Bearing & Filter Condition

[LMBE92]

First off I hope I'm in the right part of the forum, if not I apologize just let me know where it's best to post this, still somewhat new to using the forum.

I recently performed my second oil change since owning the car. The first oil change was done at EAS when the rod bearings were replaced, and they used Castrol. The second oil change was performed by myself, switching from Castrol to Liquimoly. (10W60 if it wasn't already assumed). After completing the oil change and inspecting the filter I noticed a small amount of metal bits (shavings? flakes?- not sure how to classify them) in between some of the filter fins. I'm not overly concerned, but am also wondering what it could possibly be. Today after work I took a better look inside the filter. The left (bottom) bigger chunk seems to be valve cover coating to me which I'm not too worried about however there are multiple examples within the filter fins that look very similar to the metal piece on the right (top). The oil filter is not 'filled' with these flakes but it's definitely more than I'm comfortable with. The only thing that I can possibly think of is when EAS had my car, they had called me and said the rod bearing job was complete, however they had noticed a tapping sound not typical of the S65 and they were trying to diagnose the issue. They had diagnosed the problem and said that the timing chain tensioner was stuck and not providing tension on the chain, causing the chain to slap around and make noise. I don't believe they replaced the tensioner, from what I can remember the gentleman said they cleaned it and put it back and it was operating properly. Could the metal bits be timing chain? Any opinions are welcomed. Also.. learning as I go and someone correct me if I'm wrong but if the main bearings (or connecting rod bearings) were on their way out wouldn't you see glitter and not bigger pieces?

[LMBE92]

After the rod bearings were replaced I never really took a good look at the old ones. At the time I basically just pulled one out and said ehh not too bad. But tonight I inspected each one pretty thoroughly and my opinion is for 140K they're not too bad as I've definitely seen worse, but in certain spots I can start to see slivers of copper and I'm definitely glad I had the originals replaced. Let me know what you think!

[Scrippy]

So never good to see any metal flakes or glitter in our filter. I don’t think it would be from the vanos gear due to a loose timing chain but I’ve been wrong before. Maybe you could post a YouTube link to the sound for us. BTW this is exactly how my M3 went. Bought used, took to EAS for RB’s immediately. For what it’s worth I’ve never had any issues and I’m close to 279,xxx miles. I asked about the video because I have had a tapping noise present ever since I got the car with 25,000. I attribute it to lifter noise but have never really located an issue. I hear it during the summer whe at full temp. Still going strong though.