small black particles in new Castrol GTX

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Well, if it makes you feel better, run the new oil thru a 3 ply coffee filter and let it strain on thru. Oh, wait... then you'd be concerned a-boot cellulose contamination in the oil. Maybe you could "boil" the oil until you'd be sure to kill-off all those nasty bacteria, viruses, and perhaps even a fungi or two. Wait, wait wait... then you'd be concerned a-boot thermal and viscosity break-down. Ah, rats! A guy can't win, can he?


As far as my concerns go - ummm yeah, a qt of oil every 1000 mikes IS a legit concern. So is a question about oil temps and thermal breakdown, and such.


Hey! I know... why doncha taste the oil and report back on it's bouquet, the palet, and the finish? Oh! Oh! and don't forget to mention what vintage the oil is too...


Seriously....... PAXIL

I'M_NOT_KIDDING.....

Is it clear now???
 
Originally Posted By: DinoOil
Well, if it makes you feel better, run the new oil thru a 3 ply coffee filter and let it strain on thru. Oh, wait... then you'd be concerned a-boot cellulose contamination in the oil. Maybe you could "boil" the oil until you'd be sure to kill-off all those nasty bacteria, viruses, and perhaps even a fungi or two. Wait, wait wait... then you'd be concerned a-boot thermal and viscosity break-down. Ah, rats! A guy can't win, can he?


As far as my concerns go - ummm yeah, a qt of oil every 1000 mikes IS a legit concern. So is a question about oil temps and thermal breakdown, and such.


Hey! I know... why doncha taste the oil and report back on it's bouquet, the palet, and the finish? Oh! Oh! and don't forget to mention what vintage the oil is too...


Seriously....... PAXIL

I'M_NOT_KIDDING.....

Is it clear now???


Gentlemen, holster your weapons. Let's settle this over a drink.
cheers3.gif
 
Originally Posted By: DinoOil
Well, if it makes you feel better, run the new oil thru a 3 ply coffee filter and let it strain on thru. Oh, wait... then you'd be concerned a-boot cellulose contamination in the oil. Maybe you could "boil" the oil until you'd be sure to kill-off all those nasty bacteria, viruses, and perhaps even a fungi or two. Wait, wait wait... then you'd be concerned a-boot thermal and viscosity break-down. Ah, rats! A guy can't win, can he?


As far as my concerns go - ummm yeah, a qt of oil every 1000 mikes IS a legit concern. So is a question about oil temps and thermal breakdown, and such.


Hey! I know... why doncha taste the oil and report back on it's bouquet, the palet, and the finish? Oh! Oh! and don't forget to mention what vintage the oil is too...


Seriously....... PAXIL

I'M_NOT_KIDDING.....

Is it clear now???


Well... hmm... for starters, I'm an American, so the Canadian mockery is misplaced on me. I'm sure the Canadians on here get a kick out of it though.

Second, I ask a legit, honest question about whether something in my oil is normal and that makes me crazy. This is an oil website, right?

So, I guess if you had a handful of sand in the bottom of a quart of oil, you'd just throw 'er in the old Crown Vic anyway, because, hey, wouldn't want to think about it right? Let alone possibly learn something.

You've been on this forum since Christmas and you've already found the time to mock, what, 5 or 6 members? Karma (or the mods) will eventually catch up to you, dude.
 
Originally Posted By: pentode
Originally Posted By: GSCJR
I also recently found that in a bottle of GTX. I had to shake it for awhile to free it all up and dumped it into the engine. SFSG.


Lots of interesting responses to my question, and a couple along this same line of thinking... So, at least for some of you guys, you are pretty certain that everything that made it into the bottle belongs in the engine? Are oil packaging processes so reliable that there's really no reason to worry, whatever seems to be in there? Do additives precipitate from oil like this (color, shape, varied size and all)?


Back to constructive comments.

Yes, there was a posts here once from a member here who work in quality control of a oil of one of the large oil companies, and he was adamant that there are lots of checks at every stage (including random sampling after packaging) to make sure no contaminated oil ever leaves the line.

Why don't you test whether the "particles" will redissolve if you add some more oil (of the same type) to the bottle and warm and shake it. Perhaps even try mashing them (and the oil) between you fingers and see if it re-suspends. I still think it sounds like add pack coming out of suspension.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: pentode
You've been on this forum since Christmas and you've already found the time to mock, what, 5 or 6 members? Karma (or the mods) will eventually catch up to you, dude.


Yes, it will.
thumbsup2.gif
 
Originally Posted By: KeMBro2012

Gentlemen, holster your weapons. Let's settle this over a drink.
cheers3.gif



Cheers KeMBro2012 and all the other kind folks who advised me on this issue!
 
Originally Posted By: uart
Originally Posted By: pentode
Originally Posted By: GSCJR
I also recently found that in a bottle of GTX. I had to shake it for awhile to free it all up and dumped it into the engine. SFSG.


Lots of interesting responses to my question, and a couple along this same line of thinking... So, at least for some of you guys, you are pretty certain that everything that made it into the bottle belongs in the engine? Are oil packaging processes so reliable that there's really no reason to worry, whatever seems to be in there? Do additives precipitate from oil like this (color, shape, varied size and all)?


Back to constructive comments.

Yes, there was a posts here once from a member here who work in quality control of a oil of one of the large oil companies, and he was adamant that there are lots of checks at every stage (including random sampling after packaging) to make sure no contaminated oil ever leaves the line.

Why don't you test whether the "particles" will redissolve if you add some more oil (of the same type) to the bottle and warm and shake it. Perhaps even try mashing them (and the oil) between you fingers and see if it re-suspends. I still think it sounds like add pack coming out of suspension.


The issue I have is that there's about .5 of a liter left in my container, and since Castrol have asked to have the whole thing back for testing, I've been contemplating how to get any of the particles out without possibly adding more contaminants. I'd like them to have a good honest sample because I'd like a good honest answer about what's in there. A further complication is that while the little bits aren't attached to the bottom, they're not really suspended in the oil either- they're sort of stuck in a kind of "boundary layer" at the bottom. The best analogy I can come up with is trying to get a tiny piece of eggshell out of a bowl of freshly cracked eggs- the bits kind of want to evade you and stay near the sides of the container. At this point it's basically intellectual curiosity, but hey, I've come this far.

I _have_ given the container a good shake, and the particles don't show any signs of dissolving, but I remember enough high-school chemistry to know why that doesn't mean much... I may be able to warm it a bit and try again.
 
Here`s a pic of the sandy stuff in my Valvoline jug. You can barely see it in the pic (it`s the small dots you can see on the bottom of the jug):

2aqqaf.jpg
 
Of course you are not kidding. Anybody knows that someone who talks about Paxil never kids. With the expected snow here in NY we could all use some....what is the name again...Paxil got it, I heard in some areas you might not need a prescription but that is just a rumor. As far as replys remember you are on the internet in fact always remember that!
smirk.gif
aquote=DinoOil]Get a prescription for Paxil. Then go find a psychiatrist.





I'm not kidding.... [/quote]
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Here`s a pic of the sandy stuff in my Valvoline jug. You can barely see it in the pic (it`s the small dots you can see on the bottom of the jug):

2aqqaf.jpg



Yup, that seems to be exactly what I found in mine... although there were a few bits that were larger. For the most part, exactly the same.

So, additives that have precipitated out?
 
Originally Posted By: pentode
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Here`s a pic of the sandy stuff in my Valvoline jug. You can barely see it in the pic (it`s the small dots you can see on the bottom of the jug):

2aqqaf.jpg



Yup, that seems to be exactly what I found in mine... although there were a few bits that were larger. For the most part, exactly the same.

So, additives that have precipitated out?



Most likely.
 
Seen something similar in castrol edge ti. This looked silver and like pasty gritty stuff. Almost like what's on the tip of a magnetic drain plug for a lack of better explanation. I thought it was the ti. Anyone??
 
Originally Posted By: Cuda70383
Seen something similar in castrol edge ti. This looked silver and like pasty gritty stuff. Almost like what's on the tip of a magnetic drain plug for a lack of better explanation. I thought it was the ti. Anyone??


Try this:
Code:
Shake shake shake,

shake shake shake,

shake your booty!

blush.gif
 
Originally Posted By: uart
Originally Posted By: Cuda70383
Seen something similar in castrol edge ti. This looked silver and like pasty gritty stuff. Almost like what's on the tip of a magnetic drain plug for a lack of better explanation. I thought it was the ti. Anyone??


Try this:
Code:
Shake shake shake,

shake shake shake,

shake your booty!

blush.gif




Yep there ya go!! ^^ I just cant get in the habit of shaking my oil jugs before I add the oil. (and yes, I said jugs) Eeeeeeeee, eehahahaha.
 
Originally Posted By: pentode
Was doing an oil change today (at -20C!) and after having poured most of a brand new, sealed 4.4 liter container of Castrol GTX 5w30 into my car, I happened to look inside the container and noticed that there was a fair amount of small black particles at the bottom of the white plastic container. They range in size from just big enough to see to ~1mm in length. The larger particles are long and thin, very much like 1mm long pieces of human hair. As far as I could tell, they're mostly clinging loosely to the bottom of the container- there don't seem to be many/any particles suspended in the oil.

Has anyone out there ever seen this type of thing in new oil before? Any guesses as what it's likely to be? I called Castrol customer service and asked the same questions and was told to drain the oil and replace it, without even taking a guess as to what it might be. Replacing the oil at this point means an hour walk in -20C weather, which obviously is something I'd rather avoid if this is likely to either be nothing important or something the filter will pick up. I just can't recall seeing this in any of my previous couple hundred oil changes.

Thanks!


They are spots in your eyes. Go get checked out.
 
Originally Posted By: MolaKule
A formulated and blended oil with the proper amount of dispersant should NOT allow any additives to drop out, no matter the temperature.

It could possibly be some small plastic particles from the bottling machinery or even from some new tooling.

Take your own VOA and send it in to Ryan at Blackstone and tell them in the remarks section what you found.


Mobil say that keeping oil cool and dry are the key conditions to control degradation and additive drop out
 
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