5.7 hemi metal shards

[Dtrannyman]

I have a 2010 ram 1500 with a 5.7 hemi. Truck runs great, no noises, but it has 210,000 miles on it. I put a new timing chain in it as the old one had some stretch but I had to remove the oil pan in order to get the pick up off of the oil pump. Upon inspection I run across these 2 to 3 inch long Steel shards laying in the oil pan and I don’t know where they came from. Has anyone seen this before ? Bearings on the crank are very nice. The engine has very low oil pressure when hot at idle. So I know there’s a lost someplace but I’m not seeing it in the pump or anywhere near the crank. Again, no knocks, ticks, anything. But this concerns me greatly

 

[TheEnder]

View attachment 221286

I have a 2010 ram 1500 with a 5.7 hemi. Truck runs great, no noises, but it has 210,000 miles on it. I put a new timing chain in it as the old one had some stretch but I had to remove the oil pan in order to get the pick up off of the oil pump. Upon inspection I run across these 2 to 3 inch long Steel shards laying in the oil pan and I don’t know where they came from. Has anyone seen this before ? Bearings on the crank are very nice. The engine has very low oil pressure when hot at idle. So I know there’s a lost someplace but I’m not seeing it in the pump or anywhere near the crank. Again, no knocks, ticks, anything. But this concerns me greatly

Most likely something going in the connecting rod bearings, although those look more like piston rings to me. Piston rings have no effect on oil pressure, but if THAT bad you’ll have a misfire and high oil consumption etc. That’s 100% going to need a engine replacement, at the very least it’s gonna need a pull to see what failed. By low oil pressure, how low?


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[TheEnder]

View attachment 221286

I have a 2010 ram 1500 with a 5.7 hemi. Truck runs great, no noises, but it has 210,000 miles on it. I put a new timing chain in it as the old one had some stretch but I had to remove the oil pan in order to get the pick up off of the oil pump. Upon inspection I run across these 2 to 3 inch long Steel shards laying in the oil pan and I don’t know where they came from. Has anyone seen this before ? Bearings on the crank are very nice. The engine has very low oil pressure when hot at idle. So I know there’s a lost someplace but I’m not seeing it in the pump or anywhere near the crank. Again, no knocks, ticks, anything. But this concerns me greatly

Forgot to add, but oil pumps don’t make oil pressure, they just move the oil. Take for instance a garden hose. Without your finger on the end, no pressure, it flows out without any. Put your finger on the end, it pressurizes. The only thing i can think of is something ******** itself in the bottom end, but i don’t have much experience with the HEMI.


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[Dtrannyman]

HOT 35 psi on the hwy (meh, ok) but 5 at idle. The gauge can fall to nothing. Still, no knock, no crank damage. I am looking up in to the engine at cylinders and cam lobes. Great compression. No oil burning.
It’s just strange. In all my years in the business, never seen anything like it. It should be knocking and SHOT

 

[TheEnder]

HOT 35 psi on the hwy (meh, ok) but 5 at idle. The gauge can fall to nothing. Still, no knock, no crank damage. I am looking up in to the engine at cylinders and cam lobes. Great compression. No oil burning.
It’s just strange. In all my years in the business, never seen anything like it. It should be knocking and SHOT

If the bearings are good, compression is good, power is good, no timing issues, and not burning any oil than i have exactly 0 idea what that metal is from. I think it’s too long to be from the bearings, if it’s not knocking then i have no idea what that’s from. That oil pressure is WAY too low at idle, my 4.7L with 500K on it hits 37PSI of Oil Pressure on a hot idle (200F) without a rebuild. Maybe the oil pump is ******** itself and chewing the casing/pump rotor (if that’s what it’s called) is eating itself to death, and crapping out the remains there as they’re too big to get circulated into the oil filter?


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[Dtrannyman]

The oil pump is perfect. I kid you not! I’m starting to think it’s something related to the cam area. But I can’t get into that right now. The oil pressure sucks so it has to be related to the metal somehow

 

[TheEnder]

The oil pump is perfect. I kid you not! I’m starting to think it’s something related to the cam area. But I can’t get into that right now. The oil pressure sucks so it has to be related to the metal somehow

Have you tested the pressure manually? I’m not sure so i can’t say this 100% but i don’t think the valvetrain has anything to do with oil pressure, i know the hemi has VVT but thatd throw a code.


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[Dtrannyman]

I have not tested it with a manual gauge. But I can tell you that I change the oil pressure switch and it read exactly the same. I remove the passenger side valve cover and the rockers look beautiful. I’m kind of stumped. I thought for sure I’d run across something

 

[TheEnder]

@Burla Any help on this?


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[Dtrannyman]

Looking up into the engine from below, the cylinders look nice. I can see the oil control rings on the edge of the pistons.. All looks normal there. The cam lobe’s look fine. I am going to check the camshaft thrust plate because I’m running out of ideas

 

[TheEnder]

Looking up into the engine from below, the cylinders look nice. I can see the oil control rings on the edge of the pistons.. All looks normal there. The cam lobe’s look fine. I am going to check the camshaft thrust plate because I’m running out of ideas

Any shiny new metal looking spots on the crankshaft? I am too.


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[bigdodge]

Main bearings or rod bearings. With oil pressure that low it's most likely that. I think that's where most of the oil pressure is built. Like someone else said the pump just moves it. It will travel the path of least resistance

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[Dtrannyman]

They look great. I plasti-gaged a few of them and they came in between one and a half and 2000th of an inch

 

[Burla]

Those aren't piston rings.

Where they all stuck together? As crazy as this sounds because of the color, my guess would be this was from when someone broke in the engine and that has been there from the first miles of the truck. Did you happen to glance the bearings when the pan was out? LOL I guess we posted the same time.

 

[Burla]

edit, I had't seen the oil pressure issue when I posted.

Maybe I'd change the post above now. I'd say that engine is telling what you already know, 5 psi is grossly under lubricating. How long was it like that? It makes sense why the metal is so clean, it's newer not from break in, my bad.

 

[TheEnder]

I wouldn't worry too much, they are out and the truck was running fine. If you felt like it, run 500-1,000 miles and see if any more show up by dropping pan again.

This is what i was thinking, but with oil pressure that low something is most definitely wrong, and it won’t run good for much longer.


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[Dtrannyman]

It’s just quite bizarre. Any engine I have a rebuilt before that had that kind of metal in the pan, would be junk and knocking. I have to admit, I might be looking the other way for a while because it runs awesome. I believe I’ll put in tri-metal bearings just because the old aluminum ones have a lot of miles on and I’ve heard that they’re not as durable. The fragments are a mystery to me

 

[Burla]

Did you save the oil?

 

[Dtrannyman]

Nope. They are steel fragments though.

 

[Burla]

Might be from the crank itself, but it must be happening in that spot crank/rod//bearings to create that stringy look.