Metal flakes/glitter found in motor oil.

As some of you guys might know I did an oil change after only about 10 miles due to my suspicion that the indy mech. had filled my car with 5W-30 instead of 0W-40. After draining my oil, I noticed that there were metal flakes in the drained oil.. they look kinda squareish like glitter... silver in color... is this ok? My car only has 7200 miles on it!

Probably not, if they're truly metal shavings and not glitter. I think I'd be taking the drained oil/flakes to a dealer for another opinion. If this was the car's first oil change since new I suppose they could be few burrs from the manufacturing process that worked loose, but that doesn't sound like what you're seeing....................

I can't image the lighter oil caused this unless it's driven in hot weather w wrong viscosity for thousands of miles. Drain some of the oil again after another couple hundred miles. See if the flakes are still there. If so, take it to the dealer with the 0-40w still in engine. You don't want to tell Porsche that wrong viscosity oil was ever used or else they'll use it to deny any warranty. I think this is bad news. Good thing you have warranty so don't give Porsche any excuse to get out of an engine replacement should it come to that.

Oh dear. not good.

This is the cars second oil change, i have heard of some metal burrs in the oil on brand new cars, that is what I was thinking this was since the car only have 7200 miles on it?

send a sample of the oil to Blackstone Laboratory (Google the name)...they will tell you exaclty what the flakes are. I would definitely do this ASAP.

I don't think you need to worry about it since you've got lots of warranty. You just might get a new engine (which is easily a 1 day job). Just make sure no one knows about the 5-30 oil.

well, i drove literally 10 minutes w/ the 5W30 oil.. also, I already took the old oil to be disposed of.. Grrrr.

This is normal, clean oil shows more metallic particulate matter than dirty oil because it's more transparent. All motors wear and the worn particles (metal) are suspended in a modern detergent oil and disposed of when the oil is dumped. Larger particles being heavier fall to the bottom of the pan and most will be drained out during an oil change. The largest stuff is caught in the filter and is held there. If the motor is driven easily for the first few hundred miles and oil changed regularly, most of the wear thereafter should be minimal, however it still does take place and you can see the results. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the lighter than recommended oil used unless you ran at extremely high rpms for a long time in really hot weather.

Ditto.

I don't know about the super Porsche brand but most cars have shavings during the break in period.

agree with nick49... wouldnt worry about it

run another hour or so...drain and collect a sample. 3-4 ounces is all that is needed for a lab to daignose. it cost $20 to have them look at it.

Hope you mean 3 -4 ounces of oil not metal flakes. Now that would be worrying !

If you come up with 3 ounces of flakes, no need to send in a sample.....

If I understand your situation correctly, you have 7K miles on your motor so it shouldn't be an issue. However, when you take your motor apart for rebuilding or replacement of parts, the sealing material that gets distributed throughout your motor upon startup looks like metal flakes in the oil. It is very disturbing and looks like metal flakes but isn't. The best way to find out is to have your oil analyzed.

Whoa, what is this sealing materia? This stuff normally flakes off into the oil?

Yeah, during the first oilchange after reinstalling my rebuilt engine (in the '44) this winter (which I did after running the motor for 30 minutes), the oil looked like it was full of metallic crap . . . but it wasn't metal. It was just the various sealants in the oil. They harden when they contact air, but the oil washes away some of the sealent that is on the interior side of the motor. Scary, but harmeless. That said, I doubt if that is the same issue after 7K miles. I just wanted to point out that metallic looking substances in the oil may not actually be metal shavings. All that glitters is not gold, or something like that.

I paid my way through college working on cars (haven't touched many since). We did not work on Porsches, but "metal flakes" were often noticed when a car had it's first, and sometimes second, oil change. If you are under warranty for a while and the car seems to be running fine, don't worry too much. You can always get the oil changed again in 3 to 5 thousand miles if you want to sleep better and you should see an improvement. If you don't, then you'll know you have a problem. Or...you could call a service manager at another dealership to get an independent opinion. Good luck.

I'd change the oil in 3000 miles and send a sample in for analysis. Some of the CAT (diesel) dealers (Butler labs?) do analysis that includes a microscopic exam for particles. You could also cut open the filter and look for particles on the media. BTW, running 5w30 Mobil 1 shouldn't cause any problems. Particles big enough to see should be caught in the oil filter before they circulate. Dyson Analysis can provide an expert interperation of your oil analysis. http://www.dysonanalysis.com/index.html