QuickSilver98

I did an oil change today and stuck to the oil drain plug was a piece of metal that looked like a bearing cylindrical in shaped and about as long as a dime any idea what this could be from?

goober35

iTrader: (1)

Pull you valve covers it sounds like the tip to a rocker are. You can get on from GM or i bet someone has one you can buy here. Should not be that much sense they are the same from 97-to now.

QuickSilver98

I checked all the rocker arms that was not the problem its not a broken piece it looks like a bearing it also has wear marks on it.

1999_SS_M6

sounds pretty text-book... Strong probability that it's one of the needle bearings from your rocker arm.... Not the roller TIP, but the needle bearings that surround the trunion. Look at the side of the rockers, on the axis that they rotate. You will likely find one (or more) that look different from the rest, more specifically, one that is missing several needle bearings. Don't be afraid to give them a good twist or grab.. it may help you locate the defective rocker by finding one with excessive play.

QuickSilver98

well I found out that the piece was the guide pin for the camshaft is there anyway to put this back on or should i just purchase a new cam im not sure the importance of this piece since I checked the three bolts for the cam gear and they were tight?

1999_SS_M6

are you talking about the cam alignment dowel that positions the timing gear onto the camshaft? If that's all it is, you don't have anything to worry about, other than any possible cutting it may have done against the back side of the timing cover. However, you said the cam bolts were tight, so I guess I can assume you had the cover off to inpsect it, and would have most likely noticed any damage done to the cover, or anything else in there.

I don't know why you'd want to replace the cam if all that happened was that the metal dowel fell out. If you've retrieved the dowel from the oil pan, and it doesn't look like it's been chewed up too bad, I'd say consider yourself lucky. Drive it, and forget about it. The alignment dowel is only there to make sure you orient the cam properly for TDC. If the cam hasn't been taken out, I say stop worrying about it, and drive.

Emfuser

I was doing an oil change and found the exact same thing just a few minutes ago. Looks exactly like one of the rollers for a bearing; no damage at all.

Anyhow, if this is a dowel necessary for cam alignment on an install, and I'm about to put a new cam in there, how do I get that dowel back in place?