Metal on LO206 Magnetic Plug

4 Stroke Kart Engine Forum
1

Hi all!

I did my first test day in my new (to me) lo206 kart today after being out of 2 strokes for a few years.
It was on and off drizzling and raining, and I had one slide that took me off track through a puddle in the grass, but nothing seemed damaged and the kart kept running fine. Total running today was a bit less than an hour.
Regardless, when I got home, I drained the oil as I figured there was a decent chance that some water might have gotten in it.
When I drained it, I noticed the magnetic drain plug had some metallic buildup (probably pea-sized, no pics unfortunately). There was also maybe some metallic streaks in the oil, but that could’ve been lighting or water, was hard to tell. I had just cleaned the plug and changed oil (using 4T) before this weekend as well, as the kart had sat in the PO’s garage all winter. When I did the previous oil change I also noticed the pea-sized metallic buildup. PO raced it a handful of times by the sound of it and used 4T as well.
So my question: How much metal buildup is “normal” on these engines? Is this common? I get that pretty much any metal shavings in an engine is not great, just trying to understand what is considered acceptable and if I need to start saving for a new short block!

Thanks!

2 Likes
2

When you touch it, is it just a slime? If so, very normal. You should only get concerned if it gets sparkly.

Also, even on damp days, run your rain cover. Better safe than sorry as once the cross hatch is gone, it’s gone.

3

I think it was mostly just slime, but looked more grey/metallic than the rest of the oil. I’ll try to get a better description/picture of it next time I do an oil change (assuming the pea-sized blob is there next time).

4

Run it. My motors that always had crap in them were fast. Until they weren’t. Lol

5

It will be a gray slime/sludge. That’s normal. Silver and solid pieces is what will be worrisome.