No, it is magnetic. I am at a loss on this one.

Did you check the oilpan for any stuff ?

befor you run that engine i would check it.
and pull the valvecovers and check the rockers and springs.

It could be a piece of junk out of my motor, Vinny!! Not sure how it would have gotten all the way to your oil filter??? That is a good puzzle!.
But you got me to thinking about my oil psi.. from last year. Time to tear down the oil system and check the check valve..

Could be a piece of the oil pump pickup.I have seen on certain pickups when pressed in the pump they peel the coating and goes through the gears.

What about a piece from a hardened drill or other tool from when machining the engine block?! It could have been stuck in some oil passage from when the block was new and just got loose and picked up by the filter...

Almost looks like a small piece of a single edge razor. The back side with the rolled over safety edge.

That's what I was thinking ...

Or as he said - it looks lilke the filter was built around it ... hell, maybe it was in the filter to begin with.

I dont think so, it is too flat. If this went through the pump gears, I would think it would be more mangled up.

I spent alot of time thinking about this one. I think I finally came up wth something logical. What about a piece of the oil thermistat? I actually have a spare one here. It may not be identical to the one in the filter head. I dont know if anyone here has ever looked at one closely, but there are alot of small parts to one of those things. I checked it out with a magnet, most of it is not magnetic, but some of it is.

I feel confident that is the origin of this piece.

You really only have two choices...


1. take the motor apart piece by piece until you find where it came from and what damage it's done.

or

2. Take a chance on reducing your expensive motor to worthless scrap.

is your filter after the oil cooler? was the oil cooler used with another motor? if so you may be seeing some trash from a previous motor failure