Has anybody ever delt with metal chips in the oil? I've got an 87 wagon with the 2.0 3S-FE engine with 270K miles. I noticed non magnetic, probably aluminium chips in the oil well over a year ago. The thing just keeps running without skipping a beat. Should I be suprised it has lasted this long?

When I first noticed it, I drained the oil, poured two gallons of paint thinner through it with the oil drain plug out to get as much out of the pan as I could. I then filled it with cheap oil, ran it ten minutes (to get the thinner out), drained it, and refilled it with quality oil. I no longer drive over 70mph and I'm changing the oil every 2K miles.

I'm not buying a new engine. I figured I'd drive it till it dies but it doesn't want to. Any thoughts on how to determine where they come from, an "easy" fix, things I should be doing? What would you do?:uhoh:

Not sure what hardscale looks like but, these varied in size from a grain of sand to maybe 6-8 grains stuck together. They were non magnetic and most were shiny. I would have to say some were not shiny. A few were oblong shaped. Hard to describe.

"non magnetic; shiny grain of sand in size"... do you have enemies who might put sand in your engine oil?

This was a year ago? Have you checked the oil pan since for more chips?

Believe me, I kinda wish I could say that. I thought the same thing when I first saw it. I tried to grind them into a powder or at least smaller but they wont grind. Plus when I say oblong, I should say oblong and jagged. Like slivers of shiny metal.

I put a magnet through the drain hole and got nothing. Might be time for another flush. I'll cut open the filter at the next change too.