Oil filter debris

[mick56]

Anyone got any idea where these metal shards came from ? The owner says the bike is running fine. It's a 98 bike, that he has just bought.

[MrMikey]

Holy hell, that right there is a gross pic.
It almost looks like debris from a reamed out hole.....somewhere not the internals of an engine. I can't think of anything inside a still running engine that would look like that.
Are they hard/brittle? magnetic? pieces of a gear or the dogs maybe?.......Mike

[mick56]

They are needle like metal, not sure of what type. I was thinking the same, regards the tips of cogs/dogs. He has fitted a new filter, and is going to check it again in a few days.

[redjay]

Is there a needle roller bearing in the engine anywhere ?

[mick56]

Originally Posted by redjay

Is there a needle roller bearing in the engine anywhere ?

I don't know. But i am told the bike runs quietly, so i wouldn't expect it to be one of those broken. But stranger things have happened.

[MrMikey]

Are they magnetic?

[plumber63]

Or those could have been there since it was new. Some never take the side plug out to drain the oil. They just use the bottom one.

[DragonLady58]

Damn! What a pile of crap on that screen....and that screen is toast, if I'm seeing those holes in the screen, too! Looks like a pump screen from a blown engine....
Those long tightly curled pieces of metal look like the soft cast iron or mild steel, like off a bearing thrust face or possibly the side thrust face on the crank. Could possibly be a spun bearing in the gearbox....it might've tried to hang, and since the big Vulcans have so much torque....
Anyway, the chips are extremely thin, the majority of them blue, and it looks like as whatever spun, it started making smaller chips....
Since the engine and trans are still functioning ok, and theres no knocking or bad rattling, I'd flush her out good, install new pump screen, run a good 15w40 Rotella....and drive her kinda gingerly for about 500-1000 miles, change oil again, check pump screen. If clean, and everything seems fine, I'd say run it....cause whatever was damaged, didn't stop it from operating.
Run it till problem, install another engine if a problem. Or, simply rebuild that engine.

[redjay]

Those pieces could be from a past rebuild when there was catastrophic damage but the rebuilder did not know there was a second drain plug with a screen so it never got removed.

[mick56]

Originally Posted by redjay

Those pieces could be from a past rebuild when there was catastrophic damage but the rebuilder did not know there was a second drain plug with a screen so it never got removed.

That's a plausible explanation. Good shout mate.

[recumbentbob]

It would be interesting to see the inside of the oil filter.

[mick56]

It just dawned on me. As it's a 98, i am thinking the POG failed, and that debris is from the cam seizing in the head. Maybe the rotation could have torn the metal into that shape. I have just advised the owner to check the cog

[jtascone]

If those shards are from POG failure, the bike would definitely not be "running fine". However, I suppose it is possible that the POG failed for the previous owner and he had the engine repaired and thePOG replaced and whoever did the work just never removed the screen to remove the debris. That's about the only thing I can think of that would cause that kind of shrapnel.

[Tortuga]

Shouldn't the shards be on the inside of the screen? I thought the oil flowed through the screen.

[mick56]

Originally Posted by Tortuga

Shouldn't the shards be on the inside of the screen? I thought the oil flowed through the screen.

You would think so. But i have found remnants of gasket sealer, on the outside of mine. So i don't think it does.