Hello,

I am currently changing my valve cover gaskets and the drivers side valve cover, I broke the wiring harness (how the heck do you get this thing out? it keeps blocking my valve cover).

Anyways, it broke into the thing the valve cover covers and fell into where all the oil goes. What should I do? I'm really scared that I messed up my entire car =\.

Here are 2 pictures of where the hole is. Btw, the piece is about 3/4" long and 1/2" wide but in a triangle shape. Also, my engine has 230k miles on it.

That sux!
Drop the pan and get that thing out. Although it might very well be ok floating around down there, I personally wouldn't risk it getting jammed into anything around the crankshaft and turning into lots of little tiny bits.

Chances are it will end up in the oil pan (maybe after being broken into smaller pieces along the way). It will probably just sit in the pan forever, though it might float on the oil. It won't get sucked into the oil pump because the pickup tube has a screen on it. Worse case is it might block part of the pickup tube screen and reduce the oil flow. Plastic parts are usually not a big deal, but obviously if you can get it out do so. If you are really worried about it you can pull the pan (I think you can do it in the truck) and get it out. You might drain the oil and see if it ends up on the drain hole. If it does you might get a hold of it and pull it out (probably in pieces).

Dude, that sucks...

I second dropping the pan and getting it out. If it doesn't show up you might get some thin oil and try to wash it out. You don't want that thing cycling around and getting pulverized.

I wouldn't worry about it. If it gets stuck in that hole, the oil will just flow down another hole. There's no pushrods to worry about and if it ends up in the pan, it will just splash around. Its too big to get stuck in the crank rods and if it gets in the way. it will get busted up. The oil pump has a screen to stop crap from getting into the oil journals and anything small enough will be caught by the filter. Just keep an eye out for it on the next oil change.

As for dropping the pan, There's no guarrantee the part will make it to the pan and if you consider the work involved in dropping the oil pan, its not worth it.

Happened to me once, I don't think I did anything, that was like 50k miles ago on a different car lol.

Holy crap? Leave it in there? How stupid are you people? Wow! Please don't give technical advice if you're afraid to turn a wrench... Just dumb. It's not your engine or your wallet so you feel you can type to hear your fingers hit the keys and stroke your ego at the expense of this poor guy...

If you're REALLY lucky it'll get stuck in such a way that it doesn't hurt anything. If that happens, get a lotto ticket. Unfortunately, it's plastic and it will either melt and clog an oil galley to overheat your engine or ruin your bearings (new engine time), or it will shatter into little pieces and tear up your bearings (new engine time). It's not heavy enough to just sit in the bottom of the pan and the flow of the oil will draw it to the return. If it plugs the return, it'll starve the whole system of oil and ruin your bearings (new engine time). I could go on and on about how not fixing the problem will be a problem, but suffice it to say you need to face the facts, man up, and fix it. Alternatively, scrap the truck and get a new hobby.

Get an oil pan gasket kit and drop the oil pan. If you're lucky it'll just be sitting there at the bottom (not likely, but it could happen). If there's a windage tray (there likely is in an engine this modern), you may have to pull it as well. If it's still not readily visible, you should be able to see daylight at that level of disassembly and see where it's stuck. Poke it out the way it came in with a long clean stick (magnet on a stick sort of thing). Then, have a beer and congratulate yourself on not ruining your truck. If you have your gasket kit ahead of time, have the manual, and have the tools, you should be able to do this all in an afternoon. It's really not that hard at all.

Yeah, freak out about it, that will help. I have 300k miles on the car that that happened too. There are safetys put in place so when this stuff happens it won't harm anything.

Since when did this motor use a gasket on the pan? I thought it always used Toyota FIPG.



To the original poster, if you can see it I would try to get it out with a pair of long needle nose, or something like these

10-1/2" Jumbo Straight Clamp

available in multiple places.

If you can't see it I would use a long screw driver or similar to try and make sure the oil return is clear. Beyond that if it doesn't come out in the oil I probably wouldn't worry about it.

Maybe you could reach it with one of those flexible grabbers with a clasping utensil on the end.

Type in flexible grabber on amazon to see what I'm talking about

how about a very strong vacuum machine ( rented from home depot) with a pointy tip and stick in the opining and see if you can get it out. Best of luck man

dude you have 230k, rev that thing till the plastic melts lol okay joke is over, i would just leave it if you cant get it out, 99% of the time stuff like this either breaks the engine or the parts breaks in to smaller pieces and gets trapped in the oil filter. and im pretty sure engine steel is harder than old plastic. been there done that no need to freak out.

I'm not freaking out at the OP, just people trying to get this guy to screw up his engine. There is no engine in the world designed for that sort of mishap; that's patently ridiculous. I've not been too deep in one of these engines, but I've been through hundreds of others. Water cooled, air cooled, ancient, modern, American, German, Japanese, Italian, Russian, automotive, agricultural, micromechanical, you name it (I will disclose that I've never been in an aircraft engine, though I have been thoroughly through engines that are typically used in experimental aircraft). They all work the same basic way, just substitute a gasket here, a galley there, valves, angles, displacement, etc.

Car forums can be a wonderful repository of knowledge, but there are different types of car people on them:

-There are people who like to drive and have the money to have someone else do it correctly
-There are people who appreciate the machines and engineering and enjoy turning a wrench to maintain their own machines correctly
-and there are the cheap bas****s who don't know the difference between thrifty and cheap

I assumed that if the plastic piece were visible and could be somehow reached that would have been the first reaction, but I give the poster credit for some base level intelligence (he did ask the question after all). Sure, it might be OK to just leave it in there and hope it works itself out. Might. Why chance it? Sure, bearings are harder than plastic, but they're only engineered to stand up to substances as hard as oil... Sure the filter might catch it, but that assumes it's small enough to get through the pickup and to the filter in the first place... Sure it might be caught on some ledge or something in a position that doesn't block cooling and lubricating oil flow to some vital component, but it might be lodged somewhere that would prevent that 230K from being a 231K engine...

If you take on the responsibility of working on your machine, you have to live up to that responsibility or face the consequences. You can occasionally get by cutting corners like leaving a piece of plastic in some unknown place deep in your engine, just like you can occasionally screw your high school girlfriend without a condom. You might come out on the other end just fine, but do you really want to risk the consequences? Seized engine or 18 years of child support... It all boils down to how you handle the responsibilities you choose to undertake. The CORRECT answer to this problem is to locate and remove the plastic piece. The OP knows this (you all do), and that's why the question was asked. It might be easier to leave it there, but any parent worth their salt no doubt said "the easy way isn't always the best way."

OP, you took on a certain responsibility when you chose to undertake engine maintenance/repair, now you have to follow through. Either break it down to remove the plastic detritus (this is not difficult, and will be a good learning experience), pay to have someone else do it, or pray the round is in another chamber and pull the trigger.

< /rant>

I definatly dropped a piece of my old PCV into my valve cover(SOB wouldn't come off, so I wiggled it and it snapped. Orginal one with 150 on it....), a fairly large one. Tried fishing out what I could, but couldn't get it all. No problems, and that was ~30k ago..... Like everyone says, As long as it's not a HUGE piece, the it'll get broken up and either burned or get stuck in the filter.

So what's your advice if he drops the front diff, drops the pan and there's nothing in there? Should he pull the heads then? Who's to say that doing all that work won't cause more problems that would have been avoided by just leaving it alone. Those passages are for oil to drain back to the pan. It will either get stuck and never move or drop to the pan and float around. The rotating mass called the crankshaft will just slap it around in the oil. Who cares? It won't get into the bearings. I guarantee it. If the piece sinks, it may get sucked up to the screen but will not effect oil flow. It would have to be mighty small to pass through the oil pickup tube screen. The next stop is the filter. Yet you think he should tear down his motor for this. You are a moron. Stop scaring this guy. The piece is clear of any valvetrain parts, just leave it be. It's a truck not a top fuel dragster.

If he is lucky, it will drop out in the next oil change.

I'm never did finish reading "How to win friends and influence people" LOL