Good Morning,

Earlier this week I had my 2002 XKR in for replacement of control arm bushings as well as a leaking oil pan gasket. The mechanic noted that he found these metal bits, which he stated looked like bearing pieces, within the oil pan screen. I'm assuming he means some kind of oil pan filter. He was not able to investigate further because he specializes in much older European cars and does not work on engine or diagnostic related issues with newer cars. Therefore just wanted to ask if anyone had any ideas of what this would be and/or if I need to perhaps have it investigated further. This car has 53,000 miles, runs fine and makes no unusual engine noises that I'm aware of. I've had the car since 2007 and 15,000 miles, and to the best of my knowledge has never been run low on oil or coolant. I attached a picture of the pieces to show the size, it's hard to see the thickness but they are very thin.


Thank you,


Rob

 

a couple flakes in the pan are common, it’s something from assembly. when bearings actually go you’ll be in glitter city

 

That looks like pieces of swarf left over from a machining process that should have been flushed out during manufacture.

 

Thank you for the replies and that's something I didn't consider. But certainly makes sense and seems to match up with other photos of swarf. And great to know that it doesn't look like actual bearing bits.

 

I would ring an alarm bell over your statement 'He was not able to investigate further because he specializes in much older European cars and does not work on engine or diagnostic related issues with newer cars' - whenever I see that sort of comment, I think you need a better mechanic. Whether or not a car has electronics, or is new or 100 years old, an engine is an engine, and swarf in the sump is just basic mechanics.

 

I see where you're coming from, and he's a great mechanic, he works on cars from all over the Southeast US, but his specialty is pre 1975 european cars, and he has simply made the decision not to get into internals and diagnostics with engines newer than that. However with suspension and other drivetrain components, he will work on those.

 

Swarf. Learned a new word today.

 

If someone said what part is this that has disintegrated I would say its a valve stem collet ... could have been from a failure before you had it

 

Yep, that was a new word for me as well.

 

Can the OP answer the point made in post 8

 

I'm not sure what the question there was, but certainly could be a possibility?

 

deleted

 

The point is if its dropped a valve in the past and been repaired then the parts are too big to circulate in the system. Why not take off the oil filter and cut it opens and check for debris ( like they do on a land rover )If you dont find any then motor on.
Put a magnet on the side of the oil filter just in case .

 

Got it and that makes sense ; thanks for the clarification. It hasn't that I know of....my parents bought the car in 2007 with about 15k miles and I bought it from them about 10 years ago. But no knowledge of a valve issue when they had it and also not indicated with the records before that.

 

Those pieces look like aluminum, have you checked them with a magnet?