Metal flecks in oil filter

[Anonymous]

I've just changed my oil filter for the second time, so this is the first one I actually installed myself. It's a 1981 GS550 with about 17,500 on it (indicated). I've got about 2500 miles on this filter.

Just for grins, I cut the filter element out off of the metal housing and unfolded it to look at what's been removed.

There were dozens of small metal flecks trapped in the folds, each fleck smaller than the head of a pin, some of them only visible when they caught the light just right.

The flecks SEEMED non magnetic ... at least I couldn't pick them up with my handy rare earth magnet, but they might have been small enough that the oil tension was enough to stick it to the filter. But I don't think so.

So ... how much excess metal do you normally find in YOUR oil filters?

--Mitch

[Anonymous]

After picking through those bits a little more carefully, and transferring them to a clean sheet of paper, I can definitely tell that they ARE magnetic, so I'm thinking they're little bits of transmission sluffed off from lazy shifting.

--Mitch

[focus frenzy]

ferrous bits in the filter is not a good sign, keep a close eye on it and listen closly for any unusual noises and be more carefull with your shifts.

[Anonymous]

Try dropping the sump pan off and then you can inspect your gearbox and clean the oil pickup strainer at the same time.

[Anonymous]

Be careful there mate cos once they start making metal they very rarely stop it on their own.

[Anonymous]

Eep. Well, that doesn't sound encouraging at all. Of course, metal in the filter couldn't be a particularly GOOD sign...

Well, I guess I'll put tracking down a new oil pan gasket on my to-do list, and drop the oil pan once that comes in.

This is my first bike, and the one I did most of my learning on. You know, shifting down in to first instead of up in to third. Lazy shifts. False neutrals. All that stuff.

I'm now going to play around with including links to metal flakes sitting on a penny (for scale)

http://www.mitchn.com/suzuki_gs550/metal_flakes.jpg

There are two of the largest flakes above & below the lincoln memorial
One brownish flake is on the right hand side of the lincoln memorial, and a slightly larger than average sized flake rests bewteen the 5th and 6th pillars from the right.

--Mitch

[redliner1973]

I dont know about yours, but mine has a magnetic drain plug, which always has a very small amount of very small fuzz. if you have one on yours, and you still have flakes that big, take a look at your camshafts also, as they are ferric and could be wearing abnormally.

[Anonymous]

Ah, yes. The camshaft incident. Much as it pains me to confess, I turned the engine over by hand without a shim in the bucket of a couple of valves. It turns out that the cam lobe catches the corner of the bucket and deforms the edge of the cam slightly.

So that would qualify as a one time abnormal wear item. I cleaned up the edge as best I could with some emery cloth, and checked after a couple of days. Things looked OK, so I figured it wasn't a catastrophic error. BUT, I may have missed some of the metal tailings that were the result of that, and might have gotten chewed up in the transmission and ended up in the filter. But other than that, the cam lobes looked very smooth & good.

I'll definitely check the filter sooner rather than later and check for additional flakes, as well as try to order a new oil pan gasket & drop that for a quick look-see...

--Mitch

[redliner1973]

Ah, yes. The camshaft incident. Much as it pains me to confess, I turned the engine over by hand without a shim in the bucket of a couple of valves. It turns out that the cam lobe catches the corner of the bucket and deforms the edge of the cam slightly.

So that would qualify as a one time abnormal wear item. I cleaned up the edge as best I could with some emery cloth, and checked after a couple of days. Things looked OK, so I figured it wasn't a catastrophic error. BUT, I may have missed some of the metal tailings that were the result of that, and might have gotten chewed up in the transmission and ended up in the filter. But other than that, the cam lobes looked very smooth & good.

I'll definitely check the filter sooner rather than later and check for additional flakes, as well as try to order a new oil pan gasket & drop that for a quick look-see...

--Mitch

Well, if that is the case, I would definately change the oil again to make sure all the flakes are removed, and watch things closely thereafter.

[Don Lobacz]

Usually the metal flakes do a good job of settling down into the oil pan or sticking to the magnetic drain plug. One other problem with finding hard metal shavings in the oil filter is realizing that they passed through the oil pump. It doesn't take much in that close tolerance environment to reduce oil pressure (I found that out by way of a Yamaha). It may be a good idea to check the oil pressure (it's pretty easy with the right gauge).

[redliner1973]

post back on what the next oil/filter change looks like...