Metal Shavings in oil passage
 

So I was changing out my valve cover gaskets (as well as timing belt, water pump, etc) and noticed the oil passage in the rear upper corner on the passenger side had a bunch of what seem like metal shavings. Anybody have any ideas on what this might be from or the best way to go about cleaning it up? I haven't pulled the drivers side off yet to see what that looks like. Engine has 141k on it and oil always free of any shavings.

Thanks in advance for any input.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2...7/5e62fcac.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2...7/b3e19a8e.jpg

It's hard to tell from the picture, but it looks like sludge more than metal shavings. This is usually from extended intervals between oil changes.

Stick your finger down there and see if it is really metal, if so that is bad news.

Looking at the rest of it you can tell that the motor has nor been the most well taken care of motor around. Got some sludge build up in there.

Metal in the oiling system = engine running on borrowed time.

My recommendation is to clean as much of it up as you can. Then change the oil/filter to Mobile 1, it has a LOT of cleaning agents and will clean the inside of a motor real good. You will need to change the oil out pretty quick, soon as it starts getting a dark brown on the dipstick (around 1000 miles if i had to guess).

Change to mobile 1 again with another new filter and do the same as before. After 2 changes of that you should be getting the inside pretty clean. Run mobile 1 one more time and see how long it lasts, should last longer then before.

After that oil is ready for a change get a a good quality synthetic oil, Rotella T6 5w-40 is what i use personally in the summer, great stuff and you can get it at walmart for about the same price as mobile 1 except it is better.

With a regiment like this i have cleaned many a motor up to like new internally. Although if you have metal in there it is most likely already too late, this regiment sure won't hurt it though.

I did pull some on my finger and it sure feels like it's metal. I will definitely run through your procedure to hopefully get it all cleaned up the best I can and drive it till it dies I guess.

Would you recommend running seafoam through it at all? I was also going to change the oil once I was done and was considering running some seafoam through to help clean it up before I changed it out? However, I've read some horror stories though of people doing this and end up with bigger issues.

Seafoam is great stuff but i never recommend that you run it in the oil. Running it through the intake/gas on the other hand is a great idea but won't help the engine last longer in this case really, just help it run better till it dies.

It could live a good long while, these 5vz's are darn near bullet proof. It could die in short order. I do know i would not waste time or money on this motor past regular oil changes if it starts giving you problems, just find a replacement.

Overchanging the oil is the single best thing you can do for a motor you are trying to milk out and using good oil.