Metal In My Oil
 

I drained the oil in my AP1 (2000) today and found this piece attached to the magnetic drain plug. It has 178k miles and UOAs have been fine. What do you think this piece is? It's slightly curved and measures 0.148" long, 0.095" wide, and 0.0405" thick. Also, how worried should I be? It's my DD and the engine has been running great.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...5791b68dd0.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...d28832203a.jpg

Minor update: the piece is very brittle. I went to attach it to another strong magnet and it broke as it flung itself into the magnet. It could be a piece of a magnet from one of the sensors or some really brittle cast iron.

Is it magnetic? If it's very brittle it is unlikely a part of the original car. It could be a piece of magnet from a previous owner's aftermarket oil drain plug.

It is magnetic, but that doesn't tell me much... I attached it to a really strong magnet that tends to magnetize anything iron that gets near it, so even if it wasn't a magnet before, it is magnetic now. I should've tested that before I stuck it on the strong magnet.

The car came with a stock drain plug that looked well used, but it's possible that early on some owner temporarily used a magnetic drain plug.

You could tear apart the oil filter and see if anything was captured in the media.

You *should tear apart the oil filter and see if anything was captured in the media ;)

There aren't many parts of the engine that would be brittle, perhaps from an old TCT as my best WAG. .

Tear apart the oil filter and see if anything was captured in the media.

Lol that's the remnant of the bullet you dodged. ;)

Actually besides the post-mortem on the filter, I'd drop the pan and look for any potential debris that might have settled in crevices. You just want to ensure that if there are any more bits, they don't get dislodged in high-g driving. May as well pop the valve cover too, and look around with a shop light and magnetic pick-up tool.

The good news is the motor's running fine, so probably no need to tear anything down even if you find one or two more bits. If anything sizable had gotten where it shouldn't, well, this would have been a blown-motor thread, not a dirty-oil thread.