Tiny Metal Specks in Oil in v-6, 4.0

Just changed my oil into an old, dirty pan and afterwards found tiny metal specks in it…a ton of them! Some of the specks had clumped together to like a larger fleck but upon rubbing with my fingers, disintegrated into the smaller parts again.

There are no other noticeable symptoms. My engine runs strong and smoothly. Sometimes at a lights, RPM's will vary a little bit but no "knocks" or any weird noices.

Since I change oil regularly (every 3-6k), my primary suspect for the cause is a head gasket job done 80k ago, which required milling the heads.

So here's my two main questions: should I be worried? should I bring it in to have someone diagnose it for me?

Thanks!

 

Cut open the filter and check the pleats

 

I was thinking about that and I likely will. But what would that show me? Is the purpose to see how prolific the issue is?

 

Oil analysis time?

 

I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean. I've never even heard of that term before. Can I take my old oil to someone and they can give me a point-by-point breakdown of what's going on? Who would I bring it to?

 

How many miles since you did the oil change? I would put on a couple hundred miles than do another oil change into a clean oil catch pan and also do an oil analysis through Blackstone - this will show what metals are present in your oil and can determine the type of metal that is wearing down e.g. aluminum, bearing material etc. Did you install the milled heads yourself?, they should of been prestinely cleaned before install. How many oil changes since the heads were milled?

 

Check out Blackstone Laboratories online and they explain all the things they can find through their oil analysis including metal wear, and other pollutants in your oil that can point you in the direction of internal engine issues.

 

https://www.blackstone-labs.com/

The analysis will let you know the composition of the metal to give you an idea of where it originates along with the health of your used oil.

I haven’t done it myself but a lot of Tundra owners do.

 

Awesome questions. 1) 5800 miles. 2) good idea. I'll try that. 3) Nope, I did not. A shop did it for me. 4) It was 80,000 miles ago, so close to 20

 

My big reco here would be: Start changing your own oil. It's such an easy job to do, and there's even easy-drain plugs these days you can buy and install that offer no-mess draining. If you need tips, advice, encouragement, holler. We're all here to help.

 

You said you collected the oil in a dirty oil pan, if so how do you know what came out of your motor, unless I'm not understanding your post. Cutting your filter apart and seeing what is trapped inside will tell a story though. If that's not possible, catch some oil coming out of the engine next oil change and send it to Blackstone. Collect it as it flows out of the engine, don't dip into the catch pan as that will be contaminated if the pan was dirty.

 

Maybe check the flecks with a magnet as well. I've changed fluids before and seen what appeared to be bright glittery metal in the pan, only to find that it wasn't magnetic at all but some sort of plasticky crud. Still not sure where it originated from, but nothing bad ended up happening. +1 to the potential pan contamination as well. I'm usually moving at a good pace when I'm servicing my truck, and not really checking my old dirty pan beforehand. Not a bad idea to change the oil again at a shorter interval, make sure the pan is 100% clean, and check again for metal.

 

20 oil changes? And you never noticed anything in the oil?