Dizzyhawk

Bought a used 2006 A6 3.2l 60 days ago. First oil change I saw sparkles on the filter. Took a magnet to it and the flakes jumped right onto the magnet. There are hundreds of flakes. Could this be anything other than a sign of imminent failure?

I did buy extended warranty that covers rods, bearings etc but the fine print states oil must be changed every 3000 miles for warranty to be in effect. I sure hope they realize engines running full synthetic don't require 3000 intervals.

raj99

If you have metal flakes THAT bad, I'd say you are going to be in a world of hurt very soon. This is why a PPI is critical for a used car, and one of the steps is to do perform some sort of analysis on the oil. Warranty companies work on the legal requirements as prescribed by the contract, not by "common-sense"...good luck with this. Let us know what happens

KevinGary

Why would you buy a warranty that the insurance company can void day one? Good luck trying to get them to waive the requirement. They are in the business of making a profit by denying claims and keeping their costs low.

Dizzyhawk

As far as sources of ferrous flakes, could timing chain and associated gear teeth be a possible source? Do the timing chain/gears get lubed by engine oil?

Prospeeder

Yes, if your getting steel chunks it has to be timing chains coming apart, probably a guide is broken, and a chain is sliding over metal and slowly chewing it away. Surprising you dont have noise or faults for cam timing.

Dizzyhawk

Thank you Prospeeder, this was the troubleshootive feedback I was in search of. No codes, no faults state the ASE shop. Another possibility of metal flakes is that i parked at quite a nose up angle recently...close to 30deg. I surmise the flakes could have been in there from inception and only sacked into the pick-up system then? Wishful thinking pe r gaps. The current situation is that nof flakes were found on the new filter 3 days after my finding. Hmmm..
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