Metal-flake Oil?

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Originally Posted by edevlin

It is sunny and in the 60's in central Virginia, so I went home over lunch and did my usual 5K oil change. Seems like my other oil changes were in the early morning or on cloundy days and I never looked closely at the oil.

But in the sun today I noticed small metal flakes glinting in the sun in the oil against the background of the black collecting bucket. I would have thought that the oil filter would have picked up that size flake. Is this normal for our engines to have small metallic-looking flakes suspended in the oil?

Ed

I have seen metal... lots of it in blown motors.
The good news: oil in the pan is ahead of the filter so it is unlikely that it was being recirculated to the top end. A very small amount is normal wear.
The Bad news: Something is grinding away somewhere. You can send a sample in for analysis to some online labs and they will tell you if it's normal wear or approaching Ka-boom.