Help please - metal in oil - pics

Hi,

Have just done a routine oil + filter change on my '02 curvy and a few metal shavings / slivers came out...

They are not iron/steel based - cannot be picked up with a magnet

They do not appear to be bearing coloured

They came out from the larger allen headed drain plug on RHS of sump

I have removed clutch cover and plates and inspected the basket for wear - and yes there has definitely been some natural "self -clearancing" on the fingers

Oil was otherwise OK - Engine and 'box is otherwise fine, no nasty noises, runs sweet as - mileage is c.20K

So, I was just wondering if anyone else has seen anything similar before and how worried I should be...?

As in the pics below, these shavings appear to have simply fallen straight to the bottom of sump and not been throught the pump/filter or mashed up in anyway in the motor/trans, so I am concluding that they may be harmless bits from the clutch basket/fingers that have simply dropped down and only now found their way out as I have used the offside drain plug...?

cheers,
James

The coin (for scale) is a 1p

[maviczap]

Don't look good.

My Sv only uses one drain bolt in the sump and it doesn't have an allen head, so I don't know what you've undone? Unless someone has swapped the bolt for an allen head one?

Even so you shouldn't find bits like this in your oil

The regular drain bolt is still there as it should be - 14mm hex head on LHS.

I agree though - doesn't look good, but with shavings of this size, I would have expected to already know about it, if they are from somewhere/thing of a serious nature - i.e. it would be knocking and clonking like **** by now...

Only symptom I have infrequently experienced is a real clonk when clicking into 1st gear when cold with the choke out and more than 2000rpm

Could they be bits of a damaged selector fork/finger/slider/syncro...?

[maviczap]

Originally Posted by jameslake

Could they be bits of a damaged selector fork/finger/slider/syncro...?

Don't think so,shavings look circular, as if its from a bearing?

2 options:

1. Take it apart and spend money on new gaskets and a load of labour charge.

Or

2. If its still running with no loss in power or grinding noises then leave it alone.

If you do option 1 and find nothing wrong then its cost you a load of money already.

If you do option 2 and it blows up then its gonna cost you alot of money anyway!

BUT

If you leave it alone and it doesnt break then it hasnt cost anything, why mess with it until it sounds like its breaking?

There is another option - sell it!

[Sid Squid]

There's only one drain plug and it doesn't have an Allen head.

Exactly what have you removed? The answer to this may well help in identifying the particles you've found.

Originally Posted by Sid Squid

There's only one drain plug and it doesn't have an Allen head.

Exactly what have you removed? The answer to this may well help in identifying the particles you've found.

Its on the other side of sump casing to the "normal" drain bolt and looks more like a drain plug - about 22mm od with a recessed allen key drive. Kind of under the clutch cover - hence that was the first thing I looked at to find the source of the shavings... I stripped it and the clutch "looked" fine, albeit for the marks on the basket/fingers.

I only used it because it looked lower than the standard bolt when on my paddock stand, so I though it would be a better point to drain from. So it looks like it may well have turned out to be a lower point in so much as these shavings have clearly found their way to it.

However, finding the shavings maybe isn't so much better!

Ignorance is bliss - I didn't have to to filter my old oil after draining to check and if I hadn't then would be none the wiser and just carried on riding as usual...

You can see it on the other side in this pic I just found...

[TamSV]

I don't know what you've taken out there but I'm going to look it up later as I'm now curious. It's certainly not the oil drain plug. what did it look like? Is it a short plug or a longer bolt?

FWIW, you should drain your oil with the bike on the sidestand then the drain plug is at the lowest point.

[Sid Squid]

That's a plug that covers an area where an internal drilling is made within the crankcase, it sits near the internal oil strainer.
As the bits you found were in the area of the strainer they very likely will have been pushed there by normal flow of oil, as such their original location is hard to establish, and thus identification will be a matter of conjecture too.
As long as there's no obvious malfunction of the engine/clutch/gearbox I wouldn't be overly concerned as they don't appear to be bearing material or slivers of broken pinion or chain. Being aluminium they could conceivably be bits of casting flash and thus not really part of the mechanics at all.
I'd also advise against removing unidentified bits, there's only one drain plug, it's on the left and is low down when the bike is on the sidestand.