Glitter in 6.2L oil ... please help

[thefrey]

It's not where you start, it's where you finish. It's not how you go, it's how you land.
We'll help to the extents that we can.

I appreciate that. And I can't thank you and everyone else enough for the help and wealth of knowledge that you are giving me

 

[Marky Dissod]

You can start by disabling / shutting off the Engine Half@$$ featurebug.

 

[rdezs]

In your situation, yes, I'd say drop the pan, take care of the o-ring and the pressure relief valve. Pull the valve cover and hopefully it's just a trunnion bearing. If oil pressure doesn't improve after that, I would throw some 10w40 in and keep the RPMs down. It very well could go a long time like that. If you eventually end up having to go to a 20w50 to keep your idle oil pressure at 20 psi, you'll know you are on borrowed time.....

 

[petethepug]

If budget allows and bearing & cylinder walls check out, install a hd oil pump when pan is off due to milage. Button her up, compression check, then trunion bearings.

At some point you’ll hopefully find the smoking gun and head off the hemorrhaging.

There’s a possibility you may have gotten the truck just before that $1.50 oil pump O ring caused a chain of cataclysmic disasters.

 

[OBSalsoNNBS]

Best way to open a filter is with tin snips

 

[j91z28d1]

Best way to open a filter is with tin snips

they sell a pretty cheap tool on Amazon. I have an expensive one at work so I haven't used an Amazon one personally handy thou and less messy than snips. I have used snips. watch for sharp edges that way. it will cut you so fast you won't even feel it.

 

[thefrey]

Mine is not DOD and had oil pressure issues when I bought it and fully expected to need a new engine. I even bout a used engine expecting to need it.
I also had the oil glitter and chunks your pics show as bad if not worse.
Taking a chance, I changed the O ring and oil pump 6 months ago. It can be done without dropping the pan.
My Hot oil pressure is 20ish PSI hot idle in gear after driving 1/2 hour and has not dropped any lower but It's also not 95 out yet.
It's worth taking the chance on it as it just might last for a lot longer, but then again it might only last a few more days anyway.
I'm changing my engine though in a few months as it sounds pretty loose when cold and 1 piston is slapping pretty good until fully warmed up. It does have 239k on it

Are you still using 5w30 or did you up your viscosity? I'm trying to figure out if I should stick with 5w30 or go up to 10w30. Do you have any ideas what your glitter is from or are you not worried about it since you're putting in a new engine anyways

 

[thefrey]

Did you use a magnet? If so, are they magnetic. If not, then it could be carbon, broken down o-ring or gasket material maybe?

To help on your quest for low oil pressure, here's the common things for that year motor that will help.

1. Oil pump pickup tube - which you have already diagnosed.
2. Valley cover o-rings that block off the oil galley towers that aren't used on a non-AFM motor. There are 8 of them I believe. They get hard and flat, and then oil sprays out under the cover (into the valley internally) thus reducing you hot oil pressure - especially at idle.
3. IF those are metallic parts, then the low oil pressure is most likely associated with bearing wear and will never improve.

A thicker weight oil may help - 10w-30 or 10w-40. You'll need to dig into what came out of the pan more. Also, change the filter and drain it into a clean pan and see what you get. Then, if you have a way to remove the top of the filter that doesn't introduce metal flakes (ie: don't use a saw) you'll have your answer inside the pleats of paper membrane.

Edit: this is assuming the year is 2007 - 2009. If newer, then it will have a VLOM that also can have oil issues that I'm not personally familiar with.

Question about your #3 - Wouldn't bearing wear on these engines mean that any metal shavings be non magnetic? From all the research I've seen everything points to non-magnetic particles being bearing material.

 

[charkmapman]

Would not jump to conclusions. O ring on pump is very good possibility for oil pressure issue. That would also let you see debris in oil pan on magnet. If on magnet then it is metal. It is possible that previous lifter "fix" left crap in motor and that is now in pan. When changing "o" ring replace oil pump also. ( I mean why not, you've got it torn down anyway). You may also want to send oil sample out for testing but crap from lifter "fix" may throw that off. Which would make me want to retest oil after "o" ring fix and some miles on new oil. 5w-30 as specified by GM should be used. no additives.

 

[thefrey]

Would not jump to conclusions. O ring on pump is very good possibility for oil pressure issue. That would also let you see debris in oil pan on magnet. If on magnet then it is metal. It is possible that previous lifter "fix" left crap in motor and that is now in pan. When changing "o" ring replace oil pump also. ( I mean why not, you've got it torn down anyway). You may also want to send oil sample out for testing but crap from lifter "fix" may throw that off. Which would make me want to retest oil after "o" ring fix and some miles on new oil. 5w-30 as specified by GM should be used. no additives.

I am planning to just drop the pan to swap the o-ring instead of going through the front. My plan is to consider changing the pump if the o-ring does not fix my issues as it may save me some $$ and I don't have to go through the front cover (yet).

I'm thinking the same honestly and I appreciate the info. I want to do the o-ring replacement and then do the oil analysis on fresh oil. If the magnet picks up the metal, it would rule out bearings, correct? I don't know 100% but I thought bearing material is non magnetic.