Glitter in 6.2L oil ... please help

[SpareParts]

IF i remember right, it would fluctuate between 10 and 15 psi hot at idle.

 

[rdezs]

You'll know more when you drop the pan. If you find little needle bearings you lost a trunion bearings.

 

[Feadcap]

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?

Before going to extremes, flush your oil a couple of times add one can of Seafoam in each time. Put 50 ml miles on it between oil changes. I would then suggest using full synthetic oil with one quart of Lucas (synthetic) high mileage additive. Drive it and see if the problem persists.

 

[thefrey]

Before going to extremes, flush your oil a couple of times add one can of Seafoam in each time. Put 50 ml miles on it between oil changes. I would then suggest using full synthetic oil with one quart of Lucas (synthetic) high mileage additive. Drive it and see if the problem persists.

I just dropped the pan today and really there wasn’t much. A lot of the stuff that appeared gold fell apart when I touched it. I cut open the filter and there was almost no metal in there after I squeezed all the oil out of the pleats. So I just buttoned up the oil pan and I’m gonna send it for a bit and do an oil analysis if I see more shavings in the metal

 

[rdezs]

I hope you changed out the o-ring while you're in there?

The gold flakes fell apart... Like they weren't metal? That makes me think of that gold hue that covers the inside of the engine from normal use. It's from the oil. Never heard of it getting thick enough to flake off though. Usually it's more of a stain. But if it dissolved into nothing I wouldn't worry about it. Could be just a layer of oil impurities that was collecting in the pan.

 

[thefrey]

I hope you changed out the o-ring while you're in there?

The gold flakes fell apart... Like they weren't metal? That makes me think of that gold hue that covers the inside of the engine from normal use. It's from the oil. Never heard of it getting thick enough to flake off though. Usually it's more of a stain. But if it dissolved into nothing I wouldn't worry about it. Could be just a layer of oil impurities that was collecting in the pan.

Yes haha that is the main reason why I was in there was to change the o-ring. I swapped it out and replaced the pressure relief also and checked out the cam too.

I was using high mileage oil so I’m assuming there was extra detergents in there so maybe that was the leading cause of the flakes

I’m waiting for the RTV to cure before I add oil and do a startup. But everything that I could see the cam was fine but I don’t exactly know what would constitute a bad cam

 

[rdezs]

Oh yeah, that o-ring was way past ready to be replaced. That coating on the bottom of your oil pan... I can visualize small pieces of it flaking off, looking like metal as you drain the oil. That looks like an engine that has significant blow by, a partially plugged PCV system, or more likely the previous owner didn't change the oil often enough.

 

[rdezs]

That should bring your oil pressure up, eliminate the ticking sound. I'd run some Valvoline r&p through it... First batch I change after 500 miles. Second one maybe 2000 miles. And I'd probably keep changing it every 2000 until it stopped looking ugly when it drained. Then start changing every 4500 miles with a full synthetic

 

[thefrey]

That should bring your oil pressure up, eliminate the ticking sound. I'd run some Valvoline r&p through it... First batch I change after 500 miles. Second one maybe 2000 miles. And I'd probably keep changing it every 2000 until it stopped looking ugly when it drained. Then start changing every 4500 miles with a full synthetic

As far as I know there’s no significant blow by. I think it was definitely neglected for awhile. I’ve already got some r&p ready to go with an extended WIX filter.

Do you think that the flaking off would also explain the glitter?

 

[rdezs]

I'm thinking so....