360 High engine oil copper content

It is a symptom and not a good one.
Low end oil pressure is another bad sign: have you experienced this? When the oil pressure lights on is already too late.
Better safe than sorry. The best scenario? preventive maintenance that will keep the engine happy, cranckshaft related, for a another 2 decades or more,
The worst? In a long medium range of time a scored, out of spec and trashed crankshaft.

 

231ppm is high and a level where I would be advising my client to do something. The first thing is to get another data point - suck some oil from the disareator when hot and engine running. Assuming the high level of copper is confirmed then the first thing I would do would be to remove the cams and inspect the front bearings (part #182694). I have seen quite a few of these wear down to the copper and cause elevated levels in the oil.

If the copper isn't coming from here then look at the bottom end. The sump comes off really easily with the engine in the car. Most of the main caps can be removed easily with the sump off giving you about half the story here. With the cams out the pistons can be pushed up the cylinder without fear of touching an open valve so you can get all the bid end shells out. A good visual inspection plus measure (estimate) the clearances with PlastiGauge. Note that the rod bolts are one-time use only.

 

I would just replace all rod bearings if you find some wear, might as well.

 

I'm curious if you found any shavings or glitter in your oil when you drained it.

When your first start your car, does the oil pressure light read low for half a second then jump to the middle? Mine did when I was using 15w50, then I switched to 5w40 and it's better now.

What should the pressure read when hot at idle?

 

What is the mileage on the engine?

 

@Lola360 Here's a thread with @Rifledriver talking 360 rod bearings: https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/any-360s-at-150k-miles-on-original-engine-transmission-yet.510867/

 

I ask about the flakes because I had a significant amount of flakes when I changed my oil once. I was using 15w50 oil which the dealer recommended in Florida sun, since I drive my car daily. I noticed that when I started it cold, the low pressure light would illuminate for a fraction of a second then it would jump to normal.

Well I switched back to 5w40 and the oil light no longer lights up and there is very very minimal flake now.

I cut open my oil filter when I discovered the flake in the oil the first time and NOTHING was in the filter. It was clean. Since then, I have driven about 7,500 miles.

Considering my car shed actual flakes, I can't imagine what my Blackstone results would yield. I do know that I inspect all my cars when changing the oil and my Aston Martin did the same thing. Flakes.

I posted about this issue before and there were very few people who actually inspect the old oil thoroughly enough to see what's in there. I do this by draining into a black pan, then I transfer it to another black pan to see the end. I'd be hard pressed to believe that any car wouldn't shed something.

Anyway, there's lots that can contribute to this and I'm not sure about copper being definitively from bearing material. I know the F430 variator bushings are thick copper tubes that wear excessively naturally, so you'll naturally find some level of copper in there, however I am not entirely familiar with where the culprit would be in a F131 motor.

For the record, I have about 85K miles on my car.

 

Also keep this in mind:

The results of your sample will vary depending on from where in the flow of the oil your sample originated. If you sample from the beginning of the stream, you will get cleaner oil; if you sample at the end of stream, you will get more impurities and metals due to the weight of the impurities and metal. Same is true if you pour from a container. With that said, its really hard to establish a baseline when it comes to metal content since the sample can vary quite a bit from specimen to specimen from the same car. That's why my opinion on oil analysis on older cars isn't real good, since the accuracy diminishes with the vehicle's age.

 

BTW, every time I changed my oil, my Aston shed more glitter than a 6 foot stripper and I sold it with 138K miles and running strong! The Aston, not the stripper.