Pannymix

Hi team,
2003 E55 AMG, 145kms
I changed the oil yesterday and when emptying the floor pan I noticed as it dribbled finished that there was some very slight debris in the oil. Tiny pieces of metal like gold if you’ve ever panned for it.
so I cut the filter open and in the folds there is also tiny fragments.
Im wondering how serious this might be (accepting its likely to be serious).
anybody seen this before?
cheers for any advice,

Gazwould

The reason why I always fit and forget a magnetic Gold Plug .

StarvingArtist

It's aluminum shavings from the oil pump chain hitting the timing cover. Try a magret on them to confirm.

SICAMG

I am not sure about the cover thing. He said gold in color so that would be bearings, not the cover.

anomadtoo

I think he's comparing the small fragments to like gold in dirt (mining), not the actual color; he'll probably clarify the analogy now

Pannymix

Thanks for the assistance guys. I think you're right, the shavings are aluminium. There were a couple of very small 'chunks' which look like they had a cast appearance to part of their surfaces. I'm talking no larger than 1.5mm to 2.0mm in size. The rest (and certainly the bulk) of the metal is very thin needle like shavings and tiny specs. They are all silver. I had a weak magnet at home and nothing seemed to attract. I've collected a very strong rare earth one from work today and will try them tonight to confirm ferrous or not.

Apologies, my reference to gold in a panning context was only in the way the meal appeared in size and scatter. It's all silver, the thin needles and specs are pure bright silver, the little chunks with a cast appearance are a dark silver/grey.

This oil pump chain hitting timing cover mentioned, is this a common problem?

I really don't like the idea of metal particles in the oil, I could imagine something finding itself between some things it shouldn't and causing scoring.

Thanks for the help, I've parked the car and want to resolve this before I use it any more (if it's not already too late). I really hope it's not terminal.

SICAMG

Very common issue. When I had my engine apart I ground down the part that the chain will actually hit so that it never happens again.
You can live with it but i would change the oil more frequently as time goes on and it "clearance's" itself. LOL

Pmarino

StarvingArtist

Aluminum is soft enough to not do any scoring, and everything is feed with filtered oil. Common problem and most don't fix it because it's such a pain to get to.

Pannymix

Thanks Everybody! It's confirmed the particles are aluminium. The strong rare earth magnet did pick up some debris in the filter that was magnetic, but this stuff was pretty minimal and very small, I'd think it was normal. The aluminium is clearly not ideal, but I'm assured by the help here that I can continue to drive the vehicle.

For those who have experienced this issue, will the amount of aluminium from the oil pump chain chewing it's way into the cover lessen over time? I would expect once it's made some clearance it has nothing further to interfere with. Is this a result of the chain stretching and being looser than when the engine was brand new?

SICAMG

No it is from the tensioner becoming weak over time. They all do it.
When mine was apart the chain was the same length as the new one.

W126AMG

If you still have the oil, I suggest sending a sample to Blackstone Labs for an analysis to be sure what the particles are.