Sparkles in my Oil

[Zachary Baumgardner]

Hey folks,

I changed my oil for the second time in my “New to Me” 1995 Ford Ranger XL with 206k mi on it, and to my total and utter surprise there was a ton of sparklies in the oil… well I am going to give the most info I can on this. The truck has the 2.3L I4 SOHC motor in it, and it seems to have been pretty well taken care of. i changed the oil right after I got it and it didn’t have any sparklies in it from either the oil in the pan or the filter. For the amount of Sparklies in the oil this time around (should probably mention that i’m talking mainly about the oil coming from the oil filter yet there was still some in the oil straight from the oil pan), I am really shocked. the previous owner stated that he used conventional oil about every 5k. I change my oil strictly every 3k or 3 months whichever comes first. I always have, always will untill I get a new vehicle. I used Valvoline synthetic blend (Red Bottle) with a Bosch distance plus oil filter, and all of a sudden it has sparkles? I have used the factory recommended 5w-30… and the oil pressure is right where it should be. I’m hoping its the synthetic oil cleaning the crap out of the motor… but thought id get a few opinions, and hopefully an opinion from Eric himself.

Thanks for reading!!
Zachary

Topic

[dan]

check your oil pressure, how is the engine running, any ticks, knocks, rattles?

[Zachary Baumgardner]

My oil pressure according to the gauge in my cluster is Perfect, right in the center. And I know this gauge works. I don’t hear anything out of the ordinary for a 21 yr old vehicle 😛 . My lifters clack a bit but every older vehicle I’ve ever had has done that a bit…. without sparklies. It runs so smooth and never fights to start, always ready to go and has plenty of power. I have no idea why, it kinda freaked me out.

I spoke with my dad who has had far more experience than me at this kind of stuff, and he told me to try a slightly heavier oil like 10w-30 instead of 5w-30, and he told me to try Slick 50 because he swore by the stuff. So I had done one oil change today already, and decided to go and get some 10w-30 oil and a bottle of slick 50. I went ahead and changed my oil while the engine was still warm so everything was suspended and I got some stuff but not near as much as was in the first oil change. I added the slick 50 and then oil till it was just under the full line on the dipstick and ran her for about 45 minutes at highway speed… I am just hoping this helps a bit, what do I have to loose :side: :whistle: .

i am really hoping that doing this sort of “flush” helps a bit by getting the majority of the crap out.

I am also hoping that most of this was the cause of the synthetic blend i put in there cleaning sludge that was holding all these particles in the motor…

[dan]

it is possible considering some detergents in synthetic oils may clean out a engine more, also a oil gauge on your instrument panel is no substitute to actually plugging a direct oil pressure gauge into your engine, that way you can not only measure oil pressure but how even your oil pressure is.

You can just keep driving it, but putting 10W-30 in it over 5W-30 won’t really help much as the vescocity of the oil will be the same for both when the engine is warmed up,

[Zachary Baumgardner]

I guess I didn’t think about that, I should have known better… but any who I guess I don’t really have a choice, about driving it, time will tell and hopefully it was just the oil.

[Jake]

What do you expect of a 21-year-old vehicle, they don’t last forever. B)

[James P Grosso]

You could send an oil sample in for analysis?

[Rob]

[quote=”zacharyty96″ post=171039]My oil pressure according to the gauge in my cluster is Perfect, right in the center. And I know this gauge works. I don’t hear anything out of the ordinary for a 21 yr old vehicle 😛 . My lifters clack a bit but every older vehicle I’ve ever had has done that a bit…. without sparklies. It runs so smooth and never fights to start, always ready to go and has plenty of power. I have no idea why, it kinda freaked me out.

I spoke with my dad who has had far more experience than me at this kind of stuff, and he told me to try a slightly heavier oil like 10w-30 instead of 5w-30, and he told me to try Slick 50 because he swore by the stuff. So I had done one oil change today already, and decided to go and get some 10w-30 oil and a bottle of slick 50. I went ahead and changed my oil while the engine was still warm so everything was suspended and I got some stuff but not near as much as was in the first oil change. I added the slick 50 and then oil till it was just under the full line on the dipstick and ran her for about 45 minutes at highway speed… I am just hoping this helps a bit, what do I have to loose :side: :whistle: .

i am really hoping that doing this sort of “flush” helps a bit by getting the majority of the crap out.

I am also hoping that most of this was the cause of the synthetic blend i put in there cleaning sludge that was holding all these particles in the motor…[/quote]
I think you where looking at your oil gauge… what you need to do is a compresstion test… you will take out each spark plug and huck up a compresssion tester… is that what you did???? what was your readdings?? bothe wet and dry

[Chris]

If its running fine I would just keep on doing what you have been and keep an eye on things when you change it again. Its probably wear fleks that had been stuck in odd corners of the motor and the synthetic oil broke it free.

[Bluesnut]

I suspect you have a looming engine problem. Those flakes could be bearing shell material, cam journal surface material, cam lobe material, etc and it’s not good.
Yes an engine can run fine while having some serious problems.

My vote would be to do as mentioned and run an oil pressure check with an external gauge. Running a compression test would also be a good idea.
Those tests are not 100% definitive but it’s the best available and should provide good enough info so you can be thinking ahead about a worse case.

[dan]

a compression test will tell him the compression of his engine, it will really give him a idea of what kind of condition the piston rings and valve seats are, not a bad idea, but doing a oil pressure test is also a good idea, this will help give him an idea what the bearings inside his engine are like, if there is excessive clearance in the bearings the pressure may be low, or even fluctuate excessively.

A compression test wouldn’t be a bad idea, but i believe this would be more critical if he was having issues with a rough running engine because of power being low on or a couple of the cylinders so the compression test probably isn’t the only thing he should do. and Bluesnut also stated it could be from the cam as well could be a multitude of things, having the oil analyzed won’t hurt either.

[Sam Roodman]

In addition to a compression test I would also suggest a leakdown test. This will show any sealing problems indicating worn valves or a failing headgasket. While it won’t show the source of the sparkles it will give you some idea of engine health. Recommend getting a clean sample of the oil without slick 50 and pay the small price for analysis

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

[Mike]

Oil analysis, if done properly, might give you an insight into what’s going on. Get an analysis done at every oil change (and continue using the exact same type of oil and filter every time).

A single oil analysis is worthless. Several consecutive analyses will allow you to monitor any lubrication-related trends developing in your engine.

[dan]

all these ideas suggested are good ideas and i support them myself, a leak down test won’t hurt either.

[Zachary Baumgardner]

Thank you guys for your responses! Sorry I haven’t posted sooner I got really busy. I will definitely look into doing those tests, but with the way the engine is set up a leak down test might prove quite difficult. I’m going to have to figure out where I can put an oil pressure gauge to find out exactly what the oil pressure is.

[Author]

Replies