I'm scared!!!
 

Hello All,
Today I did some routine maint. for the first time on my wife's 1998 SS. The guy we got the car from was obviously anal about maint. and such (complete oil change records, magnets on the trans drain plug and filter, etc.) The oil looked good and I cut open the oil filter and found nothing out of the ordinary.

What scared the crap of me is in the picture below. They were attached to the magnetic oil pan plug. They are obviously roller bearing and seem to be in perfect condition (not scarred, etc.). There were eight of them.

I've built my fair share of older style engines over the years, but I've never seen the inside of an LS1. Can anyone tell me where these *&%$%& things came from and just how bad this is?

FYI....oil pressure is good and there is no audible problems.

Thanks,

Misled

I don't know what the bearings look like in the rockers but those might be the bearings from the rockers.

Be scared. MS3Z is correct.

idd sudjest takeing off the valve covers off the car and have a look its well worth a time and have a look better safe than sorry

Another vote for rocker arm bearings. I would replace your rockers with either new stock ones, stock ones modified by harland sharp w/ better bearings, or aftermarket roller rockers. This is a common problem on some f-body years, but I think you will be fine if you just replace the rockers.

+5 on the rockers.

Yea, seems to be ur rocker arm bearing. No harm done, just pull off the valve covers and check them out. You can just buy the ones that you need, or you can let harland sharp upgrade them all for like $250. I think its something like 33 bearing in each rocker arm.

yea, im just really confused why they would be there???....and they're in perfect condition

There is one of them somewhere in there missing some rollers.

GM has a TSB (technical service bulletin) for this condition. It's rocker arm needle bearings. I'd never really found one with this before, though...and I work at a GM dealership. How many miles on the vehicle (just curious)?

Don't be scared. Pull the valve covers, replace the rockers and you'll be in good shape. Not a big deal really.

Thanks for all the replies, folks!!!!

The car has 98,000 miles......

I'm assuming that with the mileage, that GM doesn't cover the TSB under warranty?

Thanks again,

Misled

Are the rocker arms in there stock or aftermarket? I didnt think the ls1 had roller rockers stock :confused:

so the harland sharp rebuilt are about 250 .... how much for new stock ones? :)

No big deal, the earlier year LS1's had that problem. My '99 had that happen and I never spun the motor higher than 6000. My '02 has been spun past 7000 and still has not had that happen. Just replace the rockers with new stock ones.

Those are rocker bearings, just buy some new rockers, easy fix.

You might want to contact the guy who you bought it from and he may have had the problem and already replaced the rockers. If the car it running fine with no clicks or clacks, they may have already been changed. Worth a shot anyway.