Hello! I've got what appears to be tiny metal flakes in the oil. I noticed them in the drain pan during my 127k oil change but disregarded them as I did not wipe the oil drain pan down after changing the oil on my mower. Most of the larger particles I had found at that time appeared to be sand that looked gold due to the oil, which is why I disregarded it. I also cut and inspected the oil filter during that change and did not notice anything.

Since then, I've changed the oil in my wife's Sonic and cleaned the drain pan prior to use, and did not notice anything abnormal. I just performed my 137k oil change, wiped the pan down before draining, and once again noticed the flakes in the oil. Most appear to be silver in color once the oil is off of the flake. There appears to be some blue colored ones as well, which is even more strange. I did not inspect the oil filter as thoroughly this time, as I did not see anything alarming on the filter upon removal. I ran a magnet over the flakes and they did not appear to react.

Attached is a picture of the drain pan. You can see the flakes pooled up around the drain lip. Blackstone oil analysis is also attached, and they noted nothing abnormal.

Going to create post and then see if I can add the pictures. The attach button looks to be missing for some reason... Added a Google Drive Link to view the report and pictures since the site isn't cooperating.

EDIT: Pictures of the cylinders have been added to the drive as well. Cylinder 6 appears to have the cleanest piston, but the worst build up on the valves. I am not entirely sure what I'm looking for, but I don't see anything that looks too concerning outside of whatever is on the valves for Cylinder 6. Lots of carbon build up on some others.

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Ignore the larger looking debris as that is not from the oil. This certainly doesn't look normal, but I have no obvious issues with the vehicle. It runs fine and sounds like a normal 1GR-FE. No codes, nothing. Only odd thing is pinging in the warmer months when running 87. Running 91 octane solves the pinging. Could this be a result of the pinging?

Some métal flakes is okay. Even if Blackstone labs result were normal I would do oil changes more frequently. pinging/knock detonation =heat and heat is bad. Driving with consistant detonation will cause damage.

Blue flakes is typically material from an overheated and/or spun bearing. The flakes not reacting to a magnet would also point to bearing material. If you push it hard, especially when you still hear pinging and over the life of the engine(137k) it could be getting excessive wear and stress that is causing this.

If the oil report says that is normal I am not sure how much I would worry about it immediately. It would also be hard to diagnose as it would present itself as an immediate failure if/when it does give out and you would not be able to see it unless you did a full engine breakdown. You typically would not notice just minor symptoms of a spun bearing. I would say just monitor, treat it well and reduce pinging/unneeded stress on it.

Appreciate the response. The blue flakes make sense now, color change due to the heat. The engine definitely hasn't been pushed hard since I've had it. I got it at 50k and if I remember right it's been pinging since I got it. The pinging usually occurs in the lower RPMs where the engine sounds like it's being bogged down, usually only noticeable in 5th gear. I've towed with it occasionally, but not frequently enough to say it's been pushed hard.

My plan is to continue monitoring and go with a 5k oil change interval this time and observe any change that happens. With fuel costing as much as it does I've been resisting putting 91 in, but may have to just start biting the bullet and doing that to eliminate the pinging.

@BlackWorksInc , do you have any thoughts on this situation?

This doesn't help cure my phobia of used cars ....



Any oil consumption OP? MPGs? Smoke in exhaust ever?
Oil used?

No oil consumption, MPGs 17-19, haven’t noticed any smoke, oil used is Mobil 1 High Mileage Full Synthetic 0W-20.