Metal flakes in oil...possible causes?

MyEarsHurt

New Member
May 21, 2004
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Well, I changed my oil today and when I was looking at the old oil, I noticed metal flakes in it! I wanted to cry and scream and just break down and cry! The car has almost 60,000 miles on it. What could be the possible cause of this? Is it something that I should be majorly concerned with? Like start looking for new parts concerned, or what? If that is the case, what are the common parts that would leave metal flakes in your oil. The main block? Pistons? I dont know, you tell me. Thanks for the help.
 
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You describe them as flakes so if they are very shinny flakes then you are looking at bearing material- cam, crank, or rod bearings. The core cause of that type of break down would be an oil issue.
You can send an oil sample or your entire oil filter to an oil manufacture to have their lab examine the contents in you sample and they will tell you exactly what the mysterious metal is. We have done this in the past by just giving our sample to our Mobile oil rep and he would take care of the rest.