Metal piece in oil

[Blasted]

Yesterday while draining the oil this piece was attached to the magnetized drain plug on my explorer 3.5l NA. I'm trying to figure out what part of the engine this has broken off from. Do you think I should pull the pan, replace the oil pump or flush the engine? Weird timing because my water pump started spewing coolant and I had a misfire on cylinder 1 within 2 weeks of each other. Coincidence? What would you do?

 

[boominXplorer]

Have you fixed the water pump yet? Looks like a part of the secondary tensioners but hard to tell

 

[Blasted]

I haven't fixed the pump yet. I'm sort of at a crossroads between an engine replacement or replacing the water pump. Both are pretty expensive and time consuming. The oil looked fairly normal in coloration but I'm sure there's some coolant in there. The water pump failure happened suddenly with no dripping ahead of time. By the looks of it when I stopped most of the coolant came out the weep hole since coolant coated the entire passenger side underneath.

 

[boominXplorer]

I wouldn't even drive that car again unless it is going to be fixed. You have a ticking time bomb that will require replacement soon.

 

[Explorer75]

Yesterday while draining the oil this piece was attached to the magnetized drain plug on my explorer 3.5l NA. I'm trying to figure out what part of the engine this has broken off from. Do you think I should pull the pan, replace the oil pump or flush the engine? Weird timing because my water pump started spewing coolant and I had a misfire on cylinder 1 within 2 weeks of each other. Coincidence? What would you do?View attachment 325883

Looks like a timing chain lock, it´s imperative that while you replace the water pump you check all timing components (chains and tensioners). That oil looks really black, which oil are you using and what interval you change it?

 

[Blasted]

7000 mi intervals on full synthetic mobile 1 with a pure 1 filter or once per year depending on how much I drive it. That black stuff is the metal shavings from the magnetic drain plug on the paper towel. (Bottom right blob)

Thanks for the timing chain input!

 

[Explorer75]

7000 mi intervals on full synthetic mobile 1 with a pure 1 filter or once per year depending on how much I drive it. That black stuff is the metal shavings from the magnetic drain plug on the paper towel. (Bottom right blob)

Thanks for the timing chain input!

Ok, that´s good.

You´re welcome, good luck!

 

[Explorer75]

I haven't fixed the pump yet. I'm sort of at a crossroads between an engine replacement or replacing the water pump. Both are pretty expensive and time consuming. The oil looked fairly normal in coloration but I'm sure there's some coolant in there. The water pump failure happened suddenly with no dripping ahead of time. By the looks of it when I stopped most of the coolant came out the weep hole since coolant coated the entire passenger side underneath.

I all depends how well the engine is apart from the water pump and timing parts. Did you mention how many miles do you have on the engine?
You can repair your current 2011 you probably have the early design of the pump, it has been updated like 5 times. You can now be sure you have the latest water pump and timing components.
On the other hand you can get a used engine but the question is which water pump it has and if it´s even financially possible to update that used engine to the latest water pump and timing parts.
I would run the numbers on both scenarios.

 

[Blasted]

It's got 135000 mi on it. Is there anything to test or inspect for damage while I've got the valve covers and timing set off? I'd like to know if there is any engine damage from the coolant/oil mixture.

 

[bigdude2468]

Send an oil sample to Blackstone Labs to confirm if there is coolant in the oil. When replacing the water pump all the timing componets are fully exposed, not to change them would be short sighted.

 

[Blasted]

I'll be putting a water pump and timing set in for sure. Here's the oil that came out. I don't want to get this water pump in and then discover the rest of the engine is shot. Compression test in order here? What else?

 

[boominXplorer]

Uhm that looks like alot more than the possible 6qts of oil that could of been in there

 

[boominXplorer]

Don't bother with the compression test until you put the water pump in. Alot of times the water pump will be hard to spin when it goes bad and will cause bank 1 cam phaser to retard and run like poo.

Since your a 2011 (I assume from your info) you need to pull the valve covers to check chain type. 2011 is a split year and the dealer won't be able to tell accurately by your vin.

 

[Blasted]

Uhm that looks like alot more than the possible 6qts of oil that could of been in there

That's my thoughts too. I need to verify the capacity of the container.

 

[Explorer75]

Coolant + oil are supposed to look like milkshake, doesn´t it? My guess is if there´s coolant there is very low.

About the engine, can you talk about it a little bit? like how it performed before you did the oil change: power. normal and abnormal noises, etc. How low was the coolant (if it was low) and if the oil was over the max before changing (if you even did check it, I usually don´t).

 

[Blasted]

Engine ran completely normal. Good power and typical smoothness. No indication of a problem until the water ran dry. Then some pretty strange gargling sounds as the temp gauge snapped to hot on the dash. No idiot lights or warnings.

 

[Explorer75]

Engine ran completely normal. Good power and typical smoothness. No indication of a problem until the water ran dry. Then some pretty strange gargling sounds as the temp gauge snapped to hot on the dash. No idiot lights or warnings.

Ummm that could also be a head gasket problem. Can you take out a spark plug to check how it looks? It´s no definitive but it could help.

 

[Blasted]

Ummm that could also be a head gasket problem. Can you take out a spark plug to check how it looks? It´s no definitive but it could help.

Absolutely can do that. What am I looking for when I get it out?

 

[Explorer75]

Absolutely can do that. What am I looking for when I get it out?

If there´s a problem they would be covered with oil or white ashes.

 

[MattHoss]

@Blasted - I feel your pain. I had the same water pump issue two weeks ago. I also had the chains and tensioners replaced with the water pump. Mine didn't overheat, but was loosing a bunch of coolant out of the weeping hole. I was lucky in that I had no coolant in the oil. I wish you luck and more power to you if you do the job yourself. I ended up taking it to a shop I use.