metal in oil

[waspp]

Ok so the Quota is back together with a good working clutch so I decided before putting some miles on it I would change oil. Much to my dismay I collected a significant amount of metal from the drain plug and pan. It looks very strange almost like flakes of metal which are dark in color not bright like metal filings. Some of the bits were fairly large 1/4 inch long by 1/8 inch wide and thin. They were found in the pan as well as under the screen. I have my suspicions but am interested if anyone has found anything similar. The bike has just over 10k on it.Sorry the pics are from my phone but you get the idea.

[pete roper]

Pics don't tell a lot but if the stuff is ferous the obvious place it's come from is a cam lobe or tappet.

Pete

[waspp]

It is ferrous for sure. Could this be the result of excessive valve clearance or more likely a defective part? I got the bike back in December of last year and have been chasing issues ever since. I did notice when adjusting the valves they were way out of spec.

[Twinsport]

sorry I cant tell much from your pics. I am trained in Oil analysis and there are different types of wear debris.Do you have a clearer pic of the debris?

[waspp]

I can't seem to get a good pic with my camera either but this might be better. I looked up at the camshaft and had someone slowly rotate the crank while I looked at everything and couldn't see anything unusual. The lobes looked good as well as the bottom of the tappets. This debris doesn't look like anything in the crank case. When you look at the larger pieces one side is irregular in shape but black in color, smooth and very shiny. When you flip it over it is somewhat porous black (brown) in color. They are easily broken up in your fingers (crumble) I have seen metal in the oil before but nothing like this. Inside the crank case looks like new.

[john zibell]

Take a look at the timing chain and sprockets. Still with that much metal in the sump I'd be tempted to do a full tear down just to make sure I found the offending part and get all the metal out.

[Twinsport]

Looks like ground up gears or teeth of some sort, and what looks like a .22 shell. Any idea how that got in there? I would expect if it was cams it would be a platelet rather than chunks.

[waspp]

After having a couple of mechanic friends look at the stuff and both said its not from an internal engine part. I then unhooked the breather lines and flushed out the breather which is in the frame and more of the same metal junk came out. It looks like flakes of rust and slag. I put 150 miles on today and I am going to drain the oil and see if there is any more material in there.

[john zibell]

After having a couple of mechanic friends look at the stuff and both said its not from an internal engine part. I then unhooked the breather lines and flushed out the breather which is in the frame and more of the same metal junk came out. It looks like flakes of rust and slag. I put 150 miles on today and I am going to drain the oil and see if there is any more material in there.

Hopefully you will be lucky. Seeing the stuff in person versus a picture can make a big difference in what you think it may be.

Please let us know if there is any more. However, once the frame starts to rust internally, I'd become concerned with it's integrity.

[waspp]

Just a follow up: I installed paper fuel filters in the return lines to the heads and after draining the oil again only found a few specs of rusty metal in the oil. I have since taken a trip to Texas about 4500 miles and after changing the oil back home everything was clean, no bits or flakes. I also installed a brass pex pipe manifold as suggested on a Quota group site and eliminated the frame breather completely as well as the paper fuel filters. I decided to remove the lower drain/ vent hose from the bottom of the airbox as well and send the breather (from the pex manifold) directly to atmosphere.

Hal