I just changed my oil and found this stuck to my oil plug.

At first I thought that it was one of the shims under my valve train, but its WAY too thick probably around .060 - .080 thick and around 7/8" long x .5" wide.


When I first pulled it out it was all wadded up.


The car has been down for almost 6 months due to a tranny rebuild and me moving to another state. But before the tranny crapped out the car was running OK, down on power but I just chalked it up to 92K on the short block.

The car is breaking up at WOT and backfiring at high load/low rpm (like driving in 6th under 2K rpm). I think this is just the MAF going bad and is not related to this hunk of metal in the oil pan.

I have had this entire car apart more than once with the exception of the short block and I have no idea what this is.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

TIA
Mark

 

almost looks like a rod bearing??

 

It's real hard. I'm pretty sure that its steel.

 

could it be a piece of the oil filter?

 

Hmmm. It would probably be a good idea to cut open the filter and take a look.

 

I can't think of a single thing internally that would look like that....It looks really chewed up though.

 

As tim99ws6 said, I don't know what that could be internally.

 

My '94 Z28 had 98K miles when I sold it and it ran like new...no loss of power so I doubt your 92K would be the thing, but since you have a 2000 with that many miles then again Im guessing they are very hard driven miles so who knows.

 

I dont think its anything out of the filter. It's way to big to get through the oil filter passages. Could it be something from the inside of the valve cover, where all the PCV junk is?

 

You sure thats not a shim? It looks exactly like one. Maybe somebody dropped one in the head when they were setting up the proper shim thickness?

 

It looks like a shim, but isn't 7/8" x 1/2" too big for a shim? The ones I've seen are like half that size.

 

you know what it looks like is a keeper or two smashed together!

 

is it magnetic or not?

 

Yes it is magnetic

After sitting and looking at it last night I really think that is a shim. I pulled the heads and had them cleaned up last May. I don't remember dropping one, but I could have. Either that or one of them slipped out from under the racker arm rail while I was putting it back on. It does look exactly like a shim, but it just seemed to thick. I guess I will be pulling the valve covers this weekend to check. I really hope thats all that it is. Thats an easy fix.

Thanks for everbodys help