Found some Metal Shavings in oil pan?

[Aaron'S'tang]

Changed my oil yesterday with the normal, Mobil One and found very few and very small copper looking flakes in old oil. What could this be? Thought it might be from my drain plug but am not sure? Thanks.

 

[Realmongo]

You may have a bearing worn through the facing material down into the copper.

 

[Cougar5.O]

Maybe somebody poured Goldschlager into your engine?

 

[bsedwebt70-5.0]

could be bearings - if it were me I would check the oil pressure with a mechanical guage once it gets heated up to see what it shows - if you got 10lbs at hot idle 800 rpm or so you need to pull the pan and pull the bearings - make sure you are using a motorcraft filter to get real readings and 10w30 - thicker oil will give higher readings - band aid. You could also cut open your oil filter to see what is in there too. If your pressure is good and there is no noises I would run it til the next oil change and check it again.

 

[Mike92GT]

Copper flakes is a bad sign. As stated above, you need to check your oil pressure with a real guage and see what you have. I recently found copper flakes in my oil. Here's a picture of the culprit. (They're not supposed to look like this)

 

[Aaron'S'tang]

Copper flakes is a bad sign. As stated above, you need to check your oil pressure with a real guage and see what you have. I recently found copper flakes in my oil. Here's a picture of the culprit. (They're not supposed to look like this)

How much work and hours to replace? Cost? Never torn it apart yet. Thanks

 

[bsedwebt70-5.0]

You need to undo all the mounts, jack up the motor (chain from above from a engine lift or strategic beam?) and pull the pan once you get clear of the crossmember stuff (darn those double hump pans), you will then have access to the main caps and can pull those and check out the crank - if you are lucky you can get away with just installing new bearings. Measure the crank with a micrometer and see where you are at (hopefully it will not have gouges) and go to the parts store to purchase the proper sized bearings. Bearings are cheap - $30 or so. Gaskets, gasket sealer, etc... are cheap too at about $30, oil, oil filter, etc.... You may also want to do a new oil pump ($30 or so) and clean the pick up and check for cracks. Now is the time to replace the motor mounts $15 each if they are bad too. Don't let me make this sound too easy for a novice - it is quite involved and if you do not have lifts, proper work area, etc... it will be a horrible job and very messy. You may check into a local small shop that is willing to do it for you from the bottom for total parts and labor cost of $400 or so if you are lucky. I was able to find a few shops locally that are willing to do it that way and thefore able to avoid a total rebuild since the engine was not burning any oil or making noise - just bad oil pressure. After having done this on my last motor 6k miles ago it is running perfectly with perfect oil pressure - it has about 100k total miles on it now. Good luck

 

[bryce93lx]

copper usally equals bearings, but do 5.0's have a copper colored gears on the distrbutor, becuse i know on our race motor we got what we though was copper in the oil and it was the magneto gear. Also shiny hardend metal is real bad that means cam, a little dull grey metal is typical in a high mile motor, any motor really

 

[Realmongo]

Copper flakes is a bad sign. As stated above, you need to check your oil pressure with a real guage and see what you have. I recently found copper flakes in my oil. Here's a picture of the culprit. (They're not supposed to look like this)

Hey those look just like my bearings did after 179,000 miles.

 

[Aaron'S'tang]

You need to undo all the mounts, jack up the motor (chain from above from a engine lift or strategic beam?) and pull the pan once you get clear of the crossmember stuff (darn those double hump pans), you will then have access to the main caps and can pull those and check out the crank - if you are lucky you can get away with just installing new bearings. Measure the crank with a micrometer and see where you are at (hopefully it will not have gouges) and go to the parts store to purchase the proper sized bearings. Bearings are cheap - $30 or so. Gaskets, gasket sealer, etc... are cheap too at about $30, oil, oil filter, etc.... You may also want to do a new oil pump ($30 or so) and clean the pick up and check for cracks. Now is the time to replace the motor mounts $15 each if they are bad too. Don't let me make this sound too easy for a novice - it is quite involved and if you do not have lifts, proper work area, etc... it will be a horrible job and very messy. You may check into a local small shop that is willing to do it for you from the bottom for total parts and labor cost of $400 or so if you are lucky. I was able to find a few shops locally that are willing to do it that way and thefore able to avoid a total rebuild since the engine was not burning any oil or making noise - just bad oil pressure. After having done this on my last motor 6k miles ago it is running perfectly with perfect oil pressure - it has about 100k total miles on it now. Good luck

Thanks a lot, god that sucks bad. F'ing S/C Eating up my engine