ok im having quite the day, but it ended by be trying to adjsut a seemingly improperly gapped valve and finding a small pile of what look to be copper filings in the the valve cover, right under the #3 exhaust vavle. Now that im totally p***ed off, and am procceding to swap heads cause i need to dirve back to school in a few days, what are the filings from? A valve guide disintegrating???? Whatever it is it has made it so parts of my oil sparkle in the sunlight, how nice :-D. Got to love prolly 50,000 miles worth of engine ware in a day!
Decant about 1/2 pint of oil and allow it to sit perfectly still. The particles will slowly (SLOWLY!) settle. If you understand about centrifuging a sample ... and have access to a centrifuge... have at it. Otherwise, let it settle. It can take three or four days.
Then GENTLY pour off the oil, all but the last half inch or so. Then mix that with about a pint of lacquer thinner or MEK and pretend you're panning for gold.
Allow the oilly liquid to spill off the side of whatever you're using for a gold pan (a pie pan will work). Keep adding solvent... and swishing it away... until you're left with a trace of metallic grit.
If the grit is magnetic you need to discover if it is cast iron or steel. A microscope will help.
IF the grit is non-magnetic you need to determine if it is pewter (ie, bearing shells), magnesium, aluminum, brass or bronze.
The heads are aluminum. A broken valve spring can cause 'shuffle' on the head, generate a hell of a lot of bright metallic residue.
The distributor's scroll gear is brass. The valve guides are bronze.
----------------------------------------
The fact you've found sparkly oil in valve gallery does NOT mean that is where the sparklies are coming from.
--------------------------------------------
You may also FILTER the oil through a coffee filter supported by a screen fitted across the mouth of a coffee can. After collecting some residue you may wash it in the same fashion by pouring a solvent through the collected residue.
As a general rule ANY metallic contaminant in the lubricating oil indicates the need for a complete overhaul of the engine. The problem here is that once the interior of the engine becomes contaminated, even with a full-flow oil filtration system it is impossible to purge the contaminant. And until you get rid of it your lubrication system will act as an abrasive system.
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.