab at it if you want.