Metal piece in oil pickup tube.

02V70 · Post by **02V70** » 03 Sep 2023, 22:07

I took the oil pickup tube off to change the o ring after I took off the pan. On the end with the wire mesh, I noticed a rattling sound and a piece of metal fell out. The metal piece was in the end that looked like this:
| |
__/ ~ \__
|__, ,__|
before the mesh. How did it get there? What is it? It is not picked up by a magnet. Here is a photo. 10 mm for scale

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: IMG_3726.jpeg (842.03 KiB) Viewed 616 times

Post by **Krons** » 04 Sep 2023, 05:03

I’d bet if you inspect your old oil pan you may find where that puzzle piece fits. See any missing spots behind the patch of the old oil pan?

Did your replacement oil pan clean up ok?

02V70 · Post by **02V70** » 04 Sep 2023, 22:44

I may have to closely inspect the pan more, but an initial search didn't reveal where it came from. The eBay oil pan was really dirty with a bunch of sludge. I used all the combinations of gasoline, brake clean, hot water, spraying with a hose, simple green, compressed air, and elbow grease to clean it. I got pretty much all the sludge out, but it is still stained a dark brown color with some black stains where the sludge was.

I was amazed at how clean the original oil pan was. Espesially with 300k miles. Basically no sludge and the square pcv passage was clear on the block and pan. Does this mean my PCV system is healthy? On the new pan that passage was filled with sludge before I cleaned it.

Post by **vtl** » 05 Sep 2023, 05:05

Look up the block.

02V70 · Post by **02V70** » 08 Sep 2023, 21:50

Block looks fine unless it was from a hard-to-see place. I'm decently sure that the metal piece came off of the oil pan in a corner where I cant see where It hit a rock and made a hole.

Post by **erikv11** » 08 Sep 2023, 23:41

02V70 wrote: ↑04 Sep 2023, 22:44 …
I was amazed at how clean the original oil pan was. Espesially with 300k miles. Basically no sludge and the square pcv passage was clear on the block and pan. Does this mean my PCV system is healthy? …

Pretty much, yes. That’s great to see. Keep running the glove test.

Post by **jonesg** » 09 Sep 2023, 16:12

02V70 wrote: ↑08 Sep 2023, 21:50 Block looks fine unless it was from a hard-to-see place. I'm decently sure that the metal piece came off of the oil pan in a corner where I cant see where It hit a rock and made a hole.

thats what holes are made from.

02V70 · Post by **02V70** » 09 Sep 2023, 19:52

If I buy one of those plastic splash guards that were originally on the Volvo, would that potentially save my oil pan from another hole?

Post by **abscate** » 10 Sep 2023, 03:47

If it’s hard enough to hole an oil pan, it’s going to wipe out a plastic cover

Solution is stay off the trails and try to avoid the cinder block dump on the BQE at 0300 hours

Post by **Krons** » 11 Sep 2023, 21:05

02V70 wrote: ↑09 Sep 2023, 19:52 If I buy one of those plastic splash guards that were originally on the Volvo, would that potentially save my oil pan from another hole?

It is worth having just to maybe disperse the load of an impact a bit but in reality it is not metal so will crack/break. Last I checked they aren’t really expensive.

One downside to aluminum oil pans is they don’t dent, so not a flexible as a steel pan.