engine wear
 

Yesterday before taking my car out for a spin I started it and let her run for a few minutes to warm everything up. Backed it out of the garage and thought I heard a slight knock. Shut the car off and checked the engine oil which I do religiously. Upon inspection it was low. Very low. I also saw what I thought at first glance was bubbles but upon further inspection was shiny bits of metal. Put a magnet to it, it's not magnetic. Now I know the engine is going to wear and there will be metal in the oil but enough that it shows up on the dipstick? After I let it sit again for a few hours and looked at it when I pulled the dipstick the oil barely reads up the dipstick. Today I'm going to drain the oil pull a sample, refill the oil run it for a bit then drain resample and refill again with fresh oil. There's only 30k miles on the engine I'd find it very hard to believe the engine is coming apart already. Maybe I'm just freaking out as I've been known to do with my cars. Also it seems to have excessive crank case pressure as after everytime I drive her I need to push the dipstick back in to the tube. It will get blown out maybe a 1/4". Any ideas what could cause that?

Re: engine wear
 

When is the last time you changed oil?
History of the car?
Any Oil Leaks?
How did the Oil get so low?
It can be assumed you did not get to zero Oil Pressure?
Cam Cover Journals are Aluminum.
Main Bearings and Rod Bearings?
If you find Aluminum in the Oil....pull the Cam Covers first thing and inspect the Cam Covers.

Re: engine wear
 

I've only had the car since June. I bought it from a gentleman who had another ZR1 and he is a GM Technician at the local chevy dealer. I'm one oil leak appears to be coming from the intake I can see a small puddle on the right side of the motor it puddles on top of the head where the intake meets the head. The other oil leak I'm guessing comes from the dipstick blowing out of the tube. The oil was changed this year no more then 2000 miles ago as I've only put about 900 on it since I purchased the car. Oil pressure is still where it should be. As far as how it got so low I'm not sure. There's no big puddles under the car. Just usually about a spot the size of a quarter accumulates when I park the car. It only gets driven maybe once a week.

Re: engine wear
 

Send the oldest sample to Blackstone for analysis to get a clue what the contaminant is.

Re: engine wear
 

Well...others will chime in but first you have to drain the oil. Then you have to determine what is contaminating the oil and if this has been going on for years or just something new since your last oil change. Has the top end been removed at any time for example?

Just go slow and follow the leads others might help you with. Something is not adding up on the oil level. You have to remove the Plenum and fix that oil leak in any event.

It appears the oil was changed by others 2,000 miles ago and not an oil change by yourself. So this issue of contaminants could have been long term issue and maybe oil was NOT changed 2,000 miles ago after all.

Re: engine wear
 

As far as I know about the history of the car, the guy I bought it from put a clutch, flywheel, injectors, plugs, wires, and coil packs on it. But yes, really all I can do is wait to hear back from the lab and see what the report reads out. i'm also going to cut the oil filter open and see what its got caught in there too.

Re: engine wear
 

Plenum has definitly been removed ;)
Great idea on inspecting the oil filter :thumbsup:

If dipstick is blowing out of the tube....inspect your PCV system (positive Crankcase Ventilation).

Re: engine wear
 

A minor leak is not a big concern, but these engines do use oil when you rev them out. If you can still see oil somewhere low on the dipstick, you probably still have a safe amount to at least start the car and idle etc.

I would either add cheap oil to your fill to see if the knocking or clattering subsides. If it does, then spend money on a good oil change. The lifters will make a racket until the oil comes up to temp and re-pressurizes them. Top end always loses oil pressure first in my experience with almost every engine type.

Re: engine wear
 

But....But...if he has contaminated oil...I guess I would first drain that old contaminated oil (and remove the old contaminated oil filter) and determine where that oil contamination is coming from before I run the engine on that old oil.....just saying ;)

Re: engine wear
 

should this engine have a magnetic drain plug on it? I also don't know if it makes a difference but when I noticed the metal on the dipstick was right after I shut the car down. After it sat for a few hours and I looked at it again there was nothing on the dipstick but engine oil.