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Brass/Gold Flakes in oil

17K views 16 replies 11 participants last post by  yrlegacy 
#1 ·
Noticed when doing an oil change @13,000 miles I had like 6 small gold flakes at the bottom of my oil pan after draining the oil. Any one ran into this problem before and figured out what it is? I have an Idea that it could probably be some bearing ect. but what companants internally are bronze/gold.....?
 
#2 ·
Haven't got a clue, I've not run into this before.
How big are the flakes?
Would they have made it down the oilways?
The description sounds like it's phosphour bronze but I don't know where in the bike there is any.
 
#3 ·
The biggest flake was about the size of this "O", all the other flakes were half the size if not smaller about 6 flakes were found. So yes I would be safe to assume that yes the could get through the passages. One side of the flakes were gold/brass/bronze and the other side was silver.....
 
#7 ·
It's probably from the clutch basket or gears . I'd not worry about it given the relative small amount seen in an engine thats probably well run in with over 4k miles .

Alarming is when one see's hundred's in the bottom of a drain pan as the new engine is ran in . The worst I have personally seen at throwing off wear metals is some cheap copies of the Honda 90cc engine and the Ninja 250 .

Some throw off more than others do to design or machining / machining swarf but it's the norm , even in auto engines .

I always go for 2-3 oil drains w/o a filter change to drain it out and reduce tendancy to prematurely polish the bores during the first 600 or so miles . The larger particles cannot be fed through the oil pump screen . The only way to get the larger flakes out is to drain .
 
#10 ·
yrlegacy - 11/07/2005 : 10:29 PM Noticed when doing an oil change @13,000 miles I had like 6 small gold flakes at the bottom of my oil pan after draining the oil. Any one ran into this problem before and figured out what it is? I have an Idea that it could probably be some bearing ect. but what companants internally are bronze/gold.....?
One question not asked is have you been doing any abnormal riding lately or have you had any strange noises prior to this oil change? Also, did you have anything similar to the particles mentioned in smaller quantity and/or same color during any other oil change or is this the first time ever? Did you recently change out your clutch with one of this type of material? Did you recently grind some gears when shifting?
 
#11 ·
Determine if it is paint, fiber or metal, aluminum or carbon, that would give you an idea where it came from. I'm thinking clutch too. The only metal I see in mine is the flippin oil drain plug threads:(:(:( If it wasn't for lock wire my drain plug would probably fall out.
 
#12 ·
The flakes crumbled when I smashed them in my fingers so it seemed to be a fiber like meterial or very very thin metal. This was the first time it has happened, I personally think it is the crank bearings but other note the bike had been stored for 2 years brior to my buying it, which obviously isn't a good thing. Shifting sometime is shitty for me like when not using the clutch a gear sometimes get caught in between the gears and bouncving around untill jamed into gear...Thinking about getting rid of it......
 
#13 ·
if you have brass flakes in your oil, or oil looks like it has a metallic sheen in the sunlight(in oil pan)after it has been drained, you most likely have spun a bearing. kiss your motor goodbye!!! i have seen this two times in my race motor(car).it will slowly self destruct if you keep riding it, and may hurt other parts as well like rods or your crank.the inner core of all bearings are made of brass like metal.if you drain your oil into a pan and stir it in the light and there is a metallic sheen to it your screwed. if there in no sheen whatsoever, just a couple small flakes it might survive.
 
#15 ·
what is being described sounds similar to what i see in my oil and filter every oil change, a few small flakes. just turned over 30K miles this weekend and the air-cooled 750 motor is running just as strong as it ever has.
now if the pieces are big enough that you can read the part number or serial number...then i would be concerned hehe
 
#17 ·
The bike still runs like brand f***in' new thats the only problem, Theres no knocking pinging, has the perfect kawi tick, the only thing I can think of is the clutch doesn't seem that strong, doin' clutch wheelies in second doesn't happen without a bounce. So i am still very skeptical still..??
 
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