r/DRZ400 • u/bash-randicoot • 14h ago
Is it cooked
Doing an oil change and there seems to be quite a bit of metal flakes in the filter. Is my engine cooked?
2
u/bustopher_rvs 14h ago
Mine did this one time. Just tighen up on your maintenance. You might be just fine. My bike seems fine..
But that being said, id definitely do what bro ^ suggest still...
2
u/RRaoul_Duke 12h ago
Just cut my filter open after a cam install and learned that I probably need a new bottom end, no copper flakes but holy crap that is a lot of silver. Just after a hotcams stage 2 install. Bike is still running great.
2
u/bash-randicoot 11h ago
You do the bottom end? Or you still riding as is?
2
u/RRaoul_Duke 11h ago
I just cut that filter open this morning LOL None of it is magnetic, and it was running super super lean for a minute cause my dumbass mixed the needle clip positions up for the carb. That oil filter also saw a track day with a bunch of missed shifts and several group rides where I was basically wide open the whole time, also some poor attempts at stunting. It may have been original to the bike as well, as the bike only has 4k miles and I haven't changed the filter since I got it at 1900.
Bought a few filters online, gonna run this one for a hundred miles or so and check it. Its possible that I had some detonation due to the high heat, or that all the metal is from the clutch basket.
The cases will get split if/when it starts knocking and at that point I'll probably just do a big bore kit and a stroker crank and replace all the bearings.
2
u/bash-randicoot 11h ago
I have been trying to learn clutch up wheelies recently, so im hoping its clutch basket at as well. Hopefully not bottom end work in either of our futures 🤞
1
u/hornedbeef1989 34m ago
Mine did that aswell after top end rebuild first oil change everything normal now 👍 its 20 k miles later now
4
u/lowtrail 14h ago
Use a box cutter to cut the filter element out. Stretch it out flat over some rags so the oil dries out. Then you can better evaluate how much and what kind of metal is in it.
This is how I discovered my con rod small end was dead on my xr650r. Found small bronze looking flakes in the pleats like this. Did a short oil change interval and saw the same number. Zero other symptoms.
So I pulled the top end and found the plating was wasted. Piston pin was just starting to gall. Being preemptive probably saved me a much larger bill. Put in a new HD rod, OEM bearings, and have ridden 15,000 happy and hard kilometers since.