OH NO!! Metal shavings in oil filter :(|

[pothole]

Originally Posted by southernstar

I agree Pothole, no guarantees, but it will certainly tell you if things are seriously amiss at the time of a purchase (and lets face it, haz's car was still running fine when they discovered all of the particles in the filter). So too would a small amount of metallic particles (lets say, anything more than about three very small ones), or to a lesser degree, the presence of plastic particles. One won't always be able to catch a problem before it happens, but your chances of finding a pre-existing one (or with short oil-change intervals, one that is just starting to develop) increase dramatically with an inspection of the filter.

Brad

I suspect if you rejected any Box with a few bits of metal and plastic in the filter you'd be a long time looking for something to buy, you'd overlook some good prospects and the car you eventually bought would be no more less likely to spit its IMS bearing. That's my view.

I think from everything I've read, the window between significant debris in the filter but the car seeming to run fine and full blown IMS failure is very small indeed.

[southernstar]

Probably so Pothole, but many people have replaced their IMS bearings and found scoring, even though they had not yet failed. I suspect that at that point some additional metal was showing up in the oil filter. In my most recent oil change (last week), I had two very small metallic particles on the magnetic drain plug and none in the filter.
I will probably put on another 3000 km before I put it away for the winter and then I will change the oil/filter again in the spring before it goes back on the road. Hardly fullproof, but I still believe it is a worthwhile exercize.

Brad