I thought I'd share something I'd read on the web and adopted it myself as it seemed a good idea when doing my many many oil changes.

Instead of just pouring the old oil into a container and getting rid of it, I have been using a clean glass dish and putting a fine mesh baking sieve in first. Not only does this catch the drain plug, once it's drained I take out the sieve and check to see if there is anything that should not be there. Like flakes of metal, the odd bolt, bits of broken off carbon etc etc. It's a very simple thing to do that could potentially catch early evidence of something starting to go wrong before it gets out of hand.

The reason for the glass dish is so I can look underneath and see if there is any sign of metal powder in the oil or a silver sheen to it. I've been doing this for the engine, gearbox & diff changes, fortunately with nothing to report but it does give extra peace of mind that all is well. Partially with the old car which does not have an oil filer and needs an oil change every 1000miles it's unlikely something bad will be missed.

[Edited on 15/6/23 by Mr Whippy]

On oil changes I quite often wait for the warm oil to cool before dipping a finger to the deepest part and seeing if I can feel any grit.

I watched a video the otherday, which I am unsure is of any actual use, where they were approaching the oil stream as it was coming out of the sump with a magnet. It was bending the the stream suggesting there were fragments. I concluded this was rubbish for detecting aluminium or if the oil has magnetic properties regardless!!