oil pan mystery object

[phxfamily]

i have a 1994 explorer 4.0 l ohv and recently when i was driving locally, my truck wanted to stall while at a stoplight. when i got out to see what was going on, i was hearing a strange noise coming from the bottom of the motor. the next day i drained the oil through a wire strainer and i found what looked like plastic in the oil. so after some research, it seemed that the timing tensioners may have broken apart. i pulled apart the front of the motor to get to the timing chain and all of the tensioners are all in tact. when i first tried to drain the oil, nothing would come out, something was blocking the drain hole. i pushed a pen up into the oil drain hole and it felt like something hard was blocking the drain hole.now that i have checked the timing tensioners and tried to look into the oil pan to see whats in there, i see and feel nothing now and am very perplexed at what may be in the oil pan. anyone have any ideas?

 

[Rick]

Hmm, not sure what else is plastic in there... I'll be watching this thread to find out!

Good to have another Arizonan on board

 

[mattadams]

I love a good mystery! I'm trying ot think of what all inside the engine is plastic like that, and I don't come up with much... is it possible that something plastic got brought into the engine, such as dropping something in during an oil change on accident or something? Weird...
I remember when I was a kid, being a kid and not being very smart, I was playing around in the car and pushed some things around on the dash and a pencil disappeared into the dash. I didn't know where it went, but figured probably tnot too big of a deal. A year or two later, it was having issues with cycling the heat and defrost and so forth properly, the blend door seemed to be jammed... my dad took the whole thing apart and found... the pencil. Doh.

 

[turboranger91]

are you sure it's plastic and not metal?

 

[phxfamily]

its definitely not metal. it looks like plastic debris and one of the pieces seemed to appear to have a shape, round with an edge. it is very brittle, could it be large pieces of oil sludge that has hardened? now whatever is remaining in the oil pan and seems to plug the drain hole when you try to drain the oil could be metal and guessing somewhat flat!

 

[StryctNy9e]

That is crazy, being the owner of a first gen I definetly want to know what it is!! I dont konw but I dont think there is anthing plastic on the oil pump. ?

 

[djh97xlt]

I think mattadams may have the answer. Could it be plastic from an oil bottle? Those pieces that stay on after you twist the top off. I always pull them off before I add oil. Have you looked at the oil filter yet? Cut it open and see what is inside.

 

[1AJeremyD]

It could always be part of the oil fill cap. I've had that happen a lot too. The twist locking ones sometimes snap and fall apart inside itself and when you go to take it off it snaps and stuff falls inside. Just a thought if someone wasn't care with your car at some point.

 

[Roadrunner777]

I wonder if it might be some old casting material they used to make the block.

 

[wood1]

Interesting, going to drop the oil pan?

 

[corkey]

i bet it ends up being some of the plastic seals they put on oil containers.

i have taken apart quite a few engines that had them little plastic seals in the inlet for the oil pump,, or stuck to the bottom of the pan,,

 

[phxfamily]

i wish that you could drop the oil pan, but i do not have a motor hoist or a stand. the thing is that there still is the issue with it now wanting to stall when at a light or somewhere where i have to have a foot on the brake. it seems to be stressed when having my foot on the brake yet appears to run normally when just going. this has just started and the rattling and an occasional squeal that i am hear from the bottom of the motor is not giving me any confidence in it lasting long. i have the timing cover off now and will not put it back together until i figure out the noise. could a bearing be getting set to fail? would anything like that have fallen into the oil pan? is there a fiber optic camera that mechanics use to search inside?

 

[ld50]

Wierd, I found internet posts indicating timing chain tensioners busting off can do this but nothing for that year, this guy has a 98 and found some goodies in the oilpan...

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100403193253AAhbNPB

Interested to know what it is, so let us know.

 

[steve c]

Are you the first owner

 

[Pontisteve]

I can't remember on the 4.0's, I think only the OHC motors have the timing chain in the rear that's driven by a jackshaft from the front of the engine. But if yours has a rear timing chain, there could be your tensioner. The only things plastic I know of inside an engine are the timing chain guides and tensioners. Maybe phenolic gaskets, like an oil pan gasket. But if a gasket was missing a chunk, you'd probably know it by now.

For your low idle, check and clean your IAC motor.

 

[phxfamily]

ok, so i only get two days a week to try and figure out this problem! does anyone in the Phoenix, az area know of any place that rents borescopes so i can look inside my oilpan?

 

[Pontisteve]

Harbor Freight sells a cheap boroscope, more geared towards construction than automotive. The probe is probably too big for a spark plug hole, but should fit into an oil drain plug fine. I think its around 100 bucks. Maybe this would be cheap enough to rival renting one?

Or maybe autozone rents one??

 

[wood1]

Is it maybe a valve seal? One of those hard plastic ones?

 

[wood1]

You should post a pic of it. No doubt someone would recognize it.

 

[Roadrunner777]

I wonder if something in an oil filter broke, could it make it's way to the pan?