Q: Black flakes in oil
My brother has a used car and the oil has small, black flakes. I think it is a sign of gasket wear. What do you think?
It depends on where the black flakes are. If you are talking about when you change the oil and there are black flakes, then you will need to have them analyzed.
If those are pieces of metal, it means that the engine is coming apart inside. Get rid of it fast because, if you don’t, then you’ve got to rebuild the whole engine.
If it’s just carbon, it means that the guy didn’t use the vehicle much and it just needed to be changed up because carbon built up in it. If you need to have this inspected, I would recommend having a technician, such as one from YourMechanic, analyze the sample to let you know what needs repair.
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