Metal found in oil ( on magnetic drain plug)

Hello Everyone...

Here is a little history on my car, it’s a 2001 TDI Jetta 187000KM with its 3rd turbo.

I changed the oil today, this is the 1st oil change since changing the drain plug to the magnetic kind from http://shop.metalnerd.com/index.cgi?code=3&cat=4
When I pulled out the drain plug I found some metal ( looks like a ring??? of some sort.. the car runs fine and seems to have no issue ( yet) What could this be? Remnants of the old turbo? This is the second oil change since the turbo grenaded on me.. Any ideas?

Is it still safe to drive? I was thinking of draining the oil again tomorrow after running the car what do you guys think?

Please help

Heres a pic

http://pics.tdiclub.com/data/516/3138IMG_0108-med.jpg



Thanks again

Sher

187,000 KM and you're on the 3rd turbo?? What's the story there??

Well the 1st one blew at 160000km and the second one blew right after ( about 4km) Still a mystery to this day.....

Any ideas about the metal in the oil?

Added a pic...

Looks suspiciously like a broken-up seal from a turbo- if faulty in manufacture it could well explain why your first replacement fragged so quickly...

looks more like the remnants of a piston ring to me; the radius on the ring looks like it might be that. Do you know whether the engine has already been rebuilt?

Too small to be a piston ring, however the mechanical seals in a turbo look like tiny piston rings.

Is there a way to verify this? I have ran over 10000km on the new turbo and no issues.... Could this just bits left from the 1st one since there are no issues with the car?

Ok an update...

I found my old turbo impeller ( you guys were right its part of the seal,compared it to the old one)


I just test drove the car and it seems fine no noises, its not consuming any oil.. I guess im safe???

I suppose you could drop the pan (and possibly valve cover) and do a close visual inspection to see if any more pieces are to be found. Personally, it's the fine particles I would worry about. Finding metal in your oil usually means something is getting eaten and producing very fine particulates in the process. In your case, your magnetic plug picked up some larger pieces and kept them from getting caught up somewhere where they could cause a problem. You may have caught them all, and maybe not. Your oil filter is another place to inspect for further bits. In the end, even if you remove stuff and inspect, there is always the chance some pieces are wedged in some oil passageways, etc. that you'll never see or find. I'd step up your oil change frequency for a while and keep an eye on your magnetic plug and filter. Larger bits will get kicked around but hopefully not get ground up by moving parts and produce abrasive particulates.

Could this seal be from the new turbo? But the car runs fine...

I think the turbo seals are graphite are they not? That looks very metalic to me...almost like a shaving off a thread or something? No helicoils in there are there?

Not helicoils. The cross section is square.

Do those parts make a complete circle? How big would the circle be if they were put together?

And just to be sure, what is the object placed there for comparison?

They dont make a complete circle, I checked the old impeller ( from the 1st turbo) and they are seals.. Im just worried that these are from my 'new' turbo ( well i hope not)

I used the pen to show how small the metal parts were...

So it was a writing pen. That's what I thought, but wanted to be sure.

My thought is that with that much seal gone on the turbo, you would know about it from the black smoke and/or a run away engine.

Looks like the plug really works!