i have an 06 van. i drained the oil and found a piece of brass in the oil. what could this have come from?

 

main and rod bearings will often have a brass lookingappearance.

how big is the piece you found? any engine knocking?

 

this was very gold color like brass. an oil analysis shows way too much copper (brass) content. piece is small probly less than 1/8 inch long and 1/16 wide, very thin. no knocking or other audiable symptoms. i may pull the valve covers if there are any brass parts in there. i will do another oil analysis to confirm the first one.

 

Don't shoot the messenger here...[sm=innoc.gif]
But I would say that you have a bearing problem, there is nothing up top that will give you that. When you drain the oil again, use a strong flashlight to look for glitter in the used oil.

 

thanks dude

 

"Brass" coloured from main / big end bearings? I'd expect a grey or perhaps silvery colour...(?). Are there any bronze bushes anywhere in the engine? (in the oil pump maybe, perhaps cam journal bushes, crank thrust washers ???).

The valve guides may be bronze, but I wouldn't expect to see those falling apart...

 

i agree main and rod bearings as i know them will have silver grey flecks when coming apart. i spaced it and didnt disect the oiul filter. that would have been a bunch of insight there. dammit now i have to drain new synthetic oil.

 

are you use it's not part of the oil drain plug washer? i know a lot of aftermarket oil change shops use brass/copper washers and tend to never replace them.

 

You should be able to re-use it. Drain it and let any particles settle out before putting it back in. Stray particles should get caught in the oil filter.

You could probably filter it before re-use by putting the oil back into the oil bottle then inserting one of those cylindrical mower air filters into the top of the oil bottle opening (taped in place, they do fit, I have one filtering air in an old oil bottle recycled as a catch tank), then upending the bottle and allowing it to slowly drain through the filter into another clean container. I don't know if this will work, the oil may or may not flow through the filter element (though my feeling is that it should, if slowly), just speculating about the possibility...

 

out of warranty,?, got over 36k miles ??

if not take it to dealer '

if past warranty,, is engine knocking ??

remove the oil pan and chk the bearings ,, also get rid of the old oil and use some clean oil and a new filter,,