[Cubieman]

So I bought a pretty rough 2007 335i, it has a swapped engine with approximately 90k on it, unlike my other vehicle purchases I kind of gambled on this one and it's not looking good. I very likely will need to do a HG and definitely an oil pan seal, might as well do the RB's and so I might as well pull the engine for all that.

Tonight I noticed a number a small half-moon shaped shinny metal pieces in the oil filter. These pieces are magnetic and very hard, they don't bend etc. I'm just trying to think of where the hell they came from. My first thoughts are bottom end, maybe crank or RB bits, but the shape is strange, almost like a valve keeper broke.

You can see a dime/toothpick for size reference in the pictures.

I am very new to this forum, I'm a big E46 M3 guy and very active over on that forum but the N54 is new to me and I'm just starting to learn so thanks for any help!

[CarAbuser]

They look like keepers to me. If they were the ones from your engine it would be running pretty rough so maybe it's shrapnel from the previous engine that got caught in the oil cooler.