Found this in my canister oil filter housing!

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My Equinox has 2,000 miles now and I decided to change out the factory fill with any break in material that might be suspended. When I removed the filter I saw this little gem in the filter housing!

Probably aluminum since it wasn't attracted to a strong magnate. What are your thoughts?Just toss it or bring it into the dealership and let them know what I found?

Thanks.





 
Anything more IN the filter?

BTW, what direction does the filter mount? Why doesn't that debris fall from its position?
 
Good reason to change your oil sooner on the first change.
I don't think it matters what you do the dealership isn't going to do anything. It's under warranty so run it.
Nobody is going to tear a new engine down over that.
 
I think it's from the filter adapter housing itself. Look at that spot to the right of the wire loom--below the machined threads; it may have come from there.
 
Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
Filtering efficiency looks to be 100% at 10000 microns.


Ya, even ZeeOSix should approve of that.
grin2.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Panzerman
Good reason to change your oil sooner on the first change.
I don't think it matters what you do the dealership isn't going to do anything. It's under warranty so run it.
Nobody is going to tear a new engine down over that.

Exactly
If it's not broken they ain't going to fix it. Maybe they will point out how well the filter did it's job.
 
Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
Filtering efficiency looks to be 100% at 10000 microns.


Laugh !!
 
Originally Posted By: ArcticDriver
Anything more IN the filter?

BTW, what direction does the filter mount? Why doesn't that debris fall from its position?


It flows from the big hole in the back thu the filter then down the hole in the bottom.
 
Originally Posted By: ArcticDriver
Anything more IN the filter?

BTW, what direction does the filter mount? Why doesn't that debris fall from its position?

Look at the oil pooling. This is not on an underside of an engine. Chevrolet likes to put their canister filters on the tops of engines, hidden underneath a bunch of wire harnesses and air cleaner tubing.

I guess the one grace is that this is between the filter and pickup and the filter did its job. It couldn't have passed through the pickup so it wasn't in the pan and therefore didn't come from the bearings or anything.

It makes me wonder though if the workmanship is this sloppy, what was past the filter? I thought they washed the heads and blocks after casting and machining them. This actually looks more like a wrapping or foil seal of some sort than some kind of machining debris though.
 
Ha-ha! Good that pieces didn't drop into the center hole when you took the cartridge out.

When I took the original spin-on factory filter off my Mazda, there was a sliver of metal about that size stuck partially through one of the entrance holes of the base plate. Even base plates capture 100% of debris that large! Over the next half-million miles, I found very few metal particles in subsequent filters, all tiny.
 
Is this the guy who touched your engine? It's not that he's not attracted anymore. He says it's him, not your engine.

 
Originally Posted By: BobsArmory
Originally Posted By: ArcticDriver
Anything more IN the filter?

BTW, what direction does the filter mount? Why doesn't that debris fall from its position?


It flows from the big hole in the back thu the filter then down the hole in the bottom.


Mount...not...flow ya wiseacre.

I would never purchase a vehicle designed with a filter that sits on top of an engine and requires oil to be pushed up to it.

Why? Because debris follows the path of this chunk of aluminum and does not remain in the filter.

The OP is vigilant in his filter changes to have spotted that...nice job!
 
Originally Posted By: gathermewool
Is this the guy who touched your engine? It's not that he's not attracted anymore. He says it's him, not your engine.





I was trying to put a spin on that myself.

Nicely done.
 
Originally Posted By: Panzerman
Good reason to change your oil sooner on the first change.
I don't think it matters what you do the dealership isn't going to do anything. It's under warranty so run it.
Nobody is going to tear a new engine down over that.


I understand that they wouldn't do anything about it but if I document it at the dealership I might have some ammo later on if something goes wrong after the warranty runs out. But in the end it might not make any difference.
 
Originally Posted By: NoNameJoe
This actually looks more like a wrapping or foil seal of some sort than some kind of machining debris though.


Disagree. Looks exactly like swarf from machining to me.

Not good, but at least it doesn't look like wear debris, so it probably wasn't generated in the engine and would only be evidence of a potential problem if there's more of it in a location where it could do some damage.
 
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Looks like debris from where a threaded hole was tapped? The block cleaning didn't get it.

I would definitely have the dealer document it for future reference and I would keep it somewhere in case the question arises again.

Another good reason for early oil changes on new engines.
 
Every new vehicle I've had has some junk on that first filter, though never seen a piece that big!

Engines are not assembled in clean room environments. This is why I personally feel its best to change the oil out before 1k miles from new. Get it out and look at the second filter. It should be clean. If not then you have a problem, though good luck getting Government Motors to give a dam.

For those of you its a waste of oil types, the majority of harmful particles on break in are from ring seating. Very hard metals, and very fine. A small amount hangs in the oil without getting properly filtered. So, get it out of you care. Or don't... the engine will still outlast the rest of the car.
 
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