Should I worry? Metallic engine oil.

[vwstef]

Hi guys and girls,

Last year I finished my 71 baywindow camper van project. I took it on a short little vacation and only drove about 350 km. After I came back from the trip starten changing the oil and found this:

There are some things to keep in mind with this engine:
- I'm a better welder then a engine builder....
- after rebuilding the engine I left It without oil for more then a year in my workshop... not smart.
- the cilinderheads are brand new.
- I did not change the engine bearings.
- the pistons and cylinders came from a friend who used them on his beetle but went for an even bigger engine. The pistons and cylinders have about 10000 km on them.
- someone tuned the engine for me and did the valves but when I checked them after my trip some where more double the normal valve distance.

I know that you can find this when you run a engine in but the pistons and cylinders are not New and its quit a lot of metallic powder.

I'm very curious what you guys think. All the help is appreciated.

Greetings Stef

[vwstef]

Forget about the last picture. There is metallic dust in the oil drop but I think that's from the engine paint job.

[busdaddy]

350 km on the first batch of oil on a fresh rebuild often looks like that, see what it looks like next change.
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[aeromech]

Did you happen to sand blast the engine? Looks like media might have gotten inside the workings
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[Cap10323]

[raygreenwood]

Except for the grainy chunks in the valve cover.......it looks like oil looks when a lot of molybdenum disulfide paste was used as assembly lube and/or also when pistons, cam and bearings were anti friction coated.

If its running fine....check compression and valve adjustment....change oil and see wjat you get next oil change as others have noted.

Ray

[aeromech]

In 1987 I took my assembled engine case into work and bead blasted it after covering all the openings (I thought). Looked brand new. Finished out the engine and began running it. Soon I found my engine oil looked like this guys. Oops! I was machining my engine from the inside out with media grit. Dumb move on my part.
_________________
Lead Mechanic: San Diego Air and Space Museum
Licensed Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic
Licensed Pilot (Single engine Land)
Boeing 727,737-200-300-400,757,767
Airbus A319,320,321
DC9/MD80
BAe146
Fokker F28/F100
VW type 1 1962,63,65,69,72
VW Type 2 1971 (3 ea.) 1978, 1969
VW Jetta
VW Passat
Capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound

[Cap10323]

[aeromech]

The engine came completely apart and repaired. It was a long time ago so I forget the details.
_________________
Lead Mechanic: San Diego Air and Space Museum
Licensed Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic
Licensed Pilot (Single engine Land)
Boeing 727,737-200-300-400,757,767
Airbus A319,320,321
DC9/MD80
BAe146
Fokker F28/F100
VW type 1 1962,63,65,69,72
VW Type 2 1971 (3 ea.) 1978, 1969
VW Jetta
VW Passat
Capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound

[bsairhead]

Did you use Moly-paste as an assembly lube? Do a light weight oil change, warm up no load. Twice. It can be low cost oil as I see you live in an expensive oil cost area of the world. I know of guys that use 50-50 oil and diesel fuel to clean engine internals but I would not recommend it.

[SGKent]

oil additives or as some others have said, moly paste can look like that. I'd change the oil twice, basically put in a cheap oil the first time, run it 5 - 10 minutes then drain it, and put in good oil. Change it again in 500 miles and see what it is like.
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[DerLuftkuhler]

edit: i have T1 engine

I would advise to check your pushrods first, as it is a relatively fast and easy operation. They may have had contact with the pushrod tubes if the original style tubes have bent while torquing the head, which will obviously result in metal particles in oil like you have.

Here is how my pushrods looked like (the two in the middle had made contact) and there was silver metallic stuff on the oil just like you had, maybe not that much though, but yeah why not check it first..

[timvw7476]

yeah that's either break in paste from camshaft or timing gear powder.
not to worry, if it's timing gear powder you have maybe 8,500 miles of happy motoring, minus the 350km you've already put on. Pulling the oil pump & looking in the timing gear area might solve the mystery. But I prefer driving.

[Abscate]

Do two more 800 km trips/ distances with oil changes after each.

Then post back your nice clean oil and be happy.
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