Hi Folks,
My CBR has about 24K on it now and I have been noticing silvery metallic dust in oil when I drained it out. It is most visible in sunlight or a light source.

Bike has been running great. The only not so normal thing is the clutch. It always grabbed toward the very end of the lever release and it gets a little touchy in parking lot speed maneuvers when the engine is in approx. 220 degrees. At high speed no slippage or problems.
Dealer technician test rode it and had no concerns. But I hadn't noticed metallic dust in the oil back then.

I am trying to figure out what it might be. I am hoping it is the clutch discs. Are they made out of aluminum?

I use organic oil and change every 2.5K. I do mostly highway commuting only and mostly stay in top gear. I hope to see at least 60K on this bike :-) I love it!

On a side note, Power Commander has been great but killed my MPG. I am down to 43-44MPG from 48-49MPG. Aarggh!

-Ben-

 

what year bike
I believe the clutch disks are steel
here is a little history about my last cbr600rr engine
did the break in then changed oil every 3k
commuted on her from july of 08 to sept of 2011 that's when she decided to spin three main crank bearings ay 39k
sounds like bearing wear in your engine
what oil are you using
what oil filter
how aggressive of a rider are you
has the bike ever over heated

 

clutches are not steel, but have steel plates between them. since the clutch is slipping and doing strange things, i'd start there. at least pull the cover and inspect it.

what kind of oil are you using?
does the engine make any unusual knocking or rattling noises?

 

Stir the shiney oil with a strong magnet and see what sticks.

 

the clutch will rarely ever make metal shavings unless its binding somewhere and i highly doubt it or youd have a lot more issues than where it engages. metal in the oil is most commonly main or rod bearings, which should be checked asap before the parts need to be machined to rebuild it

 

or worse

 

Hey Gotama, I have been using Rotela 15W-40 with NAPA or FRAM filters. And as I mentioned I am usually in 6th gear commuting. So not much harsh riding. No. Bike never overheated. I got her around 5K and I don't know the prior owner. I am already rebuilding another bike, I hope this one will run until the other one is up!

 

Hey 74demon, it is Rotella T 15W-40. Only odd noise it makes around 4-5K some buzzing noise intermittently. I have heard F4i has timing chain tensioner issues. I wonder if that's the source. But other than that no valve or bearing noise. I will take a look at the clutch next time as you suggested and go from there. Thanks!

 

Bad choice dude. I had cct rattle, no metal in the oil. Im telling you its bearings and if you decide to keep riding without fixing it, you should save for a new motor.

 

The cct will make noise, but not put the silvery stuff in the oil. Clutch is probably gone as well. Take a good look at that. But you will probably find you have bad bearings. If your rattle is a knock, usually while lightly accelerating, the rod bearings are bad and you are killing the crank. Bad main bearings will show up in an oil pressure test.