Very fine metal in my oil

Mechanics and gear heads often call it "Glitter Rainbow", and it is very common to see it on the first few oil changes on a new, or rebuilt, engine.

If it continues after 2-3 oil changes, then it's time to be concerned.

 

My first Blackstone Labs report from last week. At 5725 mi. they report Aluminum level within expected limits at this point of break in. $35 gives you good piece of mind to what’s really happening in there. Results took 5 weeks but may have been due to the Holidays. Next change will be the free one at the dealer at 10K.

 

Posted this in the other thread but perhaps more fitting here since I put up the first post.



Update: Just did another oil change at 4,150 miles. The oil had about 1,900 miles on it and honestly looked much darker than I would have thought. I did tow 2 times with about (5k lbs and 8k lbs) about 50 miles total each time.

Used Pennzoil Platinum 0w-20 with OEM Filter.

I still had "glitter" but I believe it was less than before. How much less? I don't know. I was just observing what I could at the bottom of the pan. It did seem gritty and I am quite disappointed the OEM filter did not catch all this.

I cut the filter open and didn't notice any larger specs like I did on the 2nd oil change. The dealer did the first one so who knows what came out.

So all in all I think the glitter is slowly going away and I am happy about that. Seems like after 4k miles the engine is still being broken in. Moving forward I will switch to either Purolator Boss or WixXP.

 

At this early milage, there's nothing Blackstone will tell you that you don't already know. Wait for a few more oil changes to see if it'll improve

 

From what others have posted from Blackstone, they all had high metal count in their first few changes which Blackstone said is normal etc.

So I agree with your sentiment.

 

I read the posts after I wrote the reply. Never mind. Use blackstone.

 

Yes, I agree with you. It would be interesting and entertaining to know. However, I don't believe that an oil report of 4k miles engine will provide any actionable information.

No matter what the report finds, if the engine works good, sounds good, and no CEL lights are on, there's probably nothing dealership or Toyota will do about it. And Blackstone will tell their usual little story blah blah and that it's a normal break in process and it'll improve, please keep sending us samples to keep us in business...

I personally am gathering Blackstone oil samples for my truck. Already have 5k and 10k oil change samples, but I won't send them in unless I find reason to. For example... If my engine blows up tomorrow, maybe I'll send those samples in to hopefully find out pattern of bearing failing for the community... So others will know if their engine is about to fail. Or maybe if someone else finds Blackstone pattern that predicts engine that's ready to fail, then I'll send mine in to see...

Otherwise... What will Blackstone tell me about my engine with 11k miles? Lol...

 

Science!

 

Sooo. Last Friday, I punched my accelerator to create distance between me and a vehicle that was tailgating. The twin turbo kicked in and easily created the distance I wanted. I got up to 65-70mph (from about 15mph) before letting off. my dashboard lit up and advised me to pull over. I can’t remember if it was telling me it was a power steering issue or if it was saying i would have power steering while getting off the roadway. The truck stopped running and was flashing a warning that it was not ready to start.

I had it towed to dealership and they are telling me that they found evidence that what i said was accurate. today i learned that i too have metal shavings in my oil. they are working with toyota reps to find out why.

I have 24K on my 23 Tundra.

 

Sorry to hear this man. What was you build Month/Year from your door sticker if you don’t mind? Thx

 

Well that sucks. Although, on the bright side, it blew up on their dime and not yours.


Also, even the mighty 5.7 had issues when they first came out. Anyone remember the camshaft fiasco?

 

I recently did my 1K mile break-in oil change. I didn't notice any glitter in the bottom of the pan. I was going to wait until 5K for the next oil change, but now am wondering if I should do a 2.5k mile change just to be sure.

 

If it makes you feel better then do it. Do you need to do it? No, but hell if it makes you feel better let er rip (or I guess drip in this case). I did 2200miles, 6800, and just did 10800. Which if I followed what Toyota said I would have just done my first 10k mile oil change even though I asked my dealer to change the oil at 5k because I tow and realized they didn't about a week or two after the oil change so I just did another at 6800 (the dealership I go to could be a whole new conversation on how shitty they are). Oil's cheap in the grand scheme of what these trucks cost and it won't ever hurt to have fresh oil.

 

There is metal in every oil pan. That's why there is a filter installed.

 

That's A given, but I'm only ever seen a glitter show once or twice in my 35 years of changing my own oil on vehicles.

 

Yes, we remember all 20 of them. Roughly a week’s worth of V35A-FailsToSurvive issues.

 

I say go for it and let us know what you find. Take some pictures if you can.

 

Will do, I just requested some Blackstone sample kits, so I'll know for sure.

 

Send a sample to Blackstone Labs.
35$ worth of microscopic knowledge.

 

Well...sounds like you need to purchase some better filters seeing how your doing your own oil changes for 35 years. . And don't come back and say "same filter for 35 years " as any one with ONE IQ knows stuff 35 years ago was superior .

 

Pretty sure you misread something somewhere? In all the years I've been changing oil, I've only ever noticed glitter a couple time. Once was a '98 Sonoma 4.3L which spun a bearing after the head gasket let antifreeze into the oil. And my sons '05 Silverado 4.8L that looked like a 1980's disco party the first time we changed the oil after he bought it, but its still running strong. we just flushed it really good about 3 more times in one week intervals. Aside from that, all my filters seem like they do exactly what they're supposed to be doing.
I do appreciate that the new Tundra went back to a spin on filter. And it was a Mobile1 if that makes any difference.

 

What a shame. I went into have my 5k tire rotation only. They ended up changing the oil also after I had 2k miles on it. Normally I wouldn't care if I had a free oil change but I care now as I was wanting to visually inspect the freaking metal content after a few more thousand miles. Last I did was at 4.5k and I am now at 7k. Sheesh.

 

Providing all of you with an update. I just hit 12k and did my 4th oil change (yes I was doing them early to flush out the break in material 1k, 4k 7k 12k). I will do 5k intervals moving forward.

Very early as you can see in this post I had considerable metal shavings and glitter. I am happy to report that in this last oil change there was very little glitter. It was still present but much less than before which I was expecting. Let's hope there is even less the next 5k.