How much metal shavings is too much in the oil pan? (2 Viewers)

[BigTree69]

So my 1 FZ FE isn’t doing so great. My transmission wasn’t shifting into 2nd or 3rd so I had to drive in 1st to get home. I kept the engine just below 5k rpm (red line) and eventually got home but at some point it started making a ticking sound and the oil pressure gauge dropped to about 1/4 (usually it’s at 5/8ths - 3/4)

Eventually I got home and drained the oil and saw a bit of metal staving so I dropped the oil pan. The oil pan looks pretty bad so I wanted to ask, how bad is this? Do I need a rebuild, new engine or just fix the oil leaks and keep on rocking?

Thanks in advance

 

[Rusty Marlin]

That's not right.
Good luck!

 

[BuzzAZ]

Uhhhhh… yeah… she gone

 

[jpoole]

Given your description and that photo there's something that needs attention in your engine before you run it more. Whatever got chewed on to create those shavings will likely worsen pretty rapidly and could make the damage that much more expensive than what it may already be. In my opinion a tear-down is needed to find the main issue(s). If it's worth fixing it's also going to need to be torn down to get the metal out of oil passages, bearings and other places where it's going to cause more damage.

Sorry and hope you end up with some good for you options.

 

[sjpitts]

Just out of curiosity, how long did you drive it at "just below 5k rpm" before it started to fail? And was it a near constant 5K rpm?

 

[BigTree69]

@jpoole

Thanks for the advice. Time to start looking for a hoist and engine stand

@sjpitts
Like 10-20 minutes
Then another 30ish home

 

[mudgudgeon]

Sorry for your loss

 

[Kernal]

Can you clean off those chunks then take another photo and post it up?

 

[Mark W]

It is hard to tell if that is chips and chunks of AL or if it is slivers of bearing material If it is Al, the troubling part is that other than pistons, there is really nowhere for AL chips to come from. Bearings will give you very thin slivers. Also not steel, but easy to recognize as "not AL". Use a bit... a lot... of carb cleaner or such to wash everything in the oily pan to the bottom and then wipe it up with a clean paper towel. Once it is out, wash it down some more and see just what it all is.

I am gonna bet it is bearing material... melted and extruded from a rod as the rod bearing failed to to insufficient oil flow/pressure to handle sustained redline rpms (Really really bad idea btw. That choice is what did this.)

Do you SEE an oil leak? Oil pressure almost never drops due to an oil leak. It has almost certainly dropped to to excessive bearing clearances. and a "tapping" noise is unlikely to be a sign of "no worries".

Chances are you are looking at bearings and crank damage. Drop the rod and main bearings, inspect and plasti-guage.


Mark...

 

[jjdeneen918]

That’s not good, no matter where it came from. That sucks. Sounds like engine & trans need tear-down and inspection.

 

[BigTree69]

@Mark W
Yup, it’s not magnetic so I’m betting it’s aluminum. There was also a little bit of hard plastic that is not the gasket material. Maybe the timing chain guide but I really need to pull it apart to be sure
I cleaned it up a bit this morning before work but I’ll have more time to look at it this weekend
I didn’t witness any oil leaking out but the engine is covered in grime especially below the oil pump and that gasket was already in my to do list…


@jjdeneen918
I’m hoping the transmission isn’t too bad, I should have mentioned it in the original post but it wasnt shifting because of solenoid codes. I have the solenoids and new filter (arrived a few days and all the engine problems) My plan is to change the filter, look for metal shaving and go from there

@Kernal
Yup

 

[Trollhole]

The black part looks to be the bottom part of an old PCV grommet. The rest looks bad. Really bad. Low oil pressure is certainly not a good sign. I'd pull the valve cover and look at the cam caps. If there is aluminum up top like that you know where it's coming from.

 

[manofthewoods]

The black part looks to be the bottom part of an old PCV grommet. The rest looks bad. Really bad. Low oil pressure is certainly not a good sign. I'd pull the valve cover and look at the cam caps. If there is aluminum up top like that you know where it's coming from.

I'm thinking high RPMs did a number on the old chain guides. Likely, other stuff too.
Someone's wallet is gonna lose weight.

 

[Kernal]

There also appears to be a lot of very fine metallic particles, easier to see if the photos are magnified.

If you still had the used engine oil that would be a very interesting Engine Oil Analysis (Blackstone laboratories).

 

[jjdeneen918]

Might as well order the TransGo shift kit if your dropping the transmission pan.

 

[Spdstr280Z]

Is the engine a 93 by chance ? Given your story, the drop in oil pressure, and the fine metal, it may be a bad day. However if it is an early 1FZ and it was running fine, I would tell you the first pics look just like what I found in my oil pan and deduced had been in there for 20+ years. Some of the early 1FZ's had timing guide issues and were eaten by the chain, That made aluminum shavings and plastic chips that look very much like your first pics. In my case, there were perfectly good timing OEM guides, but I guess the warranty time didn't pay for dropping the pan and cleaning out the debris.

Good luck !

Jason

 

[Broski]

I know it’s not a lot of help now but a AAA card would have been a lot cheaper