Gas smell in old oil + chunks = ???

Yeah, I know, another oil change question. But I don't drive my 4runner much, only 1 trip a week about 45 minutes hwy each way there and back. Otherwise it's short trips around town. So that's where I'm thinking the gas smell in the oil is coming from. I changed my oil at 6,500 miles @ 11 months. However, when I dumped the old oil, using a funnel with a strainer, I saw chunks of I don't know what [see pic].

So anyone got any thoughts on the gas smell and these here chunks?

 

Are the chunks metallic or soft? Any recent engine work?

 

Seemed a little hard, but to tell you the truth I couldn't really tell through my gloves. No recent work.

 

I was thinking RTV but not sure. Maybe send a sample to blackstone for testing but they don't really say what could be an issue though.

 

What's RTV?

 

Shit, I wasn't too concerned about it, but after a little looking around on the net, I'm a little worried that something may be amiss.

 

RTV sealant. Sometimes it's used to seal parts together where a gasket isn't available or needed.

All I can think of is a stuck injector putting too much fuel in a cylinder. However some combustion gasses do make into the oil normally which is why it gets dirty over time. It could really be nothing. Is the engine running weird?

 

Nah, engine is running smooth. Like a said, short trips around town mostly. So I'm hoping it's just that I need to change my oil more frequently and the black chunks were just gunk and buildup or something.

 

Are you sure there wasn't something in your oil drain pan before you drained the oil into it?

 

Yikes

 

RTV stands for Room Temperature Vulcanization. It can be in the form of a silicone sealant. Think silcone caulk but for other applications.

 

You could also disassemble the filter if you still have it. If that's devoid of these chunks, then likely nothing harmful is getting to the engine.

 

Already got rid of the filter, but don't remember seeing anything in there. And no, the strainer in the funnel caught all of those chunks.

Really really hoping that it's just buildup and gunk due to short trips and stuff not burning off and the fact that I didn't change my oil for 11 months -- did that because I only had 6,500 miles since last change.

 

Yikes?? What are you thinking that could be? Something bad?

 

Aw shit -- just realized that I used a new oil pan, one of those box kind that you can seal up with the screw lid and pour the old oil out of -- it's made of black plastic. I'm wondering if there were some bits of it inside from manufacturing. Occam's razor maybe???

 

No clue, sorry, just appears abnormal.

 

Worrying about nothing.

 

In that case, those could be some of the waste from drilling the holes where the oil enters the pan. I noticed some of those still slightly attached on mine before the first time I used it.

 

Doh! Lol. Yeah, never strain the dregs of a oil drain pan, unless you need to feel anxiety. Next time, if you need to strain oil to check on a vehicle, do it with oil that is draining directly from the engine oil pan. Or into a clean sample container. But I wouldn’t even bother with that, I’d inspect the oil filter pleats instead.