Found this in oil pan - What is it?

[Tatanko]

Dropped the oil pan to see if anything might be in there (not for any reason, just checking) and found these two little pieces. Not quite sure what they are. My buddy and I (he will chime in) checked out the turbo and it appears to be spin just fine and has little to no shaft play, and the motor runs and the car drove perfectly fine with no out of the ordinary noises or anything.

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[hdoerr]

Damn bro. I don't know what those are but that can't be good. Do you have any ticking or klunking from the bottom end? If you have a loud exhaust you may not hear it easily.

 

[Tatanko]

Not a bit! Engine is very quiet (other than the intake and exhaust noises, of course). I don't even have lifter tick!

For the record, these are TINY. The size of a fingernail, I'd say.

 

[crimsondragon]

They look like bearings to me. Since you dropped the pan, check the crank and rods.

 

[mesarius]

Has the car ever had a turbo swap? Those pieces look like either the outer shell or inner shell of a turbo bearing, possibly left from a previous turbo failure if yours is in good condition. I can't think of any other bearing that would be that small.

 

[freeman 188]

these look like the bearing out of a turbo ,has it ever been changed ,

 

[1992awdlaser]

They kind of look like valve locks (the pieces that hold the valves to the valve springs).

 

[Tatanko]

I am the 4th owner of the car, car has 100k miles on it...so it's possible it's been swapped but I'm not sure. The turbo that is on the car now looks very new, spins butter smooth and has next to no shaft play. Is it possible for the turbo to SEEM in good condition the way it is but not have this part in it?

My buddy already checked the bottom end and it doesn't appear to have anything missing, plus the engine is quiet and smooth.

Of note, the pieces are small enough that they COULD have gotten to the oil pan through the oil return line if they are indeed from the turbo.

 

[mesarius]

No, if one of your bearings broke off like that your turbo would be all over the place. I had a bearing go out in my turbo last winter and it sent the impeller into the housing wall and sheered all the fins. If your turbo is spooling fine and there isn't much as far as play than I doubt that came from the current turbocharger that is in your car, I wouldn't be surprised if the turbo has been changed at least once and that's left over from an old blown turbo.

 

[interex]

It looks like valve keepers to me. +1

 

[Tatanko]

If the engine was running quietly then how did you know to drop the pan?

I bought the car with all kinds of leaks and it just seemed abused in general given the shape the interior was in, the corroded battery connections, poor modding, etc. I've been doing every little thing I can think of to make sure the current motor is in good shape before I spend money refreshing it with new gaskets and then modding the car more. For example, I did a compression test earlier this week and all four cylinders came back in the 155 to 160 range.

 

[97 4G63]

It looks like valve keepers to me. +1

There is no way that could be a valve keeper the valve lock keepers does not have an oil port/hole in the middle like the pic posted.

But it does look like some kind of bearing whith an oil port on it.

Take a look at your balance shaft.

 

[ja12ke]

its def. not balance shafts
1) those bearings are a lot bigger than a finger nail
2) they have only one oil port and each half has one in the picture

i agree and think turbo bearing

 

[Rob10_99]

dang that thing cracked in half, I guess its small enough to get through the return line.

 

[Tatanko]

Thanks for all the replies. Having gone over this engine and seeing that the owner poorly modded, abused, and just didn't give a rat's ass about this car and seeing how well the car and especially how strong this engine is despite all that gives me a newfound respect for DSMs and the 4G63. At one point I was considering fixing and selling the car but I am keeping this thing!

 

[iluvmy4g63]

that is a turbo bearing. crazy. i was just messing with 14-b. like bronze in nature. its very strong. so how ever it broke like that and got in the oil pan is just another DSM ????????

 

[slipstream808]

Sorry it took so long to chime in here but I went to the movies before the thread went up. AAANYWHOOO...

Yes, I was working on the car with him and everything he has said is true. We are removing stuff to check the condition of the vehicle. When I drove it it seemed well... like a slow T-25 boosted car that ran damn fine. No weird sounds or anything of any sort. So we are taking things apart just to see how she is a running.

When we found that all I could think of was the turbo bearing. It was small enough that the halves could have gone down the turbo oil drain. But the T-25 is fine. So I figure it would make sens that if an old one went then that someone would just slap on a new one and ###### not check the oil pan. Like he said, compression test came back fine. No signs that anything got sucked up into the oil pickup (I'd like to thank God here) ever since this happened... whenever it happened.

So that being said I guess we are agreed it's the turbo bearing of an old turbo. And apparently it didn't cause any problems then. So I guess the two of us will shrug our shoulders and move on. Thanks to all!

 

[slipstream808]

http://www.allproducts.com/manufacture98/turbocharg/Product-2006618123354-2.jpg

Just did a google picture search for turbo bearings and this picture came up. CASE SOLVED!

 

[mitch26753]

It's funny people are saying valve keeper, that looks nothing like a keeper. it's a turbo bearing, It look's like a t-25 turbo bearing at that. i believe that 14-b are similar, but don't have as many holes in the bearing. Def a t-25 bearing.

 

[kenamond]

Seems this is solved, but I figured I'd chime in anyway. Turbo shaft bearing. When my T25 went, the thrust bearing came apart and ended up in the oil pan. I didn't know it was there until I pulled the pan for another reason. Oil pressure will wash all of the pieces out of the CHRA and into the pan (if they'll fit through the return tube). As was suggested, they probably swapped turbos and didn't check the pan.