Glitter in 6.2L oil ... please help

[thefrey]

That golden color is probably some kind of additive…

Are you saying the flakes seem to be an additive? I'm using a high mileage 5w30. Probably about 3k on the oil now.

It's hard for me to see the metal flakes on my fingers so sometimes it seems like it's not even metal.

 

[donjetman]

Get a used oil analysis kit from amazon or NAPA.
results will tell the tale.

 

[SpareParts]

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

 

[Marky Dissod]

Well, that's just under a little for what I paid for the car.
I guess you get what you pay for. Just has me wondering if the dealership knew about the issues.

Way most used car dealer(ships) work, at least out in NYC:
How much money MUST we spend,
to make this car LOOK & SOUND & DRIVE good enough to sell?
They USUALLY spend no more than that, if they think they can get away with it.

Trying to come up with why a used car dealer would spend more past that,
makes my brain foggy and gives me indigestion.

These days, reasonable to assume, if you spent under $7500 to buy it,
you WILL spend the rest of the $7500 you thought you saved
over the next 3-5 years fixing/repairing, PLUS maintenance.

What does your engine sound like during the first 30 seconds of a very cold startup?

 

[thefrey]

Way most used car dealer(ships) work, at least out in NYC:
How much money MUST we spend,
to make this car LOOK & SOUND & DRIVE good enough to sell?
They USUALLY spend no more than that, if they think they can get away with it.

Trying to come up with why a used car dealer would spend more past that,
makes my brain foggy and gives me indigestion.

These days, reasonable to assume, if you spent under $7500 to buy it,
you WILL spend the rest of the $7500 you thought you saved
over the next 3-5 years fixing/repairing, PLUS maintenance.

What does your engine sound like during the first 30 seconds of a very cold startup?

Yup, makes sense. I'm in Ohio so probably pretty similar. I knew it needed a lot of work but everything major seemed to check out at the time.

I don't have a cold start video right now, but from the rear it sounds like a normal angry grumbly V8. From the front, I would say most of the time that I have lifter tick on a cold start, but not always. There's really no other abnormal noises or power loss. And the lifter tick is very intermittent. But when the lifter is ticking, it is definitely more loud when cold than when hot.

Here's a clip of said lifter tick from a couple of weeks ago

 

[the 18th letter]

Are you saying the flakes seem to be an additive? I'm using a high mileage 5w30. Probably about 3k on the oil now.

It's hard for me to see the metal flakes on my fingers so sometimes it seems like it's not even metal.

Oil color is good for 3k imo. If it’s the oil that was in it when you bought it I would change it out now to see what else comes out.

 

[thefrey]

Oil color is good for 3k imo. If it’s the oil that was in it when you bought it I would change it out now to see what else comes out.

I've changed the oil in it once since I've had it. I also just added a little over a quart of fresh oil to test the O-ring so it's going to look better than it was.

 

[Marky Dissod]

Change that oil every 3000 with Valvoline Restore & Protect, there may be more detritus that needs to get exiled.

 

[thefrey]

Change that oil every 3000 with Valvoline Restore & Protect, there may be more detritus that needs to get exiled.

I'm gonna drop the pan and replace the o-ring and clean out the pan crazy good.

Preciate all the info

 

[B-train]

Well, this is not exactly a post I would like to be making... Let me back up and give context.

I recently bought this truck at 197k miles in January, and it's been a project. I have put 3500 miles on it and it's at almost 201k now.

I have been having a little issue with my 6.2 having low(ish) oil pressures, about 40psi cold, 45ish max cold under throttle, then 10-15 psi idle hot and 22 hot cruising. Also, there has been a lifter tick, but intermittent and random, so most things suggest it could be the pickup o-ring sucking air. The last owner claimed that they did all new lifters, but I am beginning to wonder if they didn't do them, considering I replaced the exhaust manifold bolts to rule out an exhaust tick. One of the bolts was pretty far backed out (since I believe the exhaust manifolds come off for new lifters). Other than that, the engine feels strong and hasn't given me other issues.

So, my initial thoughts were that it is the oil pickup tube o-ring, as the Yukon has been neglected by past owners, and I highly doubt it has been done before. I have thoughts on dropping the pan and cleaning out any sludge and putting a new o-ring and pressure relief valve.

Today I tried to do the overfill test, parked the truck on a slope, and then check the oil pressure. Which did seem to help about 5-10psi. So that's good, and it seemed like any tick went away or was almost inaudible.

View attachment 455148


Waited a couple hours, then came back out to drain the excess oil out of the pan. Which is when I noticed some glitter:


View attachment 455149View attachment 455150View attachment 455151

There was a good amount of glitter and a couple larger flakes. Also seemed to be a lot of (carbon chunks?) debris. I am also very concerned considering I really only drained a little over a quart out of the engine, so this isn't the full picture of what is in the crank case.

Any advice is much much appreciated, as I am not really sure what the best course of action forward is. Is this amount of glitter normal for this high of miles? Is it abnormal? Should I get rid of the car ASAP? Am I on borrowed time?

Also, I am a college student and currently job hunting. I don't need to give ya'll my life story haha but I don't have a large amount of money to throw at the car right now for any pertinent issues that I face. But I bought the car cheap and have been slowly chipping away at maintenance and upgrades. And I am by no means a mechanic, but I'm not afraid to do some repairs. So a full rebuild isn't exactly on the table at the moment (or AFM delete lol). So any advice helps, even if it stings a bit.


Edit: after trying to fish out some of the larger flakes, some of them seem like they are not metal and maybe some sort of plastic or paper?

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.