Well this is my most recent 00' S2k with 180k miles on it and I bought it as a project and after about a week I finally got it running. On the initial startup, the oil light flickered for a moment and I immediately shut it off and dumped in an extra quart of mobil1 to see where I'm at. I started it again the following day and the oil light issue went away, I parked it and left it on the street and occasionally moved it for street sweeping etc. So today I was planning on filling fresh gas since the gas is old and emissions testing is coming up. I went to the gas station just fine, but as I was pulling out of the gas station the damned oil light flickered again, shut it off within 2 seconds and went inside the gas station to get a quart of synthetic blend (only stuff they had) and poured the whole thing in. figured too much oil was better than too little oil for the 3-4 city blocks it had to go.

I started her up, oil light was gone and it was fine again, when I was 2 blocks away from my house and running every stop sign in sight the oil light came back on again but I noticed that it was flickering according to the throttle input. If I stayed above 1k RPM (i knew better than to rev high) the light would go away, but returning to idle would make the oil light flicker. I got to my house and shut her off immediately (about 2minutes for the entire drive, approximately 30 seconds with the oil light flickering)

I only mixed the oil in because I knew I had 6 quarts of mobil1 at home and a new filter, so it was a very very temporary fix. I changed the oil and filter and started examining the oil. There was sludge and a bit of metal specks on the drain plug (magnetic). Then as I poured the oil from the drain pan to the disposable container for later, I noticed there was a lot of copper flakes on the bottom almost like glitter. No huge flakes, but enough small particles to alarm me.

I understand that the copper flakes are very very likely from my bearings (especially considering the oil light flickering, the mileage/age of the car, etc.), but there's no audible knock, loss of power, or anything alarming. What should I do? drive it the way it is for awhile until it develops the knock, or jump the gun and rebuild/swap now?

 

this is a hard one. no power loss. no knock. what was the oil level before adding that first quart?

if its gonna go, its gonna go. chances are at 180k if that car didnt get the benefit of good maintenance practices....you might be in for a build. just to be sure, do a leak down and compression test first. have you noticed any leaks?

 

The oil level according to the dipstick reading (before starting so I'm sure I didn't mess that up) was well within normal range towards the upper dot. There was an oil leak but it wasn't profuse, the reason I bought the car non-running was that the front tab that sandwiches the oil orifice portion of the headgasket was sheared off from an installation error. (allen bolt torqued too tight). The tab was welded back on and the bolt was tightened down loosely before ever being run. I ran it the first time to check for the oil leak and it did leak but nothing alarming and I torqued it down further after that and there hasn't been a leak since.

I've checked the oil after that too pretty regularly (3-4 times in the past 10 or so miles i've driven/owned it). I'll check compression tomorrow, but I'm fairly certain I would have noticed if my piston rings were donezo haha. Looking at the entirety of the project/task after a few hours of collected thought, think it's best to tear it down before the knock develops. new bearings, rings, gaskets, and seals for now beats sourcing a new shortblock I suppose.

 

Leakdown and compression mean squat. You likely have a spun bearing. You will also need a crankshaft cut or replace. You are best off looking for an engine.

 

Well wouldn't that depend on if the journals of the crank was damaged or scored? I know replacing the crank would be the best option, but if the journals are okay it should be reuseable shouldnt it?

As of now since the crank is still spinning and knock isn't audible, isn't there a chance to get away with new bearings? (and new rings/gaskets/seals since the block will be apart)

 

Nope.

Once the bearing has spun, the crank damage is done. I had a customer with a spun bearing. It was the lightest spin you could imagine, from a low oil issue. The engine had a slight knock at start up, thats it. It ran strong and made zero noise.

So I did bearings, and gauged them perfectly using colored bearings. The crank had the slightest imperfections, just some small lines.

A few weeks later, the crank was still able to wear out the bearing. The crank needs to be micro polished to a mirror finish, or it won't last.

Best thing for you to do is pull the oil pan and check the 4 rod bearings.

If they are all good, your flakes are from the FRM cylinder walls.

You can move the pistons to TDC and check the cylinder walls while the pan is off. it is easy to see damage, the walls will have a wide black stripe on the sides, same width as the piston skirt.

 

just moved the car again for street cleaning, decided to try to find a knock since I'm fairly certain it's the bearings (i know i haven't posted pictures but the flakes I saw looked like bearings) and listened carefully in the quiet streets. I caught it in the echo that there's an interference noise at about 2-4k (not sure because I was poking around the engine bay and increasing throttle from the throttle body) which did sound like a knock. Guess that's the last time I'll be running the motor haha.

Next step is to take the block out and see where I'm at. I may start over with a replacement shortblock, or I may take the crank out to my machine shop and get an opinion on it. In either case, I guess the motor had a good run at 180,000+ miles over 10 years thanks for the advice billman

 

If the flakes look like this its bearing material

 

Ouch.. the flakes I found were closer to glitter flakes, but looked similar in color/texture. I'm not planning on driving it anymore just in case it turns out the crank can be saved with a polish. (will be getting an expert opinion from a machine shop).

I seriously cringe at the thought of flakes that size floating around the motor haha

 

Sorry to read but I think you have a spun bearing..I've seen those copper flakes on my civic before and it's not fun