Front diff magnetic drain plug damage

[OuttaTown]

On my wife's 2006 LX this is what I found when I pulled the drain plug a couple of months ago. I was just draining to replace the oil with synthetic. There weren't any issues, and still aren't any. I bought the LX last Fall, and it has been trouble-free.

Seems to me that only serious damage would have caused this, but I thought I'd check to see if anyone else has found a plug in this condition, and what caused it. The one on my '99 LC doesn't look that way...

I couldn't get anymore to break off, so I cleaned it off and put it back in.

 

[no-pistons]

Probably got dropped last time it was out.

 

[buddysharp]

Just changed to synthetic on our '04 LC with 124K miles; some metal shavings but no damage. To my knowledge, having had the pan off before; there are no parts internally that would contact the plug and cause the breakage. I did have some stripping on my plug so I replaced for a couple bucks; I'd suggest you do same. FWIW, if those pieces had broken off inside, then they should have been stuck on the magnet, right? So agree with no-pistons, probably dropped during last change.