Don't Use Hacksaw to Cut Open Filter!

[OK-944]

Why is that? Hmmm...

After the first 20min run of my newly rebuilt engine...I drained and examined the oil. Looked kinda dirty but I could see no obvious signs of metal bits. Also ran a q-tip on the bottom of the pan through the drain plug hole - nothing on this...nor anything on the drain plug itself.

Then I cut open the filter - and noticed that the oil which had been trapped inside carried a number of small metal flecks of roughly uniform size, each with a kind of "curvy" shape. The inside walls of the filter housing itself, as the oil drained from the cut open halves...also showed some of these flecks.

This kept me awake last night as I thought things through. Hmmm...oil comes up from pump through the filter, so maybe a bit of wear from my new oil pump sleeve?

Finally, after a bit of coffee this morning...it hit me - I had used a hacksaw to cut open the filter...and those particles came from the filter housing itself! DUH!

But hey...you can bet your life that I'll still be checking my filter after my next (ring setting) run - but I'll be using my tin snips on that filter!

PS: and I feel its my duty to preach to the choir whenever possible...on the likelihood that there is at least one other member of this choir (besides myself) who may be singing just a tad off key!

[djnolan]

Did you save the oil? You could send it out for oil analysis, they check for everything...

https://www.blackstone-labs.com/tests/standard-analysis/

[OK-944]

I've thought about oil analysis...but also think that the first batch would be so full of other stuff: assembly lube, locktite residue, a bit of single weight, ATF, stray bits of plastigauge, etc. - that it might be a somewhat biased sample.

My second run will be to set rings (hopefully tomorrow)...and for this I've filled with Royal Purple Break-In Oil. Will likely run this for an additional 50 to 100 miles prior to changing to Valvoline 10/40 dino oil which I got cheap on sale. This will go for around 250 miles (prior to going to Mobil-1 10/40) - and by this time I'm thinking that an oil analysis might be more meaningful. Of course all depends on how the engine behaves - decent oil pressure, engine temps, etc. And yes, I do intend to carefully assess the used oils visually.

Then again...I've never had an oil analysis done and this is also admittedly somewhat out of my wheelhouse - so any further insights from others would still be much appreciated!

[walfreyydo]

If you run a strong magnet through your drained oil (or have a magnetic drain plug) youll be able to see the metal "paste" and possibly small flakes that are created when doing your break in.

[Tom M'Guinn]

I just had the oil changed on a brand new 992 and stood there with the dealer tech while he did it. This filter is a cartridge, so nothing to cut, but I was a bit surprised when he fanned out the folded filter material to show me the break-in metal. Wish I thought to take a picture, but it was like someone sprinkled it with metal glitter. The tech said it was fine as long as it was silver, as a rule of thumb anyway. Copper or bronze is a different story, meaning something chewed into a bearing or the like.