# Initial oil change - metal shavings



## Kilty (Nov 25, 2012)

Hi guys I just performed my initial oil change on my HS720 (GC190 engine) and noticed some fine metal shavings in the drain pan. Should I be alarmed by this, or is this normal for break in? The engine is running like a top and the oil itself looks fine and relatively clean (minus the shavings). Any thoughts? For what its worth, I frequently use the fuel shutoff (petcock) to kill the engine rather than the On/Off switch because I want to ensure the fuel is out of the carb (I live in CT, not a ton of snow here). The only reason I bring this up is because 



 specifically instruct you to turn the fuel valve off before changing the oil. Makes me wonder if I might be temporarily starving the engine of oil by killing the engine with the petcock (thus the shavings). Or maybe I'm overthinking it? Thoughts? Thank you.


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## detdrbuzzard (Jan 20, 2012)

its normal to find metal shavings after the first oil change, nothing to be alarmed about


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## Kilty (Nov 25, 2012)

detdrbuzzard said:


> its normal to find metal shavings after the first oil change, nothing to be alarmed about


Noted, and thank you!


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## Vermont007 (Mar 29, 2015)

As long as they're not shavings from the stripped threads of your aluminum block's Oil Plug hole ?


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## Kilty (Nov 25, 2012)

Vermont007 said:


> As long as they're not shavings from the stripped threads of your aluminum block's Oil Plug hole ?


Yup, oil plug, threads and washer are all like new still, thanks.


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## Blosumsno (Dec 7, 2016)

Agree with others, you may see the sparkles for the next couple changes or so. Small engines actually take tens of hours to fully break in, the 4 or 5 hour initial oil change is to flush out the worst of the metal and possibly the assembly lube.


Kohler recommends waiting 50 hours before switching to synthetics, Harbor Freight Predator manual states the "operational break-in period" is 20 hours with no full speed full load operation for the first 3 hours. But Briggs And Stratton makes no mention of a full break in and only says to change the oil after the first few hours and then can be switched to synthetic from what I've seen on their site.


I fly R/C model planes as a hobby and the nitro powered ones take upward of 2 gallons of fuel before fully breaking in the engine, considering I get almost 15 minutes of flying time on a 6 or 8 ounce tank, that's a lot of time! On the planes they say to do repeated climbing and diving maneuvers. Climbing loads the engine heating it up and diving unloads it cooling it down, it's this heat cycling that helps seat the rings by causing the cylinder to expand and contract. The model engines don't reach max. horsepower until the full break in and can take a season or two of moderate flying to get there.


Just some (hopefully) helpful info.


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## 43128 (Feb 14, 2014)

as long as there are no big chunks or shavings, glitter is normal


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## caddydaddy (Dec 10, 2014)

I'm a big believer in changing the oil very frequently during the first few hours, especially since these small engines do not have a filter. My new Cub Cadet also had the metal shavings you saw, and I changed the oil after about an hour of use. Another change after 5 hours had much less metal and now I don't see any metal when I changed it at 25 hours.


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