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Old 05-10-2009, 10:37 PM
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jdean jdean is offline
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For a first break-in you can expect to have some dirty metal content in the oil as the rings and cylinders are seating. After break-in the oil should return to normal cleanliness in line with engine time. As long as you dont have any copper colored flakes in it I would not worry yet.

If you are worried, cut the oil filter and look in the residual filter oil, and in the folds of filter material for any copper or aluminum colored flakes that will be present if you have a rod, main or cam bearing on the way to failure. Another option is you can send in a sample of oil for professional chemical analysis. Pegasus Racing offers this, and there are many others. It only costs about $20 bucks and will tell you exactly what kind of wear is going on and whether it is in the normal range.

Otherwise, change the oil and filter and watch it every few hundred miles for a while. Check your magnetic drain plug....it should not have more than a smear of metal sludge on the magnet once the engine is broken in. It should remain cleaner much longer than what you see now.
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