Are these metal shavings in my engine oil?

[manuelly]

There was some oil left over in the oil filter housing so I soaked it up with a microfibre cloth and squeezed it back into the drain pan. I then saw bronze/gold particles (number 1) and when shook or blown onto they turned into what looked like a fine mist/dust of bronze/gold particles as shown in number 2. Can't tell if these are bubbles because of squeezing the oil or worn out metal particles because I could see something in the oil filter hosuing too. My engine is known for sometimes eating cam bearings. What do you think? Thanks.

 

[JavierH19]

That does look a bit much, send the oil for a uoa. But can you provide a lot more details first. car, engine, mileage, new or bought used, oil type ect.

 

[LeoStrop]

The "1" and "2" look like bubbles.

On the filter media, it is hard to say beacuse it's too wet.

 

[manuelly]

That does look a bit much, send the oil for a uoa. But can you provide a lot more details first. car, engine, mileage, new or bought used, oil type ect.

Need to wait a week for the oil analysis. Just thought I could maybe look for some opinions online. Engine is BMW N54 with about 78000 miles, bought used and this is the first time I have noticed this. Never cut the filter open before. Oil used is 5W40 bmw LL04. Obviously I can't be sure just by hearing but the car does not sound or seem to have symptoms of excessive engine wear.

 

[manuelly]

The "1" and "2" look like bubbles.

On the filter media, it is hard to say beacuse it's too wet.

After leaving the oil to stand for like 5 minutes, 1 and 2 disappeared but I thought maybe if they are particles they are settling to the bottom.

On a second look I can see silver shiny particles sparsly embedded in the filter material but when I take these out and try to stick them on a magnet they dont stick. They are so small it is very difficult to tell what they are or even capture them.

 

[JavierH19]

Rod bearings can be a problem with the n54 and that's what this is looking like, pretty sure bmw fixed this by now, not that common but they pop up at this mileage. Sucks to see though this seems to be caught early on. Give more details about the car though.

 

[fantastic]

Seems to have some sparkly pieces on the filter. Your UOA should shed some light.

 

[LeoStrop]

After leaving the oil to stand for like 5 minutes, 1 and 2 disappeared but I thought maybe if they are particles they are settling to the bottom.

On a second look I can see silver shiny particles sparsly embedded in the filter material but when I take these out and try to stick them on a magnet they dont stick. They are so small it is very difficult to tell what they are or even capture them.

I like to separate all the filter media from the filter frame, and wrap it with some paper towels. Then you put it under a heavy object or press and leave it there for some hours until the majority of the oil drains out. Then you can check for metals.

Normally, particles will accumulate between the fold of the media. Yours looks like is all over the place, so probably is just the light shining on the oil.

 

[chris719]

Seems to have some sparkly pieces on the filter. Your UOA should shed some light.

Hopefully… it depends on the particle sizes. I saw at least two UOA done via Blackstone in the S65 threads on Bimmerpost that had visible glitter in the oil but the UOA was actually good. I don’t trust UOA for wear after seeing those threads where people with good UOA histories spun rod bearings. If the UOA shows wear then I do trust it, but the opposite seems not always true.

 

[chris719]

Need to wait a week for the oil analysis. Just thought I could maybe look for some opinions online. Engine is BMW N54 with about 78000 miles, bought used and this is the first time I have noticed this. Never cut the filter open before. Oil used is 5W40 bmw LL04. Obviously I can't be sure just by hearing but the car does not sound or seem to have symptoms of excessive engine wear.

Since this is N54 I would look at rod bearings as Javier mentioned. You may also want to look at the intake and exhaust cam ledges to see if the steel O rings were replaced as they should have been via campaign with the Teflon rings. If not it will cause excessive wear. You may want to replace the Vanos solenoids also if you repair something because they tend to collect metallic particulate in their little mesh screens.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

Hopefully… it depends on the particle sizes. I saw at least two UOA done via Blackstone in the S65 threads on Bimmerpost that had visible glitter in the oil but the UOA was actually good. I don’t trust UOA for wear after seeing those threads where people with good UOA histories spun rod bearings. If the UOA shows wear then I do trust it, but the opposite seems not always true.

UOAs only are able to deal with & detect “wear” particles <7 microns. If rod bearings or any other wear part is “chunking” off material like a cam lobe that’s spalling, UOAs are not the proper tool to find that. Metallic drain plugs, ferrography, and visual filter analysis are much better for a failure of that type.

 

[fantastic]

Hopefully… it depends on the particle sizes. I saw at least two UOA done via Blackstone in the S65 threads on Bimmerpost that had visible glitter in the oil but the UOA was actually good. I don’t trust UOA for wear after seeing those threads where people with good UOA histories spun rod bearings. If the UOA shows wear then I do trust it, but the opposite seems not always true.

A particle count could really help..good idea.

 

[4WD]

There was some oil left over in the oil filter housing so I soaked it up with a microfibre cloth and squeezed it back into the drain pan. I then saw bronze/gold particles (number 1) and when shook or blown onto they turned into what looked like a fine mist/dust of bronze/gold particles as shown in number 2. Can't tell if these are bubbles because of squeezing the oil or worn out metal particles because I could see something in the oil filter hosuing too. My engine is known for sometimes eating cam bearings. What do you think? Thanks.

like a white bowl vs paper towels … tilt it for separation …

 

[manuelly]

Rod bearings can be a problem with the n54 and that's what this is looking like, pretty sure bmw fixed this by now, not that common but they pop up at this mileage. Sucks to see though this seems to be caught early on. Give more details about the car though.

I thought rod bearings was a typical N55, S65 and S85 problem.

Seems to have some sparkly pieces on the filter. Your UOA should shed some light.

Hopefully… it depends on the particle sizes. I saw at least two UOA done via Blackstone in the S65 threads on Bimmerpost that had visible glitter in the oil but the UOA was actually good. I don’t trust UOA for wear after seeing those threads where people with good UOA histories spun rod bearings. If the UOA shows wear then I do trust it, but the opposite seems not always true.

This is something that I have read too. Large particles are not assessed and oil analysis shows engine is healthy when it is not.

Since this is N54 I would look at rod bearings as Javier mentioned. You may also want to look at the intake and exhaust cam ledges to see if the steel O rings were replaced as they should have been via campaign with the Teflon rings. If not it will cause excessive wear. You may want to replace the Vanos solenoids also if you repair something because they tend to collect metallic particulate in their little mesh screens.

Probably still the original cam ledges. It threw a vanos code once about 5k miles ago but after swapping and cleaning vanos solenoids the code never came back. Two oil changes since the code and first time I have noticed these particles.

 

[manuelly]

I like to separate all the filter media from the filter frame, and wrap it with some paper towels. Then you put it under a heavy object or press and leave it there for some hours until the majority of the oil drains out. Then you can check for metals.

Normally, particles will accumulate between the fold of the media. Yours looks like is all over the place, so probably is just the light shining on the oil.

I wrapped it in paper towels so the oil is soaked up. Most particles are between the folds, some are not. These are the particles. I cut open the oil filter of my other car and it had similar non magnetic silver pieces but less of them. Both cars are unlikely to be suffering rod bearing damage at the same time. This might be normal.

 

[manuelly]

While I wait for UOA, is there any other method of pinpointing if this is top or bottom end wear? If this is not normal then I am leaning towards cam bearings. Both jobs are pretty demanding for sake of just investigating. Is the N54 bearing material different between cam and rod bearings? Only other thing I can think of is recent VCG change which I didnt do. If the old gasket material was scraped off then aluminium or gasket material might have fallen inside.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Are you using the correct licensed oils and correct viscosity (or slightly thicker), stipulated in your Owners Manual?
A place to start!.....
.....You should experiment doing lesser mileage OCIs than stipulated in your Manual. Then see what appears at drain-time.

 

[manuelly]

Are you using the correct licensed oils and correct viscosity (or slightly thicker), stipulated in your Owners Manual?
A place to start!.....
.....You should experiment doing lesser mileage OCIs than stipulated in your Manual. Then see what appears at drain-time.

I think I am using correct spec oil (BMW LL04) and thicker oil (5w40 instead of 5w30). OCI are about 3000-4000 miles which is less than 7500 mile OCI manufacturer recommendation. Never revved high before complete warm up. Will do a filter replacement in about 1000 miles too and see what comes out before drain.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

A particle count could really help..good idea.

Particle counts only give you an idea of the filter efficiency and how well it’s working; they don’t give you any indication of what’s in the oil or where it came from. Most labs won’t even run particle counts on really dark/dirty oil because it’s a futile effort.

You’d learn a whole lot more by cutting and drying the filter media, then looking at it with a magnifying lens if there are large particles. You could even pour the old oil through a coffee filter and see what came out from the sump.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

While I wait for UOA, is there any other method of pinpointing if this is top or bottom end wear? If this is not normal then I am leaning towards cam bearings. Both jobs are pretty demanding for sake of just investigating. Is the N54 bearing material different between cam and rod bearings? Only other thing I can think of is recent VCG change which I didnt do. If the old gasket material was scraped off then aluminium or gasket material might have fallen inside.

Analytical ferrography would tell you where the material is most likely coming from. But you’d need an unadulterated used oil sample, and it’s not cheap.

But, @dnewton3 would probably have some better ideas since he’s been doing this for a long time, and is very good at separating emotions from analysis and lets the data do all the talking.

WearCheck in NC is a good lab to use, but there are many others as well. OAI is good as well.