I did my annual oil change and inspection this year instead of driving 2 hrs each way to the dealer. They do a nice job but I wanted to see how things looked. and tinker and clean :-). I also wanted to change out the thermostat because of slow warm up conditions noted. The gasket was bad as expected.
2009 V8 Vantage Roadster, annual dealer services for the first 3 years I owned it. Previous owners only supplied partial records to the dealer that had the car. 19,700 miles when bought (they didn't tell me it was a consignment car at any time during the purchase process).

31,725 miles total and 3178 miles in 14 months since the last service. I didn't expect any issues, the car is in better shape than I am. :-) or so I thought.


I should have dropped the filter first and taken the Murphy's Law approach. But I did the filter last and didn't bring the oil catch tray and filter out from under the car until after I sealed things up and added oil. The process to build oil pressure before firing up took almost 45 seconds to turn the oil warning light off.
The car has been a great driver and the only engine noises are what I think of as typical injector click and valve train whir. Dealer has not noted any concerns after services and test drives.
As you can see from the drain tray photo I have some decisions to make. Tray is one that has a spot to set the filter for draining and the photo is from about 24 hours after removal. I'm checking to see if anyone local has a tool to cut the filter apart for inspection.

No magnetic particles on the oil tank magnet and I could not capture any dragging a magnet around the catch pan.

The gasket showed no degradation. It looks like it just slipped out of location.

Does anyone in the Pacific Northwest have a favorite engine guy or AM shop? Would an oil sample help identify the source? In order to help define the extent of the rebuild needed.
I'm not sure I want to warm the engine up and pull a sample until I get some feedback from our online experts.
I just got a Foxwell NT 530 but I haven't developed the skills to interpret output or do much with it yet. It's time to hook it up and start searching the menus and learning the screens...
I'm leaning towards selling the car "as is" with the concerns about bearing material detected at this oil change noted. A Lotus Eleven is next on my list
Or I can drive it this spring and do an early filter change and see what I get. And then...

I look forward to hearing from anyone interested.
Thanks for your input.
Lance

 

Really don’t understand your issue is. What are we supposed to be seeing in your two photos?

 

You may have to zoom in on the first photo to see the flecks in the center of the photo. That is probablely bearing material and definitly should not be there. And not in that amount.

 

Blackstone labs can do a oil analysis if you have enough to send as a sample.

 

you need a new thermostat for sure. but i wouldn't make ANY drastic decisions WRT the engine until i found out what the material was in the oil FILTER. if i understood your post, that first picture is not the oil pan, but the catch-pan you used to catch the oil. and the oil in it was inside your oil filter. it might just be timing chain tensioner material and nothing more. it's encouraging that there was nothing being attracted to the magnet in your oil pan.

 

Not really. There are plenty of non ferrous parts in modern engines (including the block itself in many cases) which can be crapping out. That much metal in the oil is NOT normal and something is definitely wrong.

I once had an aircraft engine shoot craps on me when a rivet attaching the aluminum cam drive gear to the cam shaft fell out. It wobbled around for a while, eating itself to pieces, until if failed causing the engine to stop. I glided to a successful emergency landing at a small airport and when I drained the oil it had so much metal in it, it resembled silver paint. None of the metal was ferrous, but nobody said that fact was "encouraging".

I think the OP has a serious problem.

 

Thanks everyone
I will research Blackstone and some of the other sampling companies. Maybe 2 samples; oil and a section of filter paper if they can check it also.
I have all winter to pick a direction to go.

 

I did the db9 rebuild a few years ago. I deliberately picked the db9 as the motor has a strong ford heritage which makes internals affordable. From what I have read the V8 doesnt have a similar pedigree. Really a shame as it is really good looking.

OTOH, plain bearings are cheap ao given it hasnt spun a bearing it could be as simple as replacing mains and big ends.

This type of bearing material load is consistent with low oil pressure. Typical at start up, oil changes or hammering it like you stole it when the oil is cold.

I picked up a couple of vintage BMW bikes for an affordable restoration project this winter. Maybe next year I will do another AM... Sadly these pictures inspire me!

 

AM4884, you saw the siezed vantage :-) Be careful what you wish for?
I called Blackstone and talked to a rep. He believes that an analysis could give me some useable information. The drain pan was brand new and oil was placed in clean jugs left from one of my porsche oil changes. Just agitate well and draw 3 oz. was his suggestion. They also have a test for filter pleats. I have a filter cutter coming from Summit Racing that should arrive within a day or 2 of the sample kits ordered from Blackstone.
So 2 weeks or more before I get results back.

Time to twiddle thumbs, mountain bike and enjoy the season. And enjoy microbrews...
Happy Holidays to all :-)

 

This sucks to see. I hope this is something minor. If you can make it up to Seattle you might ping Group 2 motorsports. They do work on Astons.

 

Ouch. Pavel's Racing Engines made some posts a number of years ago, no idea if he would still build these engines now. This is from 2012, and his website has another build in 2016: https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...e-rebuild.html

I think it would be cool to have forged pistons and rods, though it wouldn't be a very rational thing to do considering the expense of tearing the motor down.

 

blue2000s, thanks for the heads up on Group 2. I found their web site. When I know more I'll contact them.
convexproblem, Pavel's posts are what got me to consider repair instead of selling as is.

Thanks for the feedback.
Lance

 

I received the 2 email reports from Blackstone today for the oil and filter pleats. Both samples do not raise any concerns for them.
As they suggest I'll follow up with another set of samples next change cycle.A load off my mind for when the weather turns and I can get this car back out on the road.
Thank you to everyone that gave me feedback on this posting.
I'll be monitoring the oil from all my engines to see if any of them show the same sparkly bits in oil from the filter. for reference :-)

 

Lance, that's great news -- you must be so relieved! I wonder what that stuff in your picture is...

 

Merry Christmas!