davidc1

You've already diagnosed the problem...there should never, ever be any visible metallic parts in your oil. Don't run the engine again. Bring it in to your mechanic.
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Thanks for the reply David. I will avoid starting it up again and pass on the oil pressure test then. Please excuse me, I'm a bit slow and OCD all rolled up into one.

Where you said I've diagnosed the problem do you mean my reference to the rod bearings ?, If it is rod bearings I could possibly tackle it myself, but did you loose some main or thrust bearings too ?, if it got that bad on mine I wouldn't likely tackle it myself. Thanks for the reply.
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No problem. When I said you Dx the problem, I was not being specific as too exactly what the metal came from. Just that it should never be there.

I lost a rod bearing and part of the crank bearings as well, but don't know anything more specific than that. I'm sure my problem was exacerbated by previous running with oil a quart low on many occasions. That was a frickin' expensive lesson.

My guess you'll find more metal in the pan when you remove it. I believe you can sort of Dx if it's from the rods or crank based on the type of metal, but I don't know the specifics. But, that's academic at this point.

Sorry about your loss.
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ah okay I think I'll proceed to remove the pan and take it from there. I might pull my plugs today as well and see if they reveal anything with the cylinders. Thanks for the advice.
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Always a good idea to check the plugs. When I changed mine at 100,000mi, the #4 plug was missing it's ceramic insulator tip. When the engine blew later, the #1 cyl was scored massively. I guess the insulator tip made it through the valve train to the #1 cyl and bounced around in there before getting chewed up.

Pychoazn got a blinking CEL that lasted just a few minutes last week and was gone. No code recorded. The next week he pulled his plugs and the #3 (I think) insulator tip was broken, but still hanging on the tip of the plug.

zeroptzero

Thanks, well the car ran okay for a bit of time I guess yesterday's drive took it over the top as I generally drive pretty slow on the street and I don't rev it very high for the most part.

I see one piece of metal in your pic that looked like the one I found, mine had a copper tinge to it, but only one piece thus far, there may be more sitting in the pan. It was a very very thin shear of metal as if you took a scalpel to clove of garlic and slice off a very thin shear - only thing I can describe it as. Looks like I have some work ahead of me, hope the engine is not toast though.

zeroptzero

I pulled the plugs and they all look decent, very similar across all four cylinders , the plugs are fairly clean with a bit of dry carbon along the bottom metal circumference, maybe running a tad rich but not too bad overall. I stuck a scope down into the spark plug tubes, the scope didn't go through the spark plug holes but right up to the bottom mating surface, the tops of the pistons all look dry and very similar across all 4 cylinders. NGK plugs, ceramic and gaps all in good shape. On to the bottom end next.

davidc1

Can't wait for you to pull the pan....you seem very composed for such a potentially expensive fix!

zeroptzero

me too. This car is just a toy for me. If the engine turns out to be pooched I'll just leave it in the garage and take my time sourcing out replacement parts. Life goes on I guess and I don't have any other vices to spend my money on.

davidc1

I was f-cked cause it was my DD, and I love to go to the track.

I ended up getting a new block instead of rebuilding it because of time constraints. We could have rebuilt mine, making it much stronger, for less money than the $2700 the block cost me, but I didn't have a month to wait. That's what I suggest you do.

For the head, I bought a rebuilt one from PortFlow, a very well respected builder her in SoCal. I upgraded it with Supertech titanium everything to make it less likely to break on the track. Also added a baffled oil pan.

SLracer

I am currently troubleshooting a similar problem except never got an oil light or anything but I have found plenty of glittery metal in my pan, nothing nearly as big as above though. I too installed a baffled pan this winter...hmmmm. But from what I have found in my extensive search is that if your oil light comes on you have most definitely toasted a bearing

zeroptzero

I pulled the pan this afternoon and found metal in the base of it. It is all very thin bi-coloureI metal - silver/copper colour. Most pieces were 2mm x 2mm each or so, but very thin shears of metal, nothing chunky. I did find one piece that was maybe 1.5 inches long, again very thin bi-coloured metal, no chunks. Best way to describe them would be if you took a razor blade to a clove of garlic and sheared off thin slices like some chefs do when cooking - odd analogy I know but best way to describe how thin the metal is.

There was no metal on the baffle plate and the oil pick up screen is clear. I can't move the crankshaft it feels nice and tight. The rods move side to side easily none feel sloppy up and down but I'd have to get into it more.

I am wondering if my baffle plate created the problem or made it worse, but lots of guys run the mugen oil pan I never would expect this oil pan system to create an issue when it is supposed to help not hurt the oil sump system. If it wasn't related to the oil pan baffle I wonder why it decided to really let go now a bit of time after the track event that may have started the problem and caused me to get the oil pan. I didn't find any metal in the pan after the track event but this time there sure is. sucky.

Carbon Blue

sorry to hear jfusion, you have helped so many on this forum too! Hopefully you get things sorted quickly, it sounds like shaved pieces of rod bearing but im just throwing that out there. You havent installed any motor mounts have you with aftermarket hardware? I have seen a case of that in which the hardware busted the castings off the engine block and sent it into the oil.

myflys2k

Sorry to hear Joey. Hope you get it all sorted out. Let me know if you need a hand at all. I could come out to help if needed.