2012 Vert G37S 203,000km. Highway miles. HFC w/Borla Cat Back. purchased 2 years ago at 195k KM.

Changed oil pan due to bad rust on the exterior. Found some metal chunks in the oil pan. No driveability issues, no codes other than the HFC with spacers throwing codes infrequently.

Filled with Ester oil and drove about for over 30 mins no problems or noises. Any thoughts as to why a few bits of what looks to be non ferrous almunimum are sitting in the oil pan. Really happy I changed the oil pan and found this but puzzled as to what I've found.

 

Here's a closer look Crush washer for scale. Any thoughts at all?

 

No idea, but you may want to send a used oil sample to a lab like Blackstone to get a better idea of the health of your VQ.

 

Did anyone ever figure out what this is? I just got a new (used)engine installed in my g37x and I changed the oil pan because it was rusted and found the same thing in mine . It seems to be running fine but I don’t want something major to happen down the road

 

Still running well. Very quiet engine.
Valve cover gasket completed a few weeks ago. Everything looked clean and wear free.
Local Infiniti service techs said they had no clue without tearing the engine down. Will likely send oil out next oil change to get tested.

Curious to see pictures if you have any.

 

Awesome thanks for the update , let me know when you get the results !

 

Any thoughts about sampling the oil in your G to send to Blackstone? Getting a second sample analyzed might provide some insight into your engine.

 

I am not against the idea and I agree it might give me more insight into the engine .I was thinking About it and still am but I need to wait to save a bit more money because I just payed 6k to get this engine installed because I blew my first one.

I’m in the middle of talking to the shop I got it done at to see what they will do.

Also after sitting for a few months somehow now my steering rack is shot but I only realized this issue (pieces of aluminum looking metal in my oil pan )after the shop that installed my engine said they checked my oil pan and said it was in very good condition but when I jacked up my car to inspect it I realized it was almost rusted through( and was in one spot ( slow oil leak ) which is what brought me on this endeavour to figure out if my engine is going to be screwed soon but I only have a few more weeks of warranty left on the engine. Your the only person I’ve found out of the many posts I’ve researched trying to find the same thing we found in our oil pans

 

Hi, I found the exactly the same on my engine. Did you found what was the problem? Thanks , Nil

 

I believe it's some aluminum casting from the upper oil pan. I showed an old GM tech and he agreeded. I'm not too worried about it anymore, have put many miles on it so far with out issue.

 

It is a broken valve spring retainer (holds the valve spring to the "keepers", which are connected to the valve stem)



Close up:


The only way to see them, is to remove the cams/VVEL system and the valve "lifter"
(not really a typical lifter, more like a "shim bucket": https://www.z1motorsports.com/cylind...er-p-9764.html)

 

How is the engine running flawlessly then for thousands of Kilometers? I suspected this early on, but I would expect some serious ticking and or miss firing if that was the case. Also seems like a long journey back to the oil sump without destroying everything on the way.

 

Well... That's because the valve spring retainer is still partly intact, so it is still able to close the valve.
If/when it fully breaks, there is nothing holding the valve and it will drop an extra 1"+ into the cylinder and the piston will hit it over and over, destroying the piston, valve and cylinder head.

As for the "long journey back to the oil sump" there are large oil drainage holes in the cylinder head, which lead directly to the sump. The chunks simply fell down one of those.

 

Finally I opened the entire engine and I found it too. Thank you. Here I upload some pics. Nil​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

 

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