Author Topic: another disaster: silver gunk in new oil  (Read 5561 times)

tyssniffen

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Re: another disaster: silver gunk in new oil
« Reply #15 on: January 15, 2020, 04:58:37 PM »
Well, I think I have to report - confess - that I think this is the result of water leaking in from the coolant system, via an improper gasket and my insufficient cleaning out of the old oil when doing an oil change. 

The last 2 oil changes (at about 100 hours each, which comes out to about once a year) I have treated an oil change like a car oil change:  pull the plug, wait, put plug back in, refill.   

In this investigation, I went all the way down to the white paint: I was in there with fingers and rags until every drop was out.  The sludge that I had previously not cleaned out was pancake batter thick, at best.  I did get all the way down and found a magnet in there (did I put that there, or is that standard??) but there was nothing stuck to it.  So, previous changes didn't do half the job it should have.

So, I think the silver IS in fact metallic powder of wear and tear, but caught up in water-infused oil. 

Still, nothing seems overly loose or worn, surprisingly.   This summer, I'll put the head again and attempt another gasket.
6/1 with 2 tank for WVO.  pushing power into off-grid house battery bank, in winter.

Blueflame

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Re: another disaster: silver gunk in new oil
« Reply #16 on: January 15, 2020, 10:53:33 PM »
Looks like coolant to me. I had a 400 pontiac in a jet boat do that from an intake manifold leak but was a little more white color than that. Mine was contaminated by lake water the boat uses for cooling.

tyssniffen

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Re: another disaster: silver gunk in new oil
« Reply #17 on: January 16, 2020, 02:45:49 AM »
Looks like coolant to me. I had a 400 pontiac in a jet boat do that from an intake manifold leak but was a little more white color than that. Mine was contaminated by lake water the boat uses for cooling.

that is great to hear an answer... I'm just scratching my head.   I did try and mix some oil and coolant in a jar and shake it... but it probably has to be heated up or something.     After my extensive clean out, I ran it again for about 3 hours with a load, and took a peak.  Here's what I saw:



weird white-ish, not so silver...     

if it is coolant, I guess I'm done running this thing until I can redo the gasket. 
6/1 with 2 tank for WVO.  pushing power into off-grid house battery bank, in winter.

mike90045

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Re: another disaster: silver gunk in new oil
« Reply #18 on: January 16, 2020, 03:39:23 AM »
The water will find its way to the bottom, you have to wipe it out, dry with gasoline, flush all the nooks and crannies with 99% alcohol or acetone (to absorb the water) ,and then re-wipe dry with gasoline.

I've also heard that ATF  will suck up water too, maybe wipe dry, squirt a bunch of cheap ATF around, drain that and wipe out dry again.   Then try oil.

cujet

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Re: another disaster: silver gunk in new oil
« Reply #19 on: January 23, 2020, 01:29:55 PM »
I think it is fuel maybe because running a cold engine. Or just blowby.
Vegitable oil can give nice gunk.
Regards bernhard.

are you suggesting that my fuel - my used vegetable oil - is getting into the engine cavity and turning silver and gunking up the motor oil?   That doesn't seem to possible to me. 

WVO can cause motor oil to polymerize. I'm not sure if that is what's happening here.

Yes, both fuel and combustion byproducts get past the rings in large quantities. That is in fact what makes the oil black. Air compressor oil stays clean nearly forever.
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gadget

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Re: another disaster: silver gunk in new oil
« Reply #20 on: April 04, 2020, 06:01:27 AM »
I think it is fuel maybe because running a cold engine. Or just blowby.
Vegitable oil can give nice gunk.
Regards bernhard.

are you suggesting that my fuel - my used vegetable oil - is getting into the engine cavity and turning silver and gunking up the motor oil?   That doesn't seem to possible to me. 

WVO can cause motor oil to polymerize. I'm not sure if that is what's happening here.

Yes, both fuel and combustion byproducts get past the rings in large quantities. That is in fact what makes the oil black. Air compressor oil stays clean nearly forever.

On a side note, depth filtration at a small/sub micro level is suppose to remove long polymer chains(varnish). I know the very large windmills use this for there transmissions oil system.