Sand in my engine oil.... *UPDATE*

[Time2Kill]

UPDATE
Just a quick update on the problem...

Coolant found its way into the oil. I'm not exactly sure how it got in there, the head gaskets didn't show any signs of failure/leaks. All the tops of the pistons are fried and flaking. That is where most of the metal chunks are coming from. Piston skirts are marked up and worn, piston rings have all sorts of crud in them. All the bearings through out the motor are gone. Most of them show signs of heavy wear and burn marks.

Havn't been able to check out cam/crank yet (can't get crank pulley off), but the lifters looked fine. Cylinder walls looked fine to the naked eye, but I'm taking the block in to be checked out. Also, the screen on the oil pump had all sorts of gasket material plugged up in it and the bottom of the oil pan had some nice chunks of metal in it along with all sorts of fine metal shavings.


Original post

Hey guys...I have '02 Camaro SS and have a small problem....

Last October when I did a head and cam swap, I noticed sand in the lifter guides. I took them all out and there was sand and crap in them all. I cleaned them out the best I could and put all the lifters and guides back in. There was also some gunk in the cylinders, but I figured it was just from taking the heads off and the coolant going everywhere. Ever since I did the head/cam swap, there was been a nasty tick in my engine and I always thought it was a bad lifter. I really never gave any of this a second thought until now.
Today I was checking my engine oil (about 2000 miles on Royal Purple) and it was black and kind of thick. I ran about the last inch of the dipstick between my finger and thumb and the oil was all gritty and had several big grains of sand in it. After driving the car around some, I did it again and the oil is still coming off the dipstick with grit in it that feels like sand. Last time I changed my oil it came out thick and there was a lot of black sludge on the end of the oil pan drain bolt. None of it seemed like metal shavings...it was just a sludge.

Since I did the cam swap, I have put on about between 8000 to 10000 miles. I have been using Royal Purple oil and doing oil changes every 3 to 4 thousand miles after the break in.

What kind of damage, if any, can I expect from the sand in the oil like that? Where could it be coming from? What should I do about it?

Thanks

 

[Shaftatplanetquake]

I gotta say that it doesn't sound good at all.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Sand will destroy your engine, & rather quickly...

Have you modified your intake system & does it have a leak somewhere that allows grit to bypass the air filter?

 

[Bignate603]

Get it off the road as soon as possible, get it checked for a leak and get your car's system flushed. Sand will rub throughout the system and tear everything apart, fast.

 

[HEMIFREAK]

you have enemies

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: HEMIFREAK
you have enemies

LOL! My thoughts exactly.

It is definately NOT normal, and it will destroy your engine VERY quickly. You may have a leak in your intake system.

Your oil situation doesen't sound normal, either. Royal Purple should NOT be thick, black and sludgy after 3k miles..

Honestly, I wouldn't expect your engine to last much longer...

 

[Howard]

Check your oil filter?

 

[MikeA]

I don't think that's sand. It's actually the insides of your engine that are in your oil. Little bits of metal that brake and rub off into the oil. I thought it only happened if the oil has not been changed regularly, but I guess not. This is difinitely not good and I suggest you talk to a GM mechanic!

BTW, very nice car. I love the Camaro SS. The Monte Carlo will have to do for a couple more years though, now if I could drop an LS1 in there...

 

[amdskip]

take a magnet after cutting the oil filter open with a hack saw and see if the filings are metal

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: amdskip
take a magnet after cutting the oil filter open with a hack saw and see if the filings are metal

It could work, but a lot of the metals in modern engines won't be attracted by a magnet.

What viscosity oil are you using? Where do you live?

 

[Time2Kill]

Originally posted by: MikeA
I don't think that's sand. It's actually the insides of your engine that are in your oil. Little bits of metal that brake and rub off into the oil. I thought it only happened if the oil has not been changed regularly, but I guess not. This is difinitely not good and I suggest you talk to a GM mechanic!

BTW, very nice car. I love the Camaro SS. The Monte Carlo will have to do for a couple more years though, now if I could drop an LS1 in there...

It is sand....I can see the grains of sand. And I highly doubt there would still be metal shavings that big. I have 23K miles on the car.

 

[Squisher]

WOW, a '02 Camaro SS, you da man.

Is this block sand cast? There could have been a void filled with sand that is breaking apart. Hey, I don't know, but that car has got to be a lot of fun to drive.

 

[T2T III]

Just a question: You have a 2002 Camaro SS (which was still under warranty) and then you proceeded to do a head and cam swap?

 

[Time2Kill]

Originally posted by: wje
Just a question: You have a 2002 Camaro SS (which was still under warranty) and then you proceeded to do a head and cam swap?

I wasn't worried about warrenty. I bought this car to race it...drive it like it was meant to be. I bought it with the plans of building it up. And my warrenty will be out by the end of the summer anyways because I have so many miles on it.

 

[Angrymarshmello]

Originally posted by: wje
Just a question: You have a 2002 Camaro SS (which was still under warranty) and then you proceeded to do a head and cam swap?

Some cars are meant to be driven, some are meant to be babied. Gotta pay to play though

Well you could look at it this way: you just did a poor man's extrude honing. Ok ok bad time to make a joke. Better get your car to a good mechanic and have the block disassembled to see what got messed up

 

[boyRacer]

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH

Originally posted by: wje
Just a question: You have a 2002 Camaro SS (which was still under warranty) and then you proceeded to do a head and cam swap?

Some cars are meant to be driven, some are meant to be babied. Gotta pay to play though

Well you could look at it this way: you just did a poor man's extrude honing. Ok ok bad time to make a joke. Better get your car to a good mechanic and have the block disassembled to see what got messed up

Ouch... so early too... oh well time to spend some more money on it since you're gonna take it apart anyway.

 

[Squisher]

Originally posted by: Time2Kill

Originally posted by: wje
Just a question: You have a 2002 Camaro SS (which was still under warranty) and then you proceeded to do a head and cam swap?

I wasn't worried about warrenty. I bought this car to race it...drive it like it was meant to be. I bought it with the plans of building it up. And my warrenty will be out by the end of the summer anyways because I have so many miles on it.

?

You've been race'n this thing for 18K mi. so far? Musta been a hella ride?

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: Time2Kill

Originally posted by: MikeA
I don't think that's sand. It's actually the insides of your engine that are in your oil. Little bits of metal that brake and rub off into the oil. I thought it only happened if the oil has not been changed regularly, but I guess not. This is difinitely not good and I suggest you talk to a GM mechanic!

BTW, very nice car. I love the Camaro SS. The Monte Carlo will have to do for a couple more years though, now if I could drop an LS1 in there...

It is sand....I can see the grains of sand. And I highly doubt there would still be metal shavings that big. I have 23K miles on the car.

you have enemies dude. how else would you explain how sand gets in an Engine?

 

[Time2Kill]

Originally posted by: Squisher

Originally posted by: Time2Kill

Originally posted by: wje
Just a question: You have a 2002 Camaro SS (which was still under warranty) and then you proceeded to do a head and cam swap?

I wasn't worried about warrenty. I bought this car to race it...drive it like it was meant to be. I bought it with the plans of building it up. And my warrenty will be out by the end of the summer anyways because I have so many miles on it.

?

You've been race'n this thing for 18K mi. so far? Musta been a hella ride?

I just turned 23K last week

 

[Time2Kill]

Originally posted by: XFILE

Originally posted by: Time2Kill

Originally posted by: MikeA
I don't think that's sand. It's actually the insides of your engine that are in your oil. Little bits of metal that brake and rub off into the oil. I thought it only happened if the oil has not been changed regularly, but I guess not. This is difinitely not good and I suggest you talk to a GM mechanic!

BTW, very nice car. I love the Camaro SS. The Monte Carlo will have to do for a couple more years though, now if I could drop an LS1 in there...

It is sand....I can see the grains of sand. And I highly doubt there would still be metal shavings that big. I have 23K miles on the car.

you have enemies dude. how else would you explain how sand gets in an Engine?

I lock my car EVERYWHERE I go and my car is also garage kept. Plus I have no enemies (at least none that I know of) that would mess with my car like that.

 

[Squisher]

Originally posted by: Time2Kill

Originally posted by: Squisher

Originally posted by: Time2Kill

Originally posted by: wje
Just a question: You have a 2002 Camaro SS (which was still under warranty) and then you proceeded to do a head and cam swap?

I wasn't worried about warrenty. I bought this car to race it...drive it like it was meant to be. I bought it with the plans of building it up. And my warrenty will be out by the end of the summer anyways because I have so many miles on it.

?

You've been race'n this thing for 18K mi. so far? Musta been a hella ride?

I just turned 23K last week

JEEZ, the wife's Z's got 11.5K and she's had it since May, and we've had it parked since Nov., but I thought that was too much.

BTW-I took it out week ago for a couple of days

 

[Pacfanweb]

As someone mentioned earlier, if nobody actually put the sand in there, it is most likely from the casting of the block. You can find this sand in a lot of engine's coolant passages, but not as common for it to be in the oil area.
It is likely to cause/be causing lots of damage. You need to tear the engine down NOW, to avoid further damage.


Oh, one other place it could be coming from, is from the head swap.....those heads could have had sand in them. Also, I've seen grit from gasket removal bits for air grinders get inside an engine and basically do the same thing. Good reason not to use them when the engine is still in the vehicle. They are the ones that are big, round grinding pads.

Go ahead and break it down....while you're at it, throw a stroker crank kit in there.

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: Time2Kill

Originally posted by: XFILE

Originally posted by: Time2Kill

Originally posted by: MikeA
I don't think that's sand. It's actually the insides of your engine that are in your oil. Little bits of metal that brake and rub off into the oil. I thought it only happened if the oil has not been changed regularly, but I guess not. This is difinitely not good and I suggest you talk to a GM mechanic!

BTW, very nice car. I love the Camaro SS. The Monte Carlo will have to do for a couple more years though, now if I could drop an LS1 in there...

It is sand....I can see the grains of sand. And I highly doubt there would still be metal shavings that big. I have 23K miles on the car.

you have enemies dude. how else would you explain how sand gets in an Engine?

I lock my car EVERYWHERE I go and my car is also garage kept. Plus I have no enemies (at least none that I know of) that would mess with my car like that.

so how do you explain sand in your engine? unless you drove it on the beach?

 

[Kanalua]

I would hav to go with the "enemies" explanation... That would have to be the easiest explanation...I can't see how sand, in Michigan, could enter your engine through air intake, or other mechanical means...

 

[Time2Kill]

I have some bad news

I drained the oil today and cut open the oil filter and there was all sorts of metal shavings and metal chunks through it all. I was finding slivers of metal up 1/8x3/8" big in the oil filter with plenty of small metal shavings. On the end of the oil drain plug was a big gob of silver metal sludge.

When I drained the oil, I used a brand new cleaned out oil pan. After it was done draining, I ran my hand across the bottom of the pan and all I could feel was grit. So something is obviously wrong inside the motor.

I'll try and post some pics of the metal shavings.


Any ideas on what I should do now? I highly doubt the dealer will touch the car because of the heads/cam combo. And a couple of engine guys I showed the shavings to think that it is coming from the Cam and the bearings on the crank and cam.