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It's hard to tell what they are in that photo, silver metal will look gold/bronze when suspended in the oil. Try to get some of the flakes onto a white paper towel and let them "dry". Check the filter pleats as well.
Also it's hard to tell but if that's just in an oil bucket my experience is they are dirty as hell and aren't really a good tool to use to look into after a drain. You need to look at the mesh of the filter to see if there is anything visible or use an extremely clean container.
If you have that much crud in the oil pan the filter should be loaded with it. I would cut the filter apart and get a look deep down in the pleats. If you have finished changing oil and you decide to run it I would pull an oil sample after some miles and get it analyzed. Rod and main bearings maybe the source. I can't think of anything else. Have you been loosing any coolant?
I think you're ok but I'll be interested in your blackstone results.
I've often found similar gold flecks when changing my oil but maybe not quite so many and the ones I've found break apart under pressure, like under a screwdriver on a hard surface. I took apart the filter once and it was uneventful. I've never determined exactly what they are but I don't think they're metal. I should do an oil test but I haven't.
Anyhow my totally stock and original Coyote has 135K miles, a couple dozen track days, and runs quiet and smooth despite those occasional gold flecks - knock on wood. I probably just jinxed myself lol.
Shortly after I started using Pennzoil PUP I noticed fairly large, easily visible with the naked eye, clear to milky white crystals in the bottom of my oil drain pan. They crush and break up easily like a small piece of rock salt would, certainly not metallic and they do look like small crystals of rock salt, much much bigger than grains of table salt.
My mechanic theorizes that since the PUP has a larger than normal additive package due to it being 100% synthetic with no petroleum base and the Coyote has oil squirters these crystals are from the additives, they are forming under the pistons from the heat and when they reach a certain size they fall off and drop down into the pan. I am going to switch oil to something else, not sure what, and see if that problem disappears. Doesn't seem to be doing any harm, but it's not comforting either.
Point is, I wonder if what the OP is seeing is some similar thing to what I am seeing, the difference being his flecks are tiny compared to the crystals I see.
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