Steel shavings in oil...what to do?

this sounds very bad. is it still under warranty?

well metal in the oil sounds like something is grinding in your engine..and that cant be good..

go purchase and extended warranty, wait a couple of months, then bring it in. I think ford is offering some exclusive "just engine" warrantys

I would buy one of those magetic oil pan plugs that will collect all of the shavings. After another 1 or 2 oil changes, if you still have metal shavings coming out, then you know you have a problem. I know steeda sells them but I don't know if they make them for your model. I'll keep searching.

RED98Z28 said:

go purchase and extended warranty, wait a couple of months, then bring it in. I think ford is offering some exclusive "just engine" warrantys

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There's a Ford dealer in Connecticut that sells aftermarket extended Ford warranties. If you do a search on the net for "Ford ESP" or Ford Extended Service Warranty", you should come up with the site. There a re several warranty plans and ALL are much cheaper than through any other dealerships.

If you do buy an extended warranty now, you'll have to wait about 30 days before you can get it fixed under warranty. Do NOT have it checked prior to buying the extended warranty! It will reflect a 'preexisting' problem and won't be covered under the new warranty.

As for mods to car, before you buy the ESP, call and ask what the limitations are. You might be okay with your current mods.

In the mean time, you can use the magnetic drain plug idea, and limit your driving until you would be eligible to make a claim on the warranty.

That happened to my friends 2000 gt with the metal in the oil. Then a couple of oil changes later the engine broke and he needed a new one. well hope you figure it out !!!

last time i found some metal shaving on my oil, my car span bearing week later

Ken01GTvert said:

What got broke? How much shavings did you find in your oil? When I changed mine this time I notice about 10-15 bits about the size of grain of sand. Time before that was twice as much.

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mine was morelike fine powder looking thing. Enough to make my oil look silver.

turned out that somehow, #2 connecting rod cap bolt somehow worked itself out, and on the way out, bearing got loos, and was grinding......





week later, rod came through my Block

i wouldnt chance it, bring it to a reputable shop and have it checked out.

Ken01GTvert said:

Thanks for the info darkhorse. I think I'll check in the extended warranty to see what they cover as you mentioned. The only reason I stayed away from them so far was the cost. If it's covered then maybe I can swing a new engine which will be perfect for my future Kenne Bell. Hopefully things will hold together for a couple months.

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You're welcome

Let us know how you make out. Hopefully your car is okay. Something else to try in addition to the magnetic drain plug is a really strong magnet stuck to the bottom of the oil drain plug (assuming you couldn't find a magnetic plug for your car). I used to do this on my sportbikes. Because the oil pan was aluminum, the magnet wouldn't stick; so I placed it on the bottom of the drain plug. I got the magnet from Radio Shack. Worked great!

luther1228 said:

i wouldnt chance it, bring it to a reputable shop and have it checked out.

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While it's not my decision to make, I'd have to disagree with ya here. If the motor is bad, and/or in need of a costly repair, he'll have to pay that cost out of pocket since he's out of warranty. As a result of his inquiry into the problem, it now becomes a documented "pre-existing" problem that NO warranty will cover if he decides to buy one.

For potential cost reasons alone, he's probably gonna have to shell out upwards of $1,000 between extensive internal engine inspections (read:labor costs) and then parts costs that may apply. He can pick up one of the Ford Extended warranties for less or near the same cost which will cover ANY recurring problems down the road.

Metal in oil

I saw a product featured on "Horsepower TV" that looked like something you might look into. I forget the name but they were a package of like 4 pre-cut screens-you lay one on top of your new oil filter before installing. When you take the filter off any debris will be on the screen for inspection.
I think I would do several short oil changes, like say 1000 miles to try and "clean up" what is there. After a couple of changes hopefully the debris will be caught by the filter. Another product that will help but ONLY for magnetic particles is the "Filter Mag". This is a re-usable magnet band you clamp on the filter. When you change your filter you take it off and put it on your new filter. You can cut the filter you just removed and you will see the particles stuck to the side where the magnet was. I've seen pictures and it seems to work but again only with particles that are magnetic.
Lastly, after a couple of oil changes I'd get an oil analysis done-this will tell you exactly what is going on inside the engine. Best of luck!

I own a 2001 Mustang GT and I just purchased the ESP Premium Care Extended Warranty from Ford. Ford offers it with 0% interest for 17 months. My GT will be paid off in exactly 18 months from now and the extended warranty will be paid off in June 2005, just 2 months BEFORE my car is paid off. The extended warranty is the way to go if you want to protect yourself from expensive engine and transmission repairs. I was talking about the extended warranty a few weeks ago in the forums and most people were arguing that it's not needed. They claim that it's too expensive and that even if you needed to do repairs on you Mustang without the extended warranty, it would cost less to do the repairs than having the warranty. This is FALSE. The BEST and the TOP OF THE LINE FORD EXTENDED WARRANTY costs $2,930. There is only a $50 deductible that you have to pay each time that your Mustang GT needs warranty repairs. If one expensive thing starts going wrong on the Mustang, I assure you that many other big ticket items will start breaking down as well. We all know that the Tremec transmissions on the Mustang GT's are problematic. Other things can go wrong as well like bearings, piston rods, heads, electronic computers, ABS brake systems, A/C systems, ect., ect.. A brand new transmission for a 2001 GT alone costs over $2,500 to $3,000. New Heads cost over $2,000. A brand new engine costs $6,000 to $7,000. Computer modules alone cost a minimum of $400 to $500 and that's without the labor costs. So, a $2,930 ESP Premium Care Ford Extended Warranty is cheap if you look at all the money that you would be spending to fix just a small handfull of the things which I listed above.

The Ford dealer in Connecticut sells the Ford ESP plan, but they charge the same price as does Ford Corporate. Do NOT buy the ESP Ford Extended Warranty Plan from the Ford dealer in Connecticut. I checked them out and they only offer a $400 discount on it only if you pay it off within 60 days. If you don't pay it off in 60 days they charge you BIG INTEREST on the balance thru a Ford Credit Card which they give you. If you want to purchase this same warranty it is better to call Ford direct. They will set you up with the 17 installment payments. You will only have to give them 10% down which is $293. Ford will then bill you monthly. And FORD does NOT charge any interest on the balance.

I just bought the 7 Year/100,000 Mile Premium Care Ford Bumper to Bumper Extended Warranty. I only have 1,279 ORIGINAL MILES on my 2001 Mustang GT, so I have another 98,721 miles to go and another 4 1/2 years before my warranty runs out on this car. It's well worth it for me. I will not have to worry if my engine or transmission breaks down or if anything else breaks down on my GT. If I were to recommend to you the Ford Extended Warranty, I would ONLY recommend the 7 Year/100,000 PREMIUM CARE EXTENDED WARRANTY. It's the top of the line and it has the longest coverage period, as well as, the highest mileage coverage than any of the rest of the current Ford Extended Warranties that are available. It costs $2,930, but it's cheap if you weigh in the astronomical costs of 2 or 3 major repairs that your car might need in the shortrun or longrun. If your engine breaks and you are going to need another brand new engine put into your 2001 GT, it will cost between $6,000 to $7,000. Just by having the Ford ESP Premium Care Extended Warranty , you ONLY have to pay a $50 deductible out of your own pocket for a $6,000-$7,000 brand new engine. So, even if you already paid $2,930 for the extended warranty, you have actually saved $3,070-$4,070 OUT OF YOUR POCKET (take the total cost that you paid for the warranty from the $6,000 engine repairs and from the $7,000 engine repairs----This does not include the $50 deductible that you just paid out of your pocket).

So, if you want to keep your 2001 GT until the end of 2007 or 2008 and put 100,000 worry-free miles on it, buy yourself the extended warranty. You will definitely need it sometime in the future when your Mustang GT breaks down and needs major big bucks repairs. You will sleep well with the extended warranty.

I hope that I have steered you in the right direction and made it a lot easier for you to decide what to do. I hope that everything goes well for you.