Pieces of broken plastic in my oil pan?

[raaksha]

About a week ago, my friend and I redid my oil pan gasket (was leakin a quart of oil every two to three weeks) and we found a bunch of plastic inside the oil pan, a lot of it of course in the oil pump strainer. Any clues to what this is? My car was and is still running fine, just very curious...

[574-240sx]

About a week ago, my friend and I redid my oil pan gasket (was leakin a quart of oil every two to three weeks) and we found a bunch of plastic inside the oil pan, a lot of it of course in the oil pump strainer. Any clues to what this is? My car was and is still running fine, just very curious...

Probably timing chain guides. How many miles on the motor? Have the timing chain guides been replaced? This usually is more common for a SOHC.

[raaksha]

Getting close to 120k and no they've never been replaced. Very happy to have removed it, wouldn't have been fun for the oil pump to have gotten clogged

[raaksha]

Also, its a 96, so DOHC.

[slow s13]

you better get that damn front cover off and replace those guides, or your motor is guna be filled with water. See once those guides are layin in your pan the chain is just flyin around in there rippin the crap out the front cover.

[slow s13]

this is the hole the chain made in the front cover, and thats a water passage for the water pump very bad things happened to this motor.

[slow s13]

you defenitly dont want this do you?

[BadMojo]

you better get that damn front cover off and replace those guides, or your motor is guna be filled with water. See once those guides are layin in your pan the chain is just flyin around in there rippin the crap out the front cover.

Too bad he didn't do this while the pan was dropped. But yeah, drop the pan, look for damage and replace what's left of the chain guides. I'd also replace the tensioner and inspect the chain *very closely* for any damage, as well as the front cover. May as well put in a new thermostat while you're in the neighborhood.

[raaksha]

I see what I'll be doin next weekend, or before if the parts get here earlier, and work not getting in the way. Before this car I hadn't done anything more drastic than change spark plugs and wires, learning process for me. Friend of mine has a decent amount of experience, but not much with imports.

[raaksha]

No, I definately don't want my engine to look like that. At least, not yet, there wasn't nearly as much of the broken guides inside my pan. I am hopin to not have to spend too much in this engine, as I was hoping to buy a seperate engine, build/rebuild for a turbo application, and then swap. Too much downtime without my car can make things rough, and when workin on my car, our work ethic isn't always the best, lots of time gets wasted drinkin beer, and if any other friends come over, everything comes to a grinding halt. No timeframe on my plans, though I think I should have the money saved up long before I feel comfortable with taking all of this on.

[ArticDragon192]

I thought it was safe to run without the guides as long as the tension is doing its job.

[574-240sx]

The very top guide. You can see it when you take your valve cover off. I think its held on by 2 10mm bolts. That is fine to get rid off but won't help if the tensioners are not doing their job.

[BadMojo]

You can safely remove the two guides on the *upper chain* but both guides on the lower chain are definitely required.

[fullthrtl_tech]

yeah its gotta be the guides if it messed up your cover let me know cuz i have a spare that i dont need so email me if u need it