I want to filter the 6 quarts I removed out of my car to look for bearing material. I drained it in a clean pan and have it sitting there. What would be the best way?
My original plan was to buy one of those coffee filters that I though would fit on one of my funnels, my wife is saying oil will probably not flow through it. It has to be fine enough to catch the metal but not so fine that I will have oil overflowing all over the place.
Any ideas?
Womens' stocking material? Cheese cloth?
Cut your oil filter apart and look at the filter material. It will give a much clearer picture of what metals are circulating through the engine.
In reply to RacerBoy75 :
Nothing on the filter, already went through the cartridge.
Meanwhile the oil draining from the sump looked like this ... not sure if it was the light or what:
And the report came back like this:
Paper towels?
magnets?
That looks a lot more like water/coolant is mixed in there.
How long since you last changed it?
All used oil looks like that under a light. It's a lot of why you change it.
I would not stress at all.
You paid for a Blackstone report, but don't believe it and you'd rather use a coffee filter?
SV reX said:You paid for a Blackstone report, but don't believe it and you'd rather use a coffee filter?
Unfortunately Blackstone's machine will not measure particles that you can see with your naked eye.
So, to answer your question. I trust Blackstone, but I was expecting to see lead, as lead covers the cooper in the bearing shells.
I have access to a machine that will tell me the composition of the metal that I saw, I thought I would collect it and check as it is free.
Its simple.
dean1484 said:That looks a lot more like water/coolant is mixed in there.
How long since you last changed it?
That's not coolant. The camera might make it look like it.
How about one of the filters used for paint? Like a coffee filter shape but better for something as viscous as oil with enough filtration to catch the sort of particles you are looking for.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:All used oil looks like that under a light. It's a lot of why you change it.
I would not stress at all.
Pete, I have heard other people that I trust as you with their input tell me the same.
I honestly never shined a light when doing an oil change and when I saw the glitterfest almost had a heart attack.
I am tending to go that way, but its an expensive engine and I wanted to cover all the bases.
Sonic said:How about one of the filters used for paint? Like a coffee filter shape but better for something as viscous as oil with enough filtration to catch the sort of particles you are looking for.
THIS is probably perfect! I am going to look for that today and report back.
This is more for my peace of mind than anything else.
Slippery said:I am tending to go that way, but its an expensive engine and I wanted to cover all the bases.
When did you last do the rod bearings?
Slippery said:SV reX said:You paid for a Blackstone report, but don't believe it and you'd rather use a coffee filter?
Unfortunately Blackstone's machine will not measure particles that you can see with your naked eye.
So, to answer your question. I trust Blackstone, but I was expecting to see lead, as lead covers the cooper in the bearing shells.
I have access to a machine that will tell me the composition of the metal that I saw, I thought I would collect it and check as it is free.
Its simple.
We have a guy right here on the board that does that testing and y'all still keep using BS. *sigh*
You would need to do your filtering AS it is draining and not after its been sitting out. Too many contaminants to get a good idea of what is going on. The photo of the oil pan looks like dirt that was likely in the pan to me personally but it's just a photo. A good lab will give you at least an idea on visuals (excessive metal or external contaminants) and while it is true that the elemental analysis (ICP) cannot measure the large particles, unless it is a sudden catastrophic failure will have corresponding smaller wear to go with the larger particles. That's how it works. You don't just get big ones or little ones, you get them all. If you're not seeing anything in the filter and the elementals aren't showing any increase than what you're seeing is likely not metal.
But to answer the initial question, a paint strainer works well for filtering oil. Just do it as you drain and not after.
EDIT: quick addition when we were testing M3 engines the would show small wear before failure.
codrus (Forum Supporter) said:Slippery said:I am tending to go that way, but its an expensive engine and I wanted to cover all the bases.
When did you last do the rod bearings?
Rod bearings were done at 95k miles by me with factory shells. This caught me by surprise given they have ~50k miles on them.
bobzilla said:Slippery said:SV reX said:You paid for a Blackstone report, but don't believe it and you'd rather use a coffee filter?
Unfortunately Blackstone's machine will not measure particles that you can see with your naked eye.
So, to answer your question. I trust Blackstone, but I was expecting to see lead, as lead covers the cooper in the bearing shells.
I have access to a machine that will tell me the composition of the metal that I saw, I thought I would collect it and check as it is free.
Its simple.We have a guy right here on the board that does that testing and y'all still keep using BS. *sigh*
You would need to do your filtering AS it is draining and not after its been sitting out. Too many contaminants to get a good idea of what is going on. The photo of the oil pan looks like dirt that was likely in the pan to me personally but it's just a photo. A good lab will give you at least an idea on visuals (excessive metal or external contaminants) and while it is true that the elemental analysis (ICP) cannot measure the large particles, unless it is a sudden catastrophic failure will have corresponding smaller wear to go with the larger particles. That's how it works. You don't just get big ones or little ones, you get them all. If you're not seeing anything in the filter and the elementals aren't showing any increase than what you're seeing is likely not metal.
But to answer the initial question, a paint strainer works well for filtering oil. Just do it as you drain and not after.
EDIT: quick addition when we were testing M3 engines the would show small wear before failure.
Bob, I was close to getting in touch with you but the oil was already in the pan and I only had one sample that I had taken as it was flowing out.
I requested more containers from BS and will ship you one in the next oil change so we can compare.
All I want now is to collect the metals ... its mostly for my own peace of mind. The lack of lead + what Pete stated above has me feeling better though.
Sonic said:How about one of the filters used for paint? Like a coffee filter shape but better for something as viscous as oil with enough filtration to catch the sort of particles you are looking for.
We are in business.
In reply to Slippery :
IIRC nickel comes up with those as well in small amounts early on. It was one of the indicators for those. They use it in one of the layers bonded with something else. Id have to dig out my notes.
In reply to bobzilla :
Here is what I have from when I did the bearings last. Nickel was not showing much really. I wish I would have started getting it tested when I bought the car, but this is all I have.
Highlighted is when the bearings were changed, the next oil changes still showed copper/lead traces, but they said it was normal until a couple of changes.
Also, the bearings were almost gone (see pictures) but those were abused as I did a few track days with the car. I have not tracked this car since the new bearings went in.
The nickel comes in when you slide through that copper layer. You'll also see steel (iron) in it as well. Those bearings weren't knocking were they? Because those look good compared to some I've changed over the years!
In reply to bobzilla :
No knock even though #5 was all copper.
You'll need to log in to post.
