Long time viewer, first time poster. I have a feeling this post is going to be long so I've attached a TLDR. TIA!
TLDR: My 2008 Honda Civic Si has 102k miles, and I'm trying to figure out the source of a persistent, ultra-fine, silver glitter dust in the oil only visible under direct bright light - no large chunks or flakes present. The car runs great, but this glitter is fine enough to not be captured by the oil filter (if it is glitter). A recent Blackstone oil analysis came back clean except for high silicon, which I'm pretty sure is from a new gasket seal. I'm stumped on what the glitter is since it's not magnetic and everything else seems fine. When I try to focus on a particle, it often disappears, which makes me wonder if they're just bubbles. I'm unsure how long this has been going on, or if this has always been happening and I just never cared to closely look at my used oil. I'm praying someone will say this looks like normal wear for 100k miles...
Vehicle Background
Car has been well kept since 2008 with documentation from the last two owners. I bought the car in 2017 at 50k as my college daily driver. During the start of my ownership I did OICs every 4k to 6k miles. For a while I was using Mobil1 Extended Perf 5W30 with a Mobil 1 M1-110A filter. For the last few oil changes, I've made the transition to Pennzoil Platinum 5W30 and retained the M1 filter. Any time I do oil changes, I try my best to minimize any contamination in/around the oil/fill port and always clean my funnel and dry it before filling.
Between Mid-2022 through early 2024, the Si sat in the garage as I was setting it up for AutoX (still haven't got there), so I really only started it and drove it once every two months or so. After sitting for a couple of months, the car's oil pressure light took a little longer than usual to extinguish on startup. I believe this was because the oil had time to drain back into the pan while it sat. Now that the car is a daily driver again, this issue has not persisted, so no concerns there.
Now that I've moved states, I drive less—around 6k-8k miles per year instead of 10k-12k. Because of this, I've switched to changing my oil every six months, which is roughly every 3,000 miles.
Early this year at approximately in December 2024 at 99k miles, I replaced VTC Actuator Cam Gear, timing chain, guides, tensioner, and valve adjustment. Service was done at 99020 mi. I recently took apart my old VTC actuator, and it had some residual oil inside of it, also containing this ultra-fine sparse glitter (unless those bubbles just never popped). The timing components are ferrous, so I don't suspect that is the issue.
The car currently runs and drives great with no hesitation, loss of power, or poor MPG. I am still in the process of trying to check oil pressure, but I suspect that is also fine. I always make sure the oil is topped off, but since transitioning to Pennzoil, it doesn't burn oil at all. Maybe 0.1 qts between changes if that. I have never ran the car with low oil during my ownership.
Most Recent Oil Change
I conducted an oil change at 102155 mi, oil itself had just over 2700 miles on it. The metallic sheen from this change looked a little better than the previous oil change, but still present. I sent a sample to Blackstone. Oil sample was taken hot, mid-pour.
Blackstone came pack with a fairly clean analysis with heightened silicon values being the only area of concern. Adds up considering the car has an AEM intake+filter and was just resealed with Hondabond RTV during the timing service. No additives were ever used in the oil of this car.
I'm confused on what is going on here, almost all the timing parts are ferrous metals, the oil filter pleats looked extremely clean and had no large flakes of metal - nothing abnormal for a 100k mile motor (I recall 2-3 specs not more than 1mm in size). I did however find an extremely small piece of what appeared to be scotchbrite-like material, about 0.5-1mm in diameter (not shown). The magnetic drain plug had some ferrous sludge on it, but nothing severe - just a small bulb near the top, which I suspect is from the new timing component break-in. I'm confused on what these glitter particles are since the filter isn't capturing it (so I suspect they are less than 30 or so micron?). When rubbing the oil on my fingers, no grit can be felt, it just feels like oil. I was not able to filter out the particles with a coffee filter; they are still present in the oil after it's strained.
Photos
Blackstone Analysis
Filter Pleats (hard to see, but tried to circle the bigger particles that I found)
Extra Sampled Oil under Light (biggest particle on the top is piece of dust I visually saw fall in)
Conclusion
At this point I'm confused and unsure of what's going on. Some say what I'm seeing is normal, some say otherwise. The only thing I can do is keep driving the car around and hope for the best.. I guess AutoX will need to wait again.
If this is insoluble metal in the oil, I'm annoyed that such meticulous care with quality oils + filters can still lead to this at 102k miles.
I want to hear your thoughts! There's a lot of content in here, so I missed anything, just let me know!
TLDR: My 2008 Honda Civic Si has 102k miles, and I'm trying to figure out the source of a persistent, ultra-fine, silver glitter dust in the oil only visible under direct bright light - no large chunks or flakes present. The car runs great, but this glitter is fine enough to not be captured by the oil filter (if it is glitter). A recent Blackstone oil analysis came back clean except for high silicon, which I'm pretty sure is from a new gasket seal. I'm stumped on what the glitter is since it's not magnetic and everything else seems fine. When I try to focus on a particle, it often disappears, which makes me wonder if they're just bubbles. I'm unsure how long this has been going on, or if this has always been happening and I just never cared to closely look at my used oil. I'm praying someone will say this looks like normal wear for 100k miles...
Vehicle Background
Car has been well kept since 2008 with documentation from the last two owners. I bought the car in 2017 at 50k as my college daily driver. During the start of my ownership I did OICs every 4k to 6k miles. For a while I was using Mobil1 Extended Perf 5W30 with a Mobil 1 M1-110A filter. For the last few oil changes, I've made the transition to Pennzoil Platinum 5W30 and retained the M1 filter. Any time I do oil changes, I try my best to minimize any contamination in/around the oil/fill port and always clean my funnel and dry it before filling.
Between Mid-2022 through early 2024, the Si sat in the garage as I was setting it up for AutoX (still haven't got there), so I really only started it and drove it once every two months or so. After sitting for a couple of months, the car's oil pressure light took a little longer than usual to extinguish on startup. I believe this was because the oil had time to drain back into the pan while it sat. Now that the car is a daily driver again, this issue has not persisted, so no concerns there.
Now that I've moved states, I drive less—around 6k-8k miles per year instead of 10k-12k. Because of this, I've switched to changing my oil every six months, which is roughly every 3,000 miles.
Early this year at approximately in December 2024 at 99k miles, I replaced VTC Actuator Cam Gear, timing chain, guides, tensioner, and valve adjustment. Service was done at 99020 mi. I recently took apart my old VTC actuator, and it had some residual oil inside of it, also containing this ultra-fine sparse glitter (unless those bubbles just never popped). The timing components are ferrous, so I don't suspect that is the issue.
The car currently runs and drives great with no hesitation, loss of power, or poor MPG. I am still in the process of trying to check oil pressure, but I suspect that is also fine. I always make sure the oil is topped off, but since transitioning to Pennzoil, it doesn't burn oil at all. Maybe 0.1 qts between changes if that. I have never ran the car with low oil during my ownership.
Most Recent Oil Change
I conducted an oil change at 102155 mi, oil itself had just over 2700 miles on it. The metallic sheen from this change looked a little better than the previous oil change, but still present. I sent a sample to Blackstone. Oil sample was taken hot, mid-pour.
Blackstone came pack with a fairly clean analysis with heightened silicon values being the only area of concern. Adds up considering the car has an AEM intake+filter and was just resealed with Hondabond RTV during the timing service. No additives were ever used in the oil of this car.
I'm confused on what is going on here, almost all the timing parts are ferrous metals, the oil filter pleats looked extremely clean and had no large flakes of metal - nothing abnormal for a 100k mile motor (I recall 2-3 specs not more than 1mm in size). I did however find an extremely small piece of what appeared to be scotchbrite-like material, about 0.5-1mm in diameter (not shown). The magnetic drain plug had some ferrous sludge on it, but nothing severe - just a small bulb near the top, which I suspect is from the new timing component break-in. I'm confused on what these glitter particles are since the filter isn't capturing it (so I suspect they are less than 30 or so micron?). When rubbing the oil on my fingers, no grit can be felt, it just feels like oil. I was not able to filter out the particles with a coffee filter; they are still present in the oil after it's strained.
Photos
Blackstone Analysis
Filter Pleats (hard to see, but tried to circle the bigger particles that I found)
Extra Sampled Oil under Light (biggest particle on the top is piece of dust I visually saw fall in)
Conclusion
At this point I'm confused and unsure of what's going on. Some say what I'm seeing is normal, some say otherwise. The only thing I can do is keep driving the car around and hope for the best.. I guess AutoX will need to wait again.
If this is insoluble metal in the oil, I'm annoyed that such meticulous care with quality oils + filters can still lead to this at 102k miles.
I want to hear your thoughts! There's a lot of content in here, so I missed anything, just let me know!
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