I took the rocker covers off my stock 62 1200 beetle and noticed some "gold dust" inside them both. Probably about as much as you would sprinkle salt on your chips. I am thinking that this is crank bearings. Is this a problem ? Any thoughts ? when i adjusted the valve gaps the engine runs quietly enough

what do u mean by gold dust is that the colour of the oil

Gold dust as particles, smaller than salt. The oil is relatively clear.

It's not a loose valve guide moving?

It was in both rocker covers. How could I test to see if its a loose valve guide ?

Could be of the distributor drive gear

I'd go with valve guide isses...

something brass?, dunno much about the internals?

The only brass in a VW engine are the valve guides and dissy drive. Bearings are alloy of tin and lead, copper and steel can be present but still wouldn't end up in the rocker cover, but I have seen valve guides getting totaled leaving behind bits of fools gold (joke)...mind you, it wouldn't be running too good.

I had a large cylindrical thing come out in my oil once, on the first oil change of my new secondhand engine. It was about 10mm in diameter with a 5mm hole through the middle, perfectly cylindrical, and about 25mm long with a broken-off edge. There were a whole bunch of other small chunks as well. I'm not sure what all that stuff was but the engine still runs great!

Quote:

Originally posted by waveman1500 I had a large cylindrical thing come out in my oil once, on the first oil change of my new secondhand engine. It was about 10mm in diameter with a 5mm hole through the middle, perfectly cylindrical, and about 25mm long with a broken-off edge. There were a whole bunch of other small chunks as well. I'm not sure what all that stuff was but the engine still runs great!

Thanks for the thoughts people.
I will start by looking at the distributor drive.
Would the valve guides go all at once ? The gold dust is in both rocker covers.
Is there any way this could be caused but sitting for a long time unstarted?

It is very odd that it's on both sides, how is it distributed in the cover, up the top, around one valve in particular or all over???

Matt, dont remember exactly, It was pretty even both sides, sitting in the lower 1/2 of the cover. The finest bits were sitting between the gasket (which came off with the cover) and the cover itself. Do you know how the oil moves & at what speed inside the cover ?

The oil is pumped through the pushrods to lube the rocker shafts and valve train. It ends up splashing out of the rockers and as the revs increace more and more gathers there before draining back to the sump. Performance engines actually start to pump the sump dry at higher than 5000 rpm as the rocker covers esp 3/4 side become full of oil, I would suggest that's not the case with your engine, but you get the idea.

Could the brass-appearance be due to the small end bush failing? I had exactly the same symptoms once in an engine that suddenly developed a rattle/knock supposedly due to small end failure, following suspected high-speed detonation problems (due to incorrect s/plugs). Both the rattle and the brass fines appeared at the same time. (I don't know if the small end bush is made from brass...)

Woops, forgot about little end bush. Very possible cause.

I had an idea they were brass, but wasn't sure, as not a mechanic. That doesn't mean this is definitely Stephen's problem does it? There would have to be other evidence of little-end knock developing as well, I suppose. Like a knocking sound (der!) under certain load or temp conditions. (My old engine was obviously 'terminal", but presumably such failure could start in a gradual way...)