Copper in oil?

WG, I had a really good look at the bronze washers on my crankshaft this week when I pulled the pan to check out a tranny problem.Beside every big end on the rods.

Not referring to washers in/on the cases or on the cylinder studs.Hope this helps.

Thanks for the replys
If something was breaking down it would seem like the speckles would vary. They are very consistant like a additive but I thought adding anything to the oil was a no no.

I used the NAPA motorcycle oil at the change
Since then I have noticed that on cold start up in gear it dosen't pull forward near as much. It seems to be getting beter. It's a healing

Before it would take off a little when it was first started.

No one mentioned the clutch. I have never had one apart but could that be put the flakes in the oil
Are clutch plates hard to replace? I have the manual but looking and doing are different.

Been watching this thread to see the conclusions you reach...there is nothing in the clutch -plates,hub or anything else which would put "copper" flakes in your oil.

I think I remember Falicon selling a needle bearing setup that replaces the bronze washer that controls the thrust of the crank,on one of the mains.

if your cylinders have been bored and the fellow doing the boring didn't get the tool centered right it would cause the bronze washers on the big ends of the rod to go away.

what may be throwing folks off is that the cranks that I have seen takes on the color of bronze all over,except on the thick throws machined sides,they stay shiney steel color

Excuse me if this is a stupid question but will the flecks in the old oil run through a filter ? Fine cloth maybe or filter paper if you can get it. If so then I would think additive and if it catches on the filter then probably the real thing - copper something similar

Biquetoast wrote:

...It's an additive for additional protection when the oil would otherwise break down....

Sorry for quiting myself. I'll slap myself on the hand later.

The info below is from www.atis.net/oil_faq.html . It's prettu much the same stuff that can be read all over the net, but was the first one that came up in Google. On the page they have a chart of zinc content in popular oils. Mine, Rotella, is on the high side, which would explain durability and why I see the sparkles in new AND old oil in the sunlight.

"% zinc is the amount of zinc used as an extreme pressure, anti-wear additive. The zinc is only used when there is actual metal to metal contact in the engine. Hopefully the oil will do its job and this will rarely occur, but if it does, the zinc compounds react with the metal to prevent scuffing and wear. A level of .11% is enough to protect an automobile engine for the extended oil drain interval, under normal use. Those of you with high revving, air cooled motorcycles or turbo charged cars or bikes might want to look at the oils with the higher zinc content. More doesn't give you better protection, it gives you longer protection if the rate of metal to metal contact is abnormally high. High zinc content can lead to deposit formation and plug fouling."