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Great stuff, thanks Sportiva.
Wear metal debris is heavy and should fall to the bottom quickly. When you drain the oil you'll get a lot of concentrated metal debris which will probably look worse than it really is.
For extended service analysis, wear metals typically increase over time at a linear rate indicating that the wear metal debris do not accelerate wear. When the oil is spent or the compartment is pushed beyond the design parameters wear metals can accelerate exponentially. If you're really interested to know more of whats going on you should take samples and have them analysed. It's important to take a representative sample if you do. I would be interested in the results.
Hi Sportiva,
Methinks the non-ferrous but metallic / magnetic gunk in your oil is a result of the E.P additives for GL5 classification. These are usually Sulphurs and / or Phosphates that end up forming a sacrificial film on gears and synchro bits. This film is continually sheared off the bearing surfaces and ends up in the oil. As soon as some is sheared off the intention is for a new layer to be laid down. Essentially a continual process. Not sure of the chemistry involved however the particles are likely to be charged so they will be influenced by a magnetic field.
Going to a synthetic oil is probably not a bad thing as long as the new oil chemistry supports sacrificial film creation.