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

[NutBucket]

I suppose you could throw the stock heads and cam back on there. I can't say I condone this but the other alternative sounds expensive. Time to bore and stroke that bad boy🙂

 

[Angrymarshmello]

You could always contact the manufacturer of the cams - tell them your situation and that your almost positive the problems are from their cams. They probably won't do anything and deny it all, saying their products are top of the line and what not, but it doesn't hurt to give them a shout.

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: 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.

If I were you I would get a tetanus shot before you attempt anything else.

 

[MikeA]

"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!"

"Originally posted by: Time2Kill
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."

Then...

"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."


I hate to say this, but I was right. Helps to listen to others sometimes, instead of telling them their wrong and you are sure it's what you say (sand)... now that we believe Mike, lets go see a real mechanic and get it fixed.

 

[JEDI]

goto a car rental place, rent out a '02 Camaro SS and swap engines? 🙂

 

[LordRaiden]

Dude, get someone to professionally clean your engine. You need to clean every square inch of that car, lifters, oil pan and all. It's no longer safe to drive.

 

[T2T III]

Originally posted by: XFILE
goto a car rental place, rent out a '02 Camaro SS and swap engines? 🙂

If you could locate one, it would have well over 25K on the odometer. Plus, we all know how well rental cars are drive, right? 😉

 

[Ladies Man]

i say but the original stuff back on that baby and ship it off to the dealer...

I didn't touch it 😕

 

[CraigRT]

Thats brutal, I am not sure if the dealer would help. You would probably have to prove that you did NOTHING to cause this.. I am not even sure if it would work then.. they'd probably say, stop treating the car like crap or some lame excuse.. I'm stumped, but definitely talk to the dealer and see what they say... that CAN'T be good for it.

 

[XCLAN]

Originally posted by: Ladies Man
i say but the original stuff back on that baby and ship it off to the dealer...

I didn't touch it 😕

the only sane reasonable advice here.

 

[T2T III]

Originally posted by: XCLAN

Originally posted by: Ladies Man
i say but the original stuff back on that baby and ship it off to the dealer...

I didn't touch it 😕

the only sane reasonable advice here.

But, even then, I think the service department would notice something "fishy." It's kind of hard to truly put a car engine back into the condition that it once was in. The service department will see some socket marks on the bolts or something like that in order to disqualify the repair.

 

[Ladies Man]

worth a shot

 

[idNut]

Someone poured sand into my sister's 2001 Z24 Cavalier which destroyed the engine within hours. She replaced it and she never found out who did it. Costed her $6K. I'd say get to a mechanic ASAP but it sounds as if you already are one so why are you posting here?

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: wje

Originally posted by: XCLAN

Originally posted by: Ladies Man
i say but the original stuff back on that baby and ship it off to the dealer...

I didn't touch it 😕

the only sane reasonable advice here.

But, even then, I think the service department would notice something "fishy." It's kind of hard to truly put a car engine back into the condition that it once was in. The service department will see some socket marks on the bolts or something like that in order to disqualify the repair.

go on a saturday. from my experience, the guys who work on weekends arent as bright 😛

also, you would never know unless you tried. unless of course you are embarassed about getting caught. here's my advice for that scenario, what can they do besides say no? it's not like they are going to slash your tires or something. there's no penalty for trying to get away with it.

 

[SuperSix]

Are you sure it's sand? And not the new cam grinding itself to pieces because it wasn't installed/broken in properly?

Did you ever notice the "sand" in the oil before the head/cam swap?

 

[MikeA]

Originally posted by: SuperSix
Are you sure it's sand? And not the new cam grinding itself to pieces because it wasn't installed/broken in properly?

Did you ever notice the "sand" in the oil before the head/cam swap?

This has already been answered. Try reading a couple posts above.

 

[Time2Kill]

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.

 

[Thegonagle]

Woah. It looks like it's time to "undo" all those mods and bring the car in for warranty service. IMHO, that engine is too good on average to be disintegrating yet. Must be one of those GM "flukes," AKA, Monday cars.

Good luck.

 

[stspad]

you're not a cop by chance are you ;]

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: Time2Kill
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.

The tops of your pistons were flaking apart?

That's insane. :Q