Aluminum chunks in oil pan?

[99gst_racer]

Those "rivets" are actually casted into the body of the valve cover, and then mushroomed to hold the baffle to the cover. I highly doubt one of those actually broke off of the valve cover, but I suppose it's worth a look.

 

[project_tsi]

Valve cover baffle rivets were on my list last night, but I just didn't think those were it.

 

[project_tsi]

Heres a good pic of squirters.

 

[Daveed]

I have it. Look at the bottom of your valve cover and see if there's rivets missing from the splash shield.

DING DING DING! We have a winner!
That's exactly them. I just checked and I'm missing 8 of them from the valve cover.

Valve cover baffle rivets were on my list last night, but I just didn't think those were it.

Yep, you were on to something there

Thanks everyone for helping out. Nice pic of the oil squirters too.



Ok, now what should I do about the rest of these things that are still "attached"?
8 have fallen out and three are in the pan. I'm guessing 5 of them got ground up in the motor or fell out on previous oil changes.

Has this ever been a problem before in 4g63s?

 

[ROOKIE1]

Heres a good pic of squirters.

You just had to one up me on the pic .

Ok so how did this happen ? Looks like you need a new valve cover . Maybe someone in this thread has one . , PMs work well for that .

 

[project_tsi]

Has any work been performed on your valve cover? Has it been powdercoated, media blasted, etc? ANY thing done to it other than stock?

I haven't seen a stock unmolested valve cover do that, but I have heard of it when people remove the baffles.

 

[Daveed]

The valve cover looks completely stock. There aren't any marks around the remaining "buttons". Weird. Wonder if repeated extreme heat (expansion) of the metal plate sorta pinched off these buttons over time.

 

[Defiant]

Ask your local speed shop if they have a line on Devcon epoxy for intake runner build-up. That's the material you'd want to use to secure the splash shield if it looks like it's not going to be held by the remaining heads. It's a few notches up from JB Weld.
As for the other heads, no need to give them a thought. They can't get through the oil pickup screen, if they even got close enough. And, the screen keeps debris far enough from the intake tube that they'd not even be held against the screen by the flow.
In their trip from the valve cover to the sump, they'd just fall. There's nothing moving slowly enough to catch them (valve springs would spit them past the coils, for instance), and the rest of the reciprocating and revolving parts don't have enough clearance to admit them. They've probably been sitting on the windage tray since they landed there, and haven't moved a half-inch.

Your close-up picture were I could see how they'd been swaged is what gave them away.

 

[99gst_racer]

Good work, Defiant.

If it were me, I wouldn't put that valve cover back on. If 8 of them have already detached themselves, I wouldn't trust the remainder buttons. Valve covers are a dime-a-dozen. Find a clean replacement and call it a day.

And, I'd also be a bit concerned about the other foreign material in the bottom of the pan.

 

[drewvr4]

Wow interesting, i have never seen something do that before. Just out of curiosity has anyone seen this before or is this a first?