Desperate: need advice on object that fell into oil pan

Depends how big it is. I dropped a small bolt into the sump of a 350 chev years ago - down the distributor hole. The bolt was probably a

IIRC, it was one of the bolts that held the coil bracket onto the inlet manifold and I was removing it to convert the engine to electronic ignition.

The bolt stayed in the sump for several years, coming out when I removed the sump for an unrelated reason. I think it was the sump that got squashed in a crash, but might have been when I was changing sumps to put the engine in a different car. Don't remember, but doesn't matter.

The bolt had a few gouges in it where it had obviously been a bit close to moving parts of the engine, but there were only about 2 or 3 marks and there was no obvious damage to the engine, which is still in a car (a Volvo, even) and runs fine.

I don't know enough about the specific model of engine or the size of the broken piece, but as a general rule, I'd suggest that a small piece shouldn't do too much damage provided that it is too big to be picked up by the oil pickup and ends up falling into the bottom of the sump.

athol wrote in news:1132287448.302294@idlweb:

I guess that's my big concern there: It's small, plastic and likely to float and not go to the bottom.

Thanks for the response.

If it's plastic it probably won't cause much of a problem, if it does get into anything moving, it'll be shredded and end up as bits in the oil filter.

That's pretty much my thoughts, too. Extremely unlikely to damage any metal bits in the engine. If it floats, it might get bashed around a bit and that's about that.

Of course, if you have some engine oil and another piece of the same stuff, you could put it in a jar or similar and check whether it floats or sinks. If it sinks, forget about it completely!

How about dragging a magnet from the outside of the sump all round to the centre where you drain the oil and see if it shows up....ahem drain oil first!!!

Timing gear teeth are a regular find in the oilpan of B20 & B30 engines, so usually small pieces pose no problem. Provided the sieve on the oilpump is intact. This could be damaged if you have a large dent in the bottom of the oilpan. You don't want the oilpressure relief valve jammed open!

It won't. It's plastic. :)

Given that it's plastic, I have slight doubts as to a magnet being helpful :)

On Thu, 17 Nov 2005 21:58:19 -0600, the illustrious Rick favored us with the following prose:

Isn't that what an oil filter's for? It would stand to reason that the filter stands between the oil in the pan and the engine. Perhaps next time you change the filter you'll find the piece.

blurp.

For a plastic part that is probably true, but if it were a metal part it would have to go through the oil pump first, and that could definitely be a problem.

And as another poster stated, you don't want anythign to get wedged into the oile pressure relief valve.

__ __ Randy & \ \/ /alerie's \__/olvos '90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate "Shelby" & "Kate"

Nope. The filter is between the oil pump and the "engine". Anything caught by the filter has already passed through the pump. There's also a simple wire mesh strainer on the pump inlet, so as to protect the pump itself. Get a small piece of wire, or a coil of swarf from a stripped bolt, through this strainer and into the pump's gears and it's likely to damage the pump, possibly enough to cause low oil pressure problems.

A plastic oil dipstick? My XC has a cheap yellow plastic transmission dipstick with no handle on it which is concealed by a hose that is stamped "made in Spain", just to keep owners from checking their own fluid or it's color.