Ferrus crud in oil filter - what next?

[sblack]

A friend on the field just cut open his filter and found perhaps half a teaspoon of small particles in it. They were all extracted with a magnet and there was nothing left in the filter after running the magnet through it. It is a lycoming first run IO-360 angle valve engine from the late 70s with about 700 hrs on it, so it must have spent a fair bit of time sitting. He resumed flying last month after a 2 year airframe refurbishment.

What would be the next steps? Can analysis be done to determine what the alloy is and hence what part of the engine to check? Borescope? Or bite the bullet and start pulling jugs and looking at the cam and lifters? He has sent in oil for analysis but expects it to simply tell him that there is high ferrus metal content (duh!).

I suspect that an overhaul is in his future, but obviously he wants to troubleshoot this in a systematic fashion and exhaust all other possibilities. Any advice appreciated.

[tim2542]

It almost certainly is going to be cam and follower material. With that engines history even more so. He can look elsewhere first, like pull the mags or accessory case off and look the gears over, but he won't know for sure until he pulls a front and rear jug off. With them off you can inspect all of the lobes and followers, and look for corrosion and other problems.
I'd suggest with that engines history it should have been inspected internally before flight anyway, that's 40 years of not running much.
Good luck
Tim Andres

[Jesse]

I agree completely. Most likely the cam/follower. I have seen the same thing before.

[ronschreck]

You can remove valve covers and use a dial gauge to measure valve lift. If the cam is worn you will detect loss of valve lift. At some point a significant loss of power will be noticed with a worn cam.

[sblack]

Ok not the answer he is looking for. You guys are supposed to tell me he just needs new spark plugs or something

I think deep down he is already at the same conclusion. He was just hoping there was some other magic, inexpensive solution. He is just back flying after 2 2 yrs after finding cracks in the airframe (pitts). No not an RV but an engine is an engine and there is a lot of knowledge here.

Thank you....sob

[Guy Prevost]

My engine is at Barrett being rebuilt after I found the same thing. It was cam and followers.

Guy

[sblack]

Guy Provost? I was sure you would be from here (Montreal) with a name like that!