Dameon

Low mileage car I've owned since new (10 miles on the odo). I changed the oil a week ago and ran it through a coffee filter, as I always do because I'm paranoid, and it was clean. I have two magnetic drain plugs and both were clean. Drove from Lafayette to Atlanta and it is now generating a click/chirp sound that seems to be timed with crank rotation. Drained oil and now have signs of copper flake.

No engine work has ever been done on it. No track days. No drag strip. No accidents. No flood damage. Sat most of its life in my garage.

Likely suspect?

Thanks.

Dameon

Oh, I had a local performance shop (I trust) perform the wiggle test about 5 years ago (when I first learned about it) and at that time it was well within spec. Probably 5K since then.

I suspect this issue isn't top end/heads, but figured I'd mention it anyway.

MTPZ06

Soft cam lobe/lifter failure potentially. It can and does happen on bone stock cars. https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-chirping.html

meanjoe

He said copper looking flakes. That's not cam lobe/lifter. Is it?

MTPZ06

No, that could certainly be bearing failure, but I was speaking more to the comments below...

Pb82 Ronin

I concur with MTP...could be early signs of a bearing having a problem. I understand low miles, but crazy stuff happens sometimes. Any chance of a video?

ssbowtie1

If you're **** about your oil, send it out to get lab tested every oil change instead of running it through a filter which won't give you much info.

meanjoe

https://www.blackstone-labs.com/

Dameon

I send my oil off to be tested if I suspect a problem. This is a problem. I don't send it off every time I change the oil on one of my vehicles.

Bearings are one of the few things that are copper in the oil flow. The problem will be determining which bearings are failing. That may not even matter... if one is failing, then it makes sense to change them all while its on the operating table. I don't want to pull the engine if there's a different answer.

What possible reasons could a bearing have to fail this soon? I've heard rumors of this engine being very finicky and prone to failure, but this seems outside the bounds. I've driven gas engines with 200K that didn't have bearing failures. Is there a design "flaw" that would exaggerate the wear?

MTPZ06

If its a cam bearing, lack of oil pressure or oil flow...but sometimes things just break/wear. Did you cut the filter open?

Dameon

I was always careful about that. Filling the filter before reinstalling and such. Unless there is/was a failure in the oil pump. I've never seen an indication (gauge or error code) indicating low pressure.

Yes. That's how I found the copper filings.