Dana Anderson

Hey guys, I just changed my oil (have had 30 minute place do this for the past 3 times) and found metal filings on the magnet in the engine drain plug (actually a greyish metalic sludge around the magnet.

Now I'm sitting up worried that I'm about to experience a significant drop in my kid's college fund. Is this typical for a car with 119K miles? What should my next steps be? How worried should I be about this problem? Thanks in advance for any help/counsel you might be able to provide.

dutchcrunch

this is normal, maybe they never cleaned it on the previous oil changes. clean and check on next oil change.

springer3

Relax, metallic sludge is normal. It you start seeing large filings, perhaps it is time to worry.

warmfuzzies

Normal, well I'd say not necessarily so. Your best bet would to get them analysed with an oil sample.
Although primarily used for trend analysis sampling oil can tell you if there's something amis, providing the right people are involved.

kevin.

IIRC there's been info about this before on here, though I can't remember when.

Michael Delaney

The magnet is doing the job it was put there for.

Smokin

Try this place...

Click Me

It's Blackstone Labs... I think they do most of the oil analysis for everyone around here... They send you a free container then charge a modest fee for the analysis. Pretty cool actually...

DrJupeman

My recommendation as well. Good peace of mind, though to make it worthwhile you should have Blackstone test your oil over time so you can begin to identify trends.

Dana Anderson

Thanks a ton for the information and reasurance. This is a great group for support and encouragement. I hope some day I'll have the expertise to do the same. Thanks again to all of you.