Metal shavings / flakes in oil filter

hpetru · Sep 9, 2022

Hello everyone

After changing my oil and oil filter, decided to teardown and check the old oil filter.

Found a good amount of shavings / flakes on the filter, see pics attached below.

Is that a normal wear ? Because I started to be concern about my engine health.

Model: Panigale 959 (2017)
Odo: 24 000km
Oil: Motul 7100 15W-50
Oil change frequency: Every 5 000km

Bike wasn't been on track.

outhouse · Sep 9, 2022

normal? hell no.

and id be finding out why

those all went through some or all your bearings, or are your bearings. Also lots of exposed gears that could have went through, they usually hold up ok.

Your not at a major failure yet, but unchecked it very well could be sooner than later, and that is not good. Hope its not pieces of case material

pull a piece out and put it under a lens, if its soft its bearing babbit. if its medium its case alloy/mag

either way something is failing, cheaper now than replacing exploded parts

Disco · Sep 9, 2022

Its unlikely it went through the bearings, it got trapped in the filter first and likely got picked up as the oil drained to the sump. Metal seems very common in these engines. Even the manual says to clean off the magnet of any metal then reinstall.

f48_racing · Sep 10, 2022

What about clutch material, assuming you have a wet clutch.

hpetru · Sep 10, 2022

Yes, I have a wet clutch, not quite sure that is the clutch material.

The previous filter also have some amount of shavings.

hpetru · Sep 10, 2022

Maybe it's unrelated, but 3k km before (at 21k km) I had the Desmoservice done, the mechanic told me that demso was out of specs and he had to adjust it accordingly.

SirJAG · Sep 12, 2022

i wouldnt worry about it...ive seen much much worse.

0260n25 · Sep 15, 2022

My Panigale motors (V2 and XDiavel) usually have nice metal spikes attached to their magnetic oil drain plugs after each oil change (or at least the first three). These motors seem to love crunching metal.

hpetru · Sep 17, 2022

0260n25 said:
My Panigale motors (V2 and XDiavel) usually have nice metal spikes attached to their magnetic oil drain plugs after each oil change (or at least the first three). These motors seem to love crunching metal.

View attachment 44484

That's doesn't seems to be right, I would be worried seeing something like that.

Val213 · Sep 17, 2022

Fist of all I never saw drain plug like this dirty on outside in my life

Ryfly05 · Sep 17, 2022

Either you guys don't own ducati or you don't do your own oil changes.

Or maybe just don't ride hard enough

Paul G · Sep 17, 2022

Pretty much every change there's crap on the plug! Its magnetic for a reason and those shavings are normal

Disco · Sep 17, 2022

They do seem to reduce over time. I've done 3 changes so far, but it's has 5. There was barely anything on the last one.

Ryfly05 · Sep 17, 2022

To be fair, that pic was taken with around 14k miles on it. My last change with almost 30k miles, was the first one that finally didn't have much metal on it.

outhouse · Sep 18, 2022

Ryfly05 said:
maybe just don't ride hard enough

mid A group, my magnet gets a little fuzz but that is it. about 3/4 less than your pic. 2000 miles is tops before I swap on street, track every 5-6 days

outhouse · Sep 18, 2022

Paul G said:
those shavings are normal

Right, some shavings are normal. Not the crap OP is pulling out. to date mine has never spit out brightly colored metal yet, ever. Just the iron you see.

OP is either alloy shavings or babbit

0260n25 · Sep 19, 2022

hpetru said:
That's doesn't seems to be right, I would be worried seeing something like that.

Yeah, I was a bit worried until my third Ducati and lots of consulting with other Ducati owners. I own six motorcycles at the present moment and only the Ducati motors leave such piles of metal on the magnetic plug. It seems as though this is normal for many Ducati motors, but it is a bit concerning. I change my oil every 1000 miles or so, but I don't go over 3000. I always change the oil after two track days. I run my motors very hard, but that includes the Japanese bikes, which don't drop so much metal.

Paul G · Sep 19, 2022

outhouse said:
Right, some shavings are normal. Not the crap OP is pulling out. to date mine has never spit out brightly colored metal yet, ever. Just the iron you see.

OP is either alloy shavings or babbit

Maybe, it sure looks suspect if you didnt know how much metal Ducati motors seem to shed, and how many of us dissect filters after each change? An oil analysis would be the cheapest option to see whats going on. These motors have a good reputation for reliability.

outhouse · Sep 22, 2022

Paul G said:
These motors have a good reputation for reliability.

Right! 9 years on mine, and I dont have a ton of miles, but they are 90% gettin it! miles lol

So far just a few map sensors, and the typical valve cover oil leak that the track inspectors found at Carters, laguna seca two days ago

hpetru · May 5, 2023

Update: I talked on this topic with the Ducati dealer and showed him all the oil filters I collected.
They took down the oil sump, checked the internal oil filter, and told me that everything was ok.
They told me that those flakes are normal and there is nothing to worry about

.
I putten on the bike around 10k km since I initially started to take notice of those metal flakes.

Here are the oil flakes discovered after another 4k km
Youtube video:

Any advice, any ideas ? Should I insist on rebuilding the engine?

Metal shavings / flakes in oil filter

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