1997 Toyota 4Runner metal shavings in oil

[CARJ]

Backround:
1997 Toyota 4Runner 3.4L
215k miles
Last oil used- Napa synthetic 5w-30 with Toyota oil filter
Oil in serivice- 5,886 miles

I did an oil change last weekend and towards the end of the oil drain, the sound of the oil draining changed and the oil seemed thicker and had what looked to be metallic shavings were in the oil.

Instead of filling with fresh Napa synthetic again, I went and bought some Walmart Supertech oil and filter to try and flush the engine. My question is how long should I run this oil in order to get a good sample to send off to Blackstone? My initial thoughts were to run it 500 miles, change it, sample it and put some fresh synthetic back in and run another 5,000 miles and sample again.

Any help or thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[SuperDave456]

Why not just grab some of the old oil and send it off for analysis? Is the container it is in contaminated?

You might want to call your analysis shop and ask them what they think. They are the real experts who have probably seen all kinds of engines self destruct and have a host of UOA's to compare yours to.

 

[semaj281]

The oil won't be able to do much cleaning in 500 miles. I'd run it for at least 2k before draining.
Also, that NAPA Synthetic is a re-badged Valvoline Synpower, which isn't known for its long OCI capability. I'd shorten the intervals or switch to a higher quality synthetic.

 

[sittingduck57]

Oil analysis measures the stuff you can't see. the stuff you can see usually won't show up. If you can figure out what kind of metal it is you might get some idea where it's comming from.( is it magnetic, certain metals react to certain acids, if it is bigger than flakes what color sparks it makes when you grind it) If your just trying to get the flakes out run it enough to get the oil good and hot and drain as soon as you shut it down. if they are big enough to see the oil filter should pick them up, so i would be tempted to leave it in for a day or two of driving and see what comes out.

 

[CARJ]

I couldn't send the old oil out as my oil drain pan has other oil in it, plus it is very dirty. I just read today that the Napa stuff doesn't have a very good additive package, so I will switch back to the Mobil 1 I was running previously.

I guess what I'm looking for in an oil analysis is to confirm that I did actually see metal in the oil and to find out what it might be.

 

[bodeh6]

Go with Mobil 1 HM 5W-30

 

[mongo161]

I've personally run the NAPA synthetic in a blended 50/50 mix with Valvoline White Bottle on quite a few occasions.

All I know is that when it was used with VWB.... it cleaned engines nicely. Could the "metal" pieces that you could not identify possibly be old coked on deposits that have been removed in the OCI?

I usually keep a strong magnet, attached to strong Fishing line, handy when I change the oil. If I suspect metal particles....Iron or Steel....I just dip the magnet into the used oil and see what I catch.

Anyway....Most of the time it is old sludge, varnish or pieces of coked on dirt that looks like metal slivers that have been held in suspension with the oil. The only time I notice these particles is when an engine is dirty and the oil is cleaning it up. They only come out with a hot drain at full speed, with no Fumoto valve.