2018 Panigale V4S bits of gold in oil, some questions on next steps

Hello,

I apologize as I'm sure that some of these topics have come up and have threads, but I was unable to find them searching various terms and phrases earlier.
I just purchased a used 2018 Panigale V4S with 11400 miles on it. The bike looked OK for the most part, a little dirty by the chain and swingarm pivot, a few small paint chips and clear blemishes. Started up and ran fine and didn't have any errors lights or anything showing during a brief test ride. So I went ahead and purchased it. The bike had been hardly used the last two years and was stored in a enclosed shed according to the owner. The oil level in the sight glass was at the right level but really dark.
First thing I do when I get it home is drain the oil and put some fresh in (although I did not do the filter yet, I was just putting fresh in to flush the system a little before doing a full change with filter). When I was transferring the oil to my larger container I thought I saw a quick glimpse of a gold or bronze colored fleck. Today I drained the oil I put in yesterday to examine it more thoroughly. This oil has only been in the bike for 24 hours and all I've done is idle the engine for around 30 minutes total with some small 5k revs here and there.
I did notice more small gold flecks in this oil (mostly likely still left over from not doing the filter and that small amount of oil not being drained), so now I'm going down the rabbit hole of bottom end bearings failing. This time I pulled the filter out also, I don't see any in the filter medium, but did notice a few specs on the oil filter cover bottom.

So to get to my questions.
What is the failure mode for this if it is bottom end bearing while riding? Will I loose oil pressure and engine go limp mode? Could it seize while riding presenting a large safety hazard?
I'm wondering if it safe to ride for around 500 miles and re-examine the oil after that. Basically can I continue to ride the bike safely and monitor without the potential for a catastrophic failure.

The other questions are related to engine rebuild or engine replacement.

If I got another V4 engine (ebay, etc), would it be swappable as is, or would I need the ECU and any other bits? I found some threads but they seemed about going from a V4 to a V4r.

Finally the rebuild questions. Are there any known places that are good for rebuilding V4 engines I could get a quote from, or is it just call around to dealerships? Rebuild related, do the V4s take many special tools to rebuild like Ducatis of old, or are they more similar to tools most shops that do engine work would have now?

So what I have going on is no where near the volume shown in your picture SirJag. There are gold flecks floating around in there. If I had to guess a count I'd say 20 to 30 flecks seen. But yours is post total failure. I'm worried mine is beginning signs of it.

baggerman said:

If it's copper don't bother with an inspection. If you want to verify the condition of the lower end the easiest way is to put a real oil pressure gauge on the engine, warm it up to operating temp and just observe the idle oil pressure. By the time you're seeing copper in the oil the idle oil pressure is usually a tell. I would recommend that you not ride it until you're sure that it's just clutch material. These will put a rod thru the cases. And since I'm in the midst of one that expired at about 14K with these longevity just depends. I hope it's ok but even if it is I'd go to a latter rev oil pump. I think the 25 revision going to the latest rev of the R oil pumps was the 4th Pani oil pump rev. About $700 I think.

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Thanks for the response. My friend that has a lot of mechanical experience (just not Ducatis) mentioned doing the oil pressure gauge and check it against the manufacturers specs. Would you know off the top of your head what I would need to do this and where the access is that I would connect it to on the engine?

Mcv4 said:

Is it not strange to see nothing particularly evident in the oil filter?

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I mean it really possible I don't know how to properly assess the filter. I looked inside and around the exterior. I'll try to cut the outside off tonight and see what the inside of the filter medium looks like.

SirJAG said:

let it sit on that paper towel overnight...then next day use razor to cut around the whole thing just under the metal caps on the ends. then force the metal caps upwards and pull the filter media straight. Then youll be able to see what was caught.

i cant remember if the filter sucks from center, or pushes oil from center....anyone know offhand?

JAG

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Inside (pic 1) was pretty clear of anything, outside had some swarf and debri that was deeper down in the folds and seen when spread out, but none that looked like golden color like copper, etc.