I changed my oil today for the fist time after my rebuild. I installed a Kicks magnetic oil plug when the motor was put in. This was the second oil change. The first was after 150mi and then now after 500mi. I found a descent amount of metal on the plug today. Some metal was as fine as baby powder, and some shavings that were a little larger. Is this normal or something I should be concerned about?

JET

 

Did u do any forgge and mach for ur intake or heads when u built ur engine??
if yes then thats from that they should have cleaned it well b 4 putting it back on.... and if not then there is some metal scretching some where between ur pistons and piston chamber.. and at both cases thats not ok u need to get it checked. good luck man and all the best....

 

I would not be concerned about it with so few miles into the engine. Based on some oil analysis we did in the past, the wear is high for the first few thousand miles, up to 10000 actually. Cams wear in slowly along with the rings and bearings and make for high wear numbers before the break in is complete. Just keep your eye on it at the next oil change, you don't have anything to worry about I believe. If you have any questions please call.

- Sam

 

Thanks Silver Nismo for your response.

Thanks Sam for the advice. I will do 500mi drain intervals from this point on just to be safe. I have never used a magnetic drain plug before.... It sure works! I'm glad I got it.

JET

 

Any time man hope we where helpfull and wish u the best of luck...

 

Some rings can take up too 10,000 miles to seat properly. Some people will tell you this is not true but it is. You are going to have metal shavings, its what the oil filter is for in a new engine. Keep on top of your oil changes as long as its not smoking everything is fine, or making odd tapping or knocking sounds. Some materials just take longer than other to properly wear into place.

 

Some metal particles are fine on a new engine such as yours. Most people do not use magnetic oil pan plugs, so they arent seeing the concentration of metal you have observed. Your engine is fine.

 

Sorry to hijack, but it's a related question...

I never heard of a magnetic drain plug before. I know it will latch on to iron and steel particles, but not aluminum. Did you get the magnetic drain plug because it's easier to "read" than cutting open a used filter? Or are there other reasons as well? Thanks.

 

^^^Good point BullsEye^^^
The cylinder walls, rings, bearings, and crank/cam are all steel, so metal could still be picked up by the plug. It's not a bad idea...I imagine that most engines, including OEM, would pick up some metal shavings on a magnetic drain plug. I havent used the plugs before, so I never noticed the metal.


When we do our first oil change on our built motors, we drain the oil into a strainer, and never see any meaningful metal deposits....just a few specs here and there. We did this with Jet's engine too...all good!

 

When you guys built a motor,Do you guys use mineral oil to properly break in the engine? or you can go straight to synthetic oil.

 

Only the worst standard Napa crappy conventional oil for break in, and the first 1000-1500miles is what we recommend. We change the oil once prior to dyno tuning.

 

No need to worry IMO ----What ur seeing is pretty normal on a newly machined Engine. Magnetic oil plugs cause undo panic at times. Much of what u saw would have found a little niche somewhere else,never to be heard from again.

 

Thats right ---To much Hi Performance "Slippery" does not make for a good break in.

 

+1 on cutting open the filter and inspecting. If you're concerned I'd throw a Mobile 1 or Wix filter on it with some 5w 30 dino oil for 750 to 1000 miles, then drain. Drain your oil w/a screen, cut open the filter and inspect. Compare to your 1st experience. If , then switch to your synthetic of choice. If , then contact your engine guy. All IMHO.

Good luck! BTW, love the Advan's.

 

JET:

You should be fine...

While on the subject, thought I'd share our break-in process on a new motor:

When we break in a motor, we fill with standard motor oil (non-synthetic) when we intitially fire it up, we allow it to idle for about 15 minutes, then drain the oil and change the filter...

then we recommend putting 100 miles on the motor, driving casually, staying out of boost, then drain the oil and change the filter again...

third oil change: fill with standard oil again, drive 1000 miles, again staying out of boost...then drain oil, change filter, fill with standard oil, then start turning up the boost..at 2000-2500miles, switch to synthetic

*I know everyone has their opinion on break in and ring seating, this is our standard, as we have tried evry method; from hitting full boost after 100 miles, to staying out of boost for 1500 miles...
-TODD



Then

 

Maybe just a tad over kill but not really---I also drain right after first start up ---98% of the crap is gone. That 100 mile is a nice initial break in. And that 1000 for sure. And I dont go over board on cost ---Good name brand is perfect---even as I think Sharif said ---Napa

 

Thnaks for all the info!

USAFMECH... Yeah they are sweet. I wasn't crazy about them at first. But they grew on me.

JET