balong48
New member
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?
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.
Update your browser to use Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Sites, Slides, and Forms - Google Drive Help
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?
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