If you have metal "glitter" and plastic sludge in the center VVT solenoid screen it means the oil filter has bypassed when the filter stopped up and let the trash into the oil being pumped from the oil filter to the engine. The oil path is back down into three holes into the block. One of those holes feeds the main bearings, rods, and I think the balance shaft. The outside two holes feed the supposedly filtered oil up to.the bottom of the VVT Solenoids. Besides getting to the VVT screen it has pumped metal and nylon into two tubes that provide oil to the lifters and cam journals. These two tubes may be quite full and the only escape is through the lifters and cam journals. The tolerance is pretty tight so blockage will occur as over time more metal and nylon get into the tube. There is a fix but I haven't seen it posted. There are three plugs at the rear of the head (drivers side) two of the plugs are at the end of the two aforementioned tubes. There is also a center port that connects to each tube. There is no release port for the oil to get back into the engine. After you fixing chain and guide issue and put new oil in the engine l removed the center plug and connected an oil pressure gauge to the center port. I had 60 psi idle, and 70 psi on acceleration. I disconnected the guage from the end of the hose, took the fitting off the gauge and plugged it into the hose. This opened the end of the hose and a 1/4 diameter stream of oil pumping out when the engine idled. I pumped 4 1/2 quarts of metal and sludge oil out the tube into four clean containers. I inspected each container and shut down anter each quart to change containers and pull the fitting from the hose temporarily so the engine coulf build oil pressure. With the port open to atmosphere it had to be running on a very reduced supply of oil on the journals so I refreshed the pressure and flow. I also added a new oil to the engine each time I stopped to return the oillevel to full, or slightly above. I examined each container as I captured it. The contamination was very evident in each container except the last quart.The oilcolor lightened and I shook the container Nd pourd a thin film into a paper plate and examined each sample. The last half quart was clean and I closed it back up I highly recom.ebd this procedure if you have metal at the VVT solenoid screen. There is no filter screen after the oil filter for the oil going to the cam tubes. Mine were at least half full, and the roller rockers and valve stem tops were significantly darker than toward the fromt of the engine. Could be due to less oil washing or increased heat but I'm glad to have it cleaned out. I have info about how that affects the crank and rod but will cover that in separate post. My cheap oil pressure kit contained all of the adapters I needed to vomplete the process.

 

Good stuff. Needs its own sticky thread.

 

Continuing the metal in VVT screen "knowledge" bank. When the oil filter stops up and bypasses dirty oil to the rest of the engine, one of the places it directly feeds is the crankshaft to supply oil to the main and rod bearings. Here is what appears to happen. The end result seems to be damaged or catastrophic rod bearing numbe one failure! When the metal and nylon from worn timing chain guides enter the crankshaft it goes first to the front main bearing and second to piston number one connecting rod bearing. The crankshaft in the main bearing is spinning around a fixed axis. oil pressure is feeding the port to the main bearing. Skipping ahead for a moment, the rod bearing journal is offset a few inches creating a centrifugal force that is not present at the main bearing. This centrifugal force is slinging the metal and plastic toward the bearing with great force. Not only that but the oil port terminates ar the farthermost point of the rod journal directly onto the bearing surface. The force is contantly to the outside of the circle of movement, and increases with engine RPM. This means the first rod oil journal is catching the trash and forcing it against the bearing. I have pictures and I can see the distortion of the bearing by the nylon going through, smoothly spreading the edge of the bearing, and scratches an gouges from the metal, some of which is embedded in the bearing surface. I had two neglected engines in my posession with rod bearing number one trashed, rod bearing number two has slight wear, but rod bearing three and four are undamaged. If you have metal in the VVT screen I highly recommend removing, inspecting, and probably replacing rod bearing number one. I would probably check number two also. If number two is good replace number one and put the engine back in service, like the dealer would probably do. Combine this with flushing the cam tubes in my previous post.

Now, about the main bearings. I dissassembled the engine that had catastrophically failed and been removed from the car. In fact someone had reassembled rod number one without a bearing. They just closed it up and put the pan back on, knock an all and declared it dead. I completely disassembled that engine and was surprised to find the number one mainbearing quite serviceable. No significant damage. Minor scratces visible. The question became, "Why is the first bearing the trash gets to not damaged?" The hypothesis is that there is no strong centrifugal force causing the trash to embed into the bearing. Trash did collect in the long oil groove of the main bearing, but "floated?" there because the oil back pressure against the sealed surface reduced the flow of trash into the main port causing the rest of the trash to move on to first rod journal. The first rod bearing seems to have acted sort of like the first born brother. It took all the crap that came down the tube and protected the rest of the brothers:-) Other hypotheses may exist.

 

I had this “glitter” on my VVT actuators I discovered shortly after purchasing the O6 HHR LT 2.4 and it had just passed smog a week prior to purchasing and no warning lights or CEL were lit. I checked the oil before the test drive and it extremely low- “not on the dip stick” low! Anyways I had them add oil (3 qts) before it registered half full. After test drive and purchase I drove it home 21 miles and parked it (still no cel or warning lights) I knew from the lack of oil that I needed to do oil and filter change, Which I had done. Then drive it about 400 miles total when it started shifting hard. Still no warning lights or CEL but took it to a trans shop they did the diagnostic and found 3 codes and said they been cleared 100 miles ago! I do not know how or why this could be possible and it pass smog. Anyways the codes were for both the intake and exhaust vvt actuators p00011 & 14 also p0106 MAP sensor. They said those engine code needed to be fixed before they can proceed with the transmission. So drive it home and started the repairs, replaced both VVT actuators had some glitter on middle screen of both, replace spark plugs, coils starter packs, 2 camshaft sensors, 1 crankshaft sensor and the starter. I’m clueless where these ports are the you are talking about. I did run a magnet to pull out any glitter left behind and I had changed the oil and filter again before starting it back up. Ran it for 40 min and a few miles then changed the oil and filter again. The last change had barely any glitter which now I am wondering if a picture or diagram that can be posted showing the location? And do you think I need to actually do this still? I mean from what you said I should, but I’m truly unsure what I’m suppose to do exactly. Help please!!

 

You definitely need to flush into clear containers so you can see the results. The three plugs are on the opposite end of the engine (driver's side end of the head) You will need an Allen Wrench Socket (might be Torx) to remove them. You only need to remove the center plug, and you will need to arrange an adapter and hose to fit the threads. I put that info into the original post but will help you step by step. I have an important meeting this afternoon so I may not respond until tonight or in the morning. The results ypu are experiencing are common. I almost guarantee the timing chain guides are worn, possibly including some of the guide bolts. Be aware that there is a hidden bolt behind a plug in the front left near the top if the engine. I think it takes a 15 mm wrench to remove the plug and then a 3/8 drive 10 mm socket and short extension into the hole to remove and to replace the guide bolt. More later. Have to stop now.

 

The hard shifting is not a transmission problem, it is caused by the VVT codes. "some" glitter on the screens is normal.
If you change the crankshaft sensor you need to have its variation relearned, that takes someone with the right kind of computer. You wasted money on the camshaft sensors and all of those other parts..
The P0106 is most likely a wire problem.

Were the codes found "historic"/"permanent" or "current" or "pending"?

 

Glitter at the VVT Solenoid screen means the oil filter has bypassed. The oil goes from the filter directly to.the crankshaft an on th the VVT solenoids, cam bearings, lifters, etc.

 

[QUOTE=Gaylon;955478]Glitter at the VVT Solenoid screen means the oil filter has bypassed. The oil goes from the filter directly to.the crankshaft and on to the VVT solenoids, cam bearings, lifters, etc. Only filtered oil is in that path. Common sense says that means the filter clogged, and that is somewhat logical thinking because that is what would cause an overpressure (past 80 psi) across the filter element and lift the bypass to the filter letting metal through. I'm suspicious that the bypass is opening enough to bypass shavings below the stated 80 psi but there is no direct easy way to test for this. I saw shavings on the wrong side of the bypass on a brand new filter with less that 100 miles on it in new oil recently, but it will probably take putting a pressure fitting in the top of the filter cap in order to connect a guage to detect oil pressure in the bypass cavity. I "think" pressure should remain zero above the pressure relief valve unless it is bypassing prematurely, but haven't set up that experiment yet. I just changed the cap. still suspicious. The overpressure seal.is just hard plasitc sitting on hard plastic. No o-ring or soft rubber seating surface. Vibrations could let trash through. Another possibility would be the oil.pressure relief valve before the filter could fail (clog) and cause high pressure surges.

 

I would think that when the chain gets loose, and starts grinding away at the top guide, that metal shavings would get flung right at the nearby VVT solenoid valves?

 

That’s plausible