Budman II

iTrader: (1)

Not what I wanted to see! This is the filter from the first oil change, 489 big block. This oil and filter had about 10 hours on it. What prompted me to cut this filter open was the issues I am having with my distributor gear wearing prematurely. see thread => http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/g...ml#post3735236

There were definitely some copper flakes and other debris in the pleats of the filter:



Also a fair amount of crud down in the bottom of the filter canister:



I am going to pull the filter off that is on the engine, and see what is in that one. If it looks clean, then I may simply replace the distributor gear and limp out the rest of the season, then pull the engine over the winter and thoroughly inspect it. But I have a feeling that my luck is not going to be that good...

Budman II

iTrader: (1)

A thought just occurred to me. I am using the same oil cooler that was run on my previous motor. That one met its demise from a busted ringland on piston #4, but I did not have a catastrophic "genading" of the engine. Yeah, I know, it's a no-no to re-use the oil cooler but thought would be OK since there had been no evidence of any significant shrapnel with this engine. I looked at my sandwich adapter, and it routes the oil through the cooler before it hits the filter media and then heads back into the engine to the bearings. I am now starting to wonder if the debris that I saw in the filter media is simply stuff that was flushed out of the cooler. It is even possible that the oil is now running through the cooler in the opposite direction from how it ran on the other engine.

I guess at this point it's all riding on how much stuff is in the filter that is on the engine right now. I was getting good oil pressure and oil temps, so I guess I'll have to wait and see.

Wes Burmark

Probably not a bad idea to have your oil cooler professionally cleaned. Any good radiator shop should be able to do this for you. Also change your filter every ?? number of hours this summer to minimize possible damage. Sorry to hear you are going through all of this.

Budman II

iTrader: (1)

Not sure if that is some mild sarcasm I detect, Jeff - - Either way, you are probably right. I will probably pull this thing and go through it, just for my peace of mind.

Budman II

iTrader: (1)

Thanks Wes. It's part of high performance boating.

tomtbone1993

iTrader: (3)

Replace the oil cooler, cheap insurance compared to a engine rebuild.

Budman II

iTrader: (1)

I cut open the 20-hour filter, and it looks much better. Yes, there was some metal fragments in it, but much less than the initial break-in filter, and not any significant flakes of copper. Looks to me that what I am seeing in the filter this time is the remnants from the distributor gear. Going to get a new gear on there, maybe run a pattern on it to see how it is meshing, and then run it again with fresh oil and filter. I'll pull the distributor after 10 hours or so of run time to see how it looks. I guess I'll be cutting oil filters open for a while to monitor this thing.

speicher lane

Relevant but a detour none the less, has anyone ever used Filter Magnets? Always see them when shopping at Summit, but obviously wouldn't help with the copper deposits found in the filter

Found their homepage....

http://www.shopfiltermag.com/index.php

pqjack

a bit expensive for simple magnets....go to any harley shop and get a blown alternator rotor-they might even give it to you-and use the magnets....been doing this for years

mmb

I think you will be fine... The only thing you need to worry about is the oil pump from the trash runing throught it. Hopefully you have a strong ARP distributor shaft!!

The filter is keeping the distributor gear out of the bearings.