2014 Ram 1500 5.7 Hemi with 210,000 miles, 10k OCI's since new using PUP. I recently started cutting the oil filter open, and don't have a frame of reference for what is "normal". There is definitely glitter/fine pieces of metal speckled throughout the media but no accumulation of it. Hard to capture the flakes with pictures but wanted to see what you fellas think. A sample from this oil change is being sent out to Blackstone as well.
Oil Filter Inspection - Glitter Normal?
- Thread starter Kamine
- Start date
Hard to tell, I'd be more worried about the gold glitter naturally. Do you hear any noises around the timing cover, or any ticking?
10K OCI....in a hemi? I mean....you do have 210K, but IMHO, again, just me, I wouldn't stretch it that far.
Curious to hear the results.
10K OCI....in a hemi? I mean....you do have 210K, but IMHO, again, just me, I wouldn't stretch it that far.
Curious to hear the results.
No gold glitter (bearings)... Just the color of the filter media. No ticking beyond the normal hemi noises, it sounds like the day I drove it off the lot. Obviously being a hemi I'm trying to catch a lifter failure early if it were to happen by inspecting the oil filter at each change. This is only the second time I've done it, and the first time was more or less the same amount of glitter.
Great choice of oil from day one. No 10k OCIs for this guy though. Carry on....
@Kamine, Depending on what Blackstone says, I would be inclined to pull one of the valve covers and inspect further. Flakes could be coming from valve followers. Many of the Chrysler engines seem to have more wear in these areas. Look at the valley area between the valves and the followers to see if any of the glitter has been left behind.
A Blackstone UOA won't tell much about any large visible flakes of metal in the oil filter. The reason is because a Blackstone UOA only detects particles that are 5-7 microns and smaller. Anything visible in the oil filters are way larger than that.
The only way to see if something is failing with a UOA is to have a lot of UOA history to plot and watch the trend. Wear like this will show a slight uptick in the 5-7 microns or less UOA data, but it's really hard to detect without many UOAs on the same engine to compare and see a noticlable shift in the wear metals trend. Cutting open and visually inspecting the oil filter is the best way to first detect any major engine problems going on.
The only way to see if something is failing with a UOA is to have a lot of UOA history to plot and watch the trend. Wear like this will show a slight uptick in the 5-7 microns or less UOA data, but it's really hard to detect without many UOAs on the same engine to compare and see a noticlable shift in the wear metals trend. Cutting open and visually inspecting the oil filter is the best way to first detect any major engine problems going on.
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- Jun 26, 2023
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I won't go over 1 yr/5k miles in anything, new or old. Oil's cheap, engine rebuilds aren't. Just my personal philosophy. Having been raised and trained on 3k mile changes, even 5k feels wrong, even 20+years later. Haha
Yeah, I've seen too many engines owned by relatives that pushed the oil a long way, just to have premature engine issues while all of my vehicles have run flawlessly for years. I've done major engine repairs to some of those vehicles, the engines were pretty ugly inside. Certainly not worth saving a few bucks to me.
Hi Kamine,
What a great achievement getting 210K with 10K OCIs.
The PUP oil was a perfect match for your Hemi. What is the % hwy and traffic driving on the mileage? Do you have any oil consumption at this point? I'll bet you have great driving habits that contributed to the stellar performance.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
You are thinking of the Pentastar, the HEMI is a pushrod engine.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Yeah, that amount of visible metal isn't good, I suspect you are in the throes of losing a lifter unfortunately. This is around the same mileage we lost one of ours, a 2011.
There's no easy way to get a scope in there either to take a look, which means disassembly is necessary.
The best way to check, without major disassembly, is to pull the valve covers and using a dial indicator, measure the lift on each of the rockers. If one is lower than the others, that's the one that is headed south.
If you brush a strong magnet over those particles in the filter, do they attach to the magnet? That will at least tell you if they are steel or aluminum.
No real oil consumption. Oil is still in the safe range when changed at 10k. I of course check it periodically in between but never need to add.Hi Kamine,
What a great achievement getting 210K with 10K OCIs.
