Hey Scotty,
I have a 2012 Ford Mustang V6 with a manual transmission and 190,000 miles on it. I dropped my car off for an oil change, and the Ford dealership told me they found a chunk of metal on the magnet on the drain plug when doing the oil change. They said they think it could be from the timing chain or timing change guides, but said they had no way to tell for sure.
All the miles on the car are highway miles for commuting back and forth between New Jersey and Pennsylvania. I'm an old guy and don't drive like a maniac and have always done all the proper oil changes and maintenance when needed. This is the only issue I've ever had with the car.
How concerned should I be about this and any recommendations you may have?
Thanks!
Does it make any noise or do anything it shouldn’t? Unless the drain plug is magnetic there would be no way of seeing or checking a magnet on an oil change alone. If it’s quiet and runs well you could keep driving. Other alternative is to pull the oil pan and possibly upper pan and timing cover in hopes to see where it came from
He said his drain plug is magnetic. So that would make sense. 🙂
Thanks for the feedback!
The car has been fine up to this point without issue, and just took the car out again for a drive just now. Engine is quiet as can be and doesn't have any issues or noise associated with it. My thoughts are I'll continue to drive it for a bit and do another oil change sooner rather than later and see if anything else shows up on the magnetic plug.
The service guys didn't recommend any more maintenance at this point either, but still wanted to make sure I was doing something that could lead to the chain breaking.
Please post a photo of the piece of metal.
Unfortunately I had the oil change done at the dealership and picked it up after hours in the showroom, so wasn't provided back the piece that was found. I did call back and speak with staff and they said their best guess was timing chain or timing chain guide related, but they couldn't say for sure. Wish I could have seen it before they tossed it, but for now, best I can do I guess is change the oil again in a bit and see if I find anything else sticking to the drain plug magnet.
Correction on the above response. I was able to find the piece as they taped to the invoice and didn't notice it first time around. I've uploaded the pic in this thread, thanks!
Would like to see a photo of the "chunk" myself.
Hey all, I looked at the invoice and it looks like they taped the piece to it. Hope you can make this out, thanks!
if it's a piece of timing chain, then chain should be checked. Breaking that chain could be very catastrophic to the engine. I'm surprised they are so casual about it.
Agreed. It would have never left my shop if there was even a possibility that came from the chain. I'd have it inspected ASAP.
Thank you both for your feedback! I'm going to have it checked out as soon as I can by my normal mechanic. Thanks!
In my opinion, I think they're just trying to squeeze more work out of you. They want to charge you a load of money just to CHECK the timing chain and it's components. They may have "planted" that piece there? Because honestly, if they really were concerned about it they would've insisted to keep the car there for a proper inspection. Failure of the timing chain will cause serious engine damage. Then again...maybe they want your engine to blow to charge you for a new one. I can never trust stealerships...
that doesn't make any sense. If they wanted to get more money out of him, they wouldn't have let the car leave the shop.
If they wanted the engine to blow, they wouldn't have pulled the metal piece out.
You have a very creative imagination though.