About 3 days ago I started getting a pretty awful rattle coming from the engine in my 2000 Frontier. I couldn't pinpoint exactly where it came from but it started getting worse so I've grounded it and I'm PRAYING it's a timing chain component and not something serious.
I took the valve cover off and found nothing, tested the tensioner with a screwdriver and it seemed firm. I took the oil pan off and did the same thing with the guide and tensioner. The tensioner seems a teensy bit loose but I don't know.
The real discovery was a bunch of small plastic/metal fragments in the oil pan.
Here's one with a quarter for size reference
So KA24DE experts, can you help identify these things and confirm that they are all timing-related and nothing too serious?
Thanks in advance