Sparkles in oil filter, brand new BE Bearings

[amg6975]

Hey everyone. I S65 swapped a 1 series last winter and when I did I did rod bearings. 52k miles engine, peace of mind. Then a couple weeks ago, with about 800 miles on them blew an oil cooler line on track. I got it stopped and shut off pretty quick but when I went to fix the cooler line there was very little oil left in the engine, maybe 1-1.5L. I decided to cut open the oil filter for kicks and saw some sparkles, not that bad but enough to worry me:



There were no sparkles in the oil, or in the pan. I did notice a few similar looking specks here and there around the inside of the oil pan gasket... makes it super easy to see them since it's black. I assume there are more floating around.

So I figured the worst... rod bearings shot, welded to the crank, motor shot. So I tore the whole thing apart again to see the damage and... there was none. Very slight scoring in the bearings that I can't even feel with a finger nail but other than that they look like brand new BE bearings:



Some scoring near the edge:


When I pulled the third bearing from the front, cyl 2 I think? The bearing stayed on the crank instead of the cap, I figured this was game over but it popped right off, the bearing surface looked fine, and so did the crank but I noticed the back of the bearing was a little black:

Bearing on the left:


Back side of bearing and cap:


The other bearings all looked pretty much exactly the same, crank was oily and smooth across the board.

The last thing I noticed was some heat discoloring on the pump pick-up mounting plate. Not sure what's up with this, I don't think it was like that before. Car was mostly tracked for the last few hundred miles so maybe just a hot oil thing?



So anyway, here's some questions for the hive mind here:

1. Do the bearings look good? Worried about the minor scoring?

1. Does the "sticky" bearing look ok? Obviously it didn't spin but I'm not sure why it would be black like that. Maybe this one is the source of my metal?

1. Is it kosher to just reinstall the same bearings?

1. Any ideas on the pick-up discoloration?

1. Any other ideas where the metal came from? This is the first filter after fitting a new oil cooler, maybe it's that?

1. Any other words of wisdom? Plenty of people here smarter than me...

Thanks!

[Bimmer Barney]

I would suggest sending a sample of the oil you drained to Blackstone and if in the clear, reassemble with all new parts.

That's about all I can contribute here and sounds like you got it shut down before serious damage, hopefully.

[amg6975]

Originally Posted by Bimmer Barney

I would suggest sending a sample of the oil you drained to Blackstone and if in the clear, reassemble with all new parts.

That's about all I can contribute here and sounds like you got it shut down before serious damage, hopefully.

Yes that's the conventional wisdom but what are they going to tell me that's better than actually looking at the bearing? There will not be bearing material in the sample, the bearings look mostly perfect.

[Bimmer Barney]

Originally Posted by amg6975

Yes that's the conventional wisdom but what are they going to tell me that's better than actually looking at the bearing? There will not be bearing material in the sample, the bearings look mostly perfect.

Happy to elaborate. You can see the bottom end and get a visual inspection but you don't totally know what any of the cylinder walls or rings look like or the levels of glitter. You're asking "is this a lot of glitter?" Blackstone report will objectively quantify it.

Blackstone is the gold standard for understanding engine wear. Not just for cars. Aerospace, military, etc. all use it. Probably why it has become conventional wisdom.

[Helmsman]

Interesting! "BE shells out" in the title would prob generate plenty viewers incl BE folks input

[amrazM]

Scoring on the bearing is usually either from the bearing material itself or foreign debris in the motor.

[Tut4u2]

I think you're fine; throw some oil in it and run it. To be sure, you can plastigauge the journals.

[Scharbag]

I had some flakes in my filter after that changed my bearings too. Freaked me out. Sent a sample away and it was totally fine.

That was 35,000KM ago. Every oil change since has been totally fine. Have tested the oil once more and it was good. Not sure where the swarf came from but it is gone now.

Put it back together and try again. Your bearings look fine to me. Perhaps @Green-Eggs can offer some insight.