Hitchcocks Forum

I have just changed the oil on my 2004 Bullet Sixty5. I washed the filter in petrol and poured the result through a paper towel. This left a slight residue of very small particles. When magnified they appear to be pale gold in colour and look like metal shavings, they are also slightly magnetic. Would anyone have any ideas where they may be from ?
Many thanks

Hi Klutz, before all the horror stories start coming in, I would say what you describe sounds fairly normal. Most people throw their old oil filters away and fit new ones - myself included, although I realise the old 'Redditch' elements were supposed to be washable. It is only to be expected to find some debris / particles in an oil filter - if there was nothing there, the filter would be a pointless component, after all. What you have, is what the filter has picked up out of the oil and prevented it from going further through the system. There may be screams of 'stop your engine and strip it now', but I doubt anything like that will be necessary. Change the oil, fit a NEW filter and carry on, unless you have any unusual noises, as well? cheers, Paul.

klutz Subject: Particles in oil
"I have just changed the oil on my 2004 Bullet Sixty5. I washed the filter in petrol and poured the result through a paper towel." - Why?

As Paul said, if the bike is running normally with no strange noise, don't worry about it. 2cvandy, some people just can't help worrying and look for things to worry about (last remark tongue in cheek)

Many thanks for all the sound advice above. I won't be inspecting old oil filters in future.

When you say small particles, do you mean really small like dust? If so, that's just the filter doing its job.
If you mean small like sand grains? Mmmmm.......

Particles in the oils especially metal shavings are never a good sign but are inevitable, not something to get excited about. Not a strip-down unless some other fault apparent. Obviously magnetic means steel, could be bearing, piston ring or cylinder; moving parts. If it is blowing past the rings then the oil will be filthy. Otherwise the filter(s) is doing its job. On the Sixty-5, it's not a UCE, so which oil, I assume the crankcase?

I might be inclined to flush thoroughly and keep a close eye against recurrence by changing oil more regularly than necessary, like 3-6 months. Flushing oil comes in gallon containers, one half-fills with flush. I've been known to flush three times and to keep the last flush for next first flush if it came out clean.

The regular oil should come out the same golden honey colour it went in, without bits in it, but now thinner because the motor will have chopped the long chain hydrocarbon molecules to shreds; which is why it needs to be changed. Bits in the oil means the oil isn't doing its job.

'Particles in the oils especially metal shavings are never a good sign but are inevitable' ... 'Bits in the oil means the oil isn't doing its job' Hmm - bit of a contradiction there - There will be metal particles in the oil from ANYTHING that has done even only a few hundred miles on it - it is normal. Don't worry. The timing compartment on the Bullets, with all those gears inside is a prime area for producing such particles. There are many other bikes I have changed oils on, including Japanese machines - and guess what - metal particles are present to some degree in the old oils, if you go looking for them. If the oil was 'doing it's job' to the extent that no particles should be found, try running without an oil filter and see how long your engine lasts. Change the oil and the filter. Ride and enjoy. Or faff around forever more. I refer to my first response above and stand by it. Paul.

The Infamous Enfield has always had shitty dirty black oil, even after a preventative engine strip. Does it bother me? Not in the slightest.
But recently that has not been the case, checked the oil level yseterday and the oil on the dipstick was pristine. But then I realised that the engine has not been run since the last oil change early this last summer.
That's the way to keep oil clean

"The regular oil should come out the same golden honey colour it went in" - Really? Do you by any chance change it every week? (that's a joke, by the way). I'll admit I've never been one for excessive oil changes, although I do stick to the manufacturer's recommendations. I've never drained out "golden honey coloured" oil yet, mind you I've never used flushing oil either so I assume my new oil is always going to mix with the small amount of old oil that's inevitably left behind, as per manufacturer's recommendations. In 40 years of biking it's never caused a problem, just thousands of miles of trouble free riding. Seriously klutz, sometimes it's easy to look too deeply into these things, if it runs well and sounds right just ride and enjoy.