Weird Non-metal flakes in Oil

[Rijodan]

Hello, During an oil change this morning I found what i thought was metal flakes that were fairly large

(http://imgur.com/SOhsUlt)
Looking at them now and messing with them they don't seem to be metal cause they easily break with just barely finger pressure. Maybe some hard wood type gasket or hard plastic? I originally thought it was my journal bearings but since those are metal puts those out of the running.

Current guess is something along a gasket but they aren't rubber or felt.
Stats:
'95 Ford Explorer 4.0 V6
216600 miles
oil change every 3-4k miles never more than 5
Since I got the truck at 190k I've used 10w-30 castrol high mileage synthetic blend oil with either a fram extra guard or this previous I tried the fram high mileage oil filter, changed back to extra guard during this mornings oil change.
no major knocks to the engine but there is a slight(cant hear it even at idle with windows up but no other noise) kinda of sliding noise every 5 seconds or so,
No major oil leaks other than very miniscule ones to be expected with a 20 y/o truck, but I dont lose any noticable oil
I have never ran it dry either
Thanks if you can help and if i left out anything I'll try and fill in.
Also first time posting, but been a reader for the last 2 years ive had this truck.
thanks- John

 

[BKennedy]

From what I have seen in this forum of second gens with this issue, its pieces of your timing chain guides.

 

[Rijodan]

never would of thought that, and it would explain the sound from the chain rubbing. pull the front off and replace the guide and chain? i havent attempted anything like that so how long in time wise do you think it would take to replace all of that?

 

[BKennedy]

I have a 94, so don't know how that works. There are several threads for timing chains on the forum. Use the search function.

 

[Rijodan]

Thanks man already looking around

 

[Dono]

I'm pretty sure the 95 explorer didn't come with the 4.0sohc.
Rijodan has the 4.0ohv motor, so the bits are not timing chain guides.

I have no idea what those bits could be though. Is that one piece blue?

 

[Rijodan]

not blue just the light caught on it , they are a very dark hard plastic that can break with your fingers. looking at pictures of the guides it very much looks like what I found. the 95 did come with the 4.0 ohv cologne engine which didnt change until 97

 

[Rijodan]

i'm looking at rockauto's and for a timing kit(cloye's heard they used same manufacturer as ford), water pump gasket and timing gasket with 2 day shipping is 75 bucks on the dot, is the front timing belt (because theres 3 chains i believe on this engine) is the front the one likely to have this problem? because i really do not wish to pull the engine to work on the back timing chain

 

[FPGT24]

The SOHC V6 engine is the one with the timing chain problems, they were not released till the 97 model year. Those motors do have 3 timing chains. The OHV V6 was the only V6 available from 91-96, meaning yours is indeed the OHV V6. They have 1 timing chain, but I have never once heard of a chain failure on them. I don't know what this could be as I'm no mechanic, but whatever it is it is not good.

 

[Rijodan]

I mean what else is plastic that drains to the oil pan? and i do have almost 220k miles on it so is it far from belief that it could have failed? ive combed through the pile and it seems to all be this hard plasticy stuff.

 

[Rijodan]

And just got off the phone with my local 24 hr autozone(high prices but who else can you call at 11 oclock) and those parts are made out of the same color and description plastic as i found in my oil. maybe im just the unlucky one to finally break the ohv guide

 

[Rijodan]

looking at the what i need to remove what all gaskets will i need to replace to to finish this job? do i need the oil pump gasket?

 

[Dono]

I agree, it has to be tensioner bits. very odd, but I can't possibly think anything else.

Probably the hardest part will be getting that balancer of.
Take the rad out and, if I remember correctly, you can carefully lift the air conditioning condenser out of the way.
Fan comes off, then you get to pull the balancer. if you can get an impact wrench on the balancer bolt, that's your best bet. if not, a big strap wrench should held the balancer in place while you fight to get that Bolt loose. after the bolts off, you need a puller. if I remember correctly, I used a couple bolts from an accessory as they had the right pitch and were long enough.

 

[koda2000]

As I'm recently learned that the V6 OHV engine does have a timing chain tensioner (and considering your miles) the chain tensioner would be my guess. I can't think of anything else plastic inside the engine.

BTW: No SOHC until '97

Fram oil filters? Why when Motorcraft are about the same price. Not a fan of Fram.

 

[lobo411]

The strap wrench on the balancer thing didn't work at all for me, and neither did my battery powered impact wrench. There are two casting holes in the balancer face--I took a drill bit and stuck it into one of the holes, and then I rotated the balancer until I found a spot where the drill bit hit what seemed like a solid spot on the accessory bracket. That locked the balancer so I could remove it with a standard socket.

 

[Dono]

great tip!
If I remember correctly, I actually did a big no-no and used a breaker bar on the balancer bolt and wedged the other end on the ground. A quick crack of the starter and the bolt loosened. This way is probably the most risky, but if your stuck....
Years ago, I removed the balancer bolt a few times, lol.

 

[Rijodan]

I ordered a full timing kit for the truck so itll be all brand new and shiny. ill update on here when i do it, parts should be here friday so sometime this weekend ill break into it
i use fram because its easiest thing to find around here and i have the part number memorized. and when push comes to shove with 3k oil changes i cant imagine much difference. plus its what i grew up changing on all of our vehicles

 

[boominXplorer]

It looks like it could be part of the oil pan gasket. They like to get hard as a rock and split little chunks off. You'll be able to tell once you pull the timing cover and it will be either or.

 

[Rijodan]

but i dont have any noticable oil leaks at all, with as much material i found itd have to be atleast a quarter of the seal. ill check it if the guide isnt broken but with the amount i found without any oil leak makes me doubt the gasket, plus thats a rubber or cork gasket and the flakes are very rigid but faracture if you bend them, not how either of those act even with age in my experience