Oil change surprise !

JOHN CT

Senior Member
I changed the oil and when I was cleaning out the drain plug I found a small pice of copper. It looks like a shim stock. I have about 30K on the engine. It runs fine no knocking or tapping. Shall I be alarmed?
Thanks
 
I changed the oil and when I was cleaning out the drain plug I found a small pice of copper. It looks like a shim stock. I have about 30K on the engine. It runs fine no knocking or tapping. Shall I be alarmed?
Thanks

I will admit I don't know what material they are made of, but I don't think shim stock is copper. Not for the mains and rods anyway.

Maybe a picture will help us before people start guessing?
 
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if it were mine i would worry about it, but thats the way i am.
and if it was mine i would pull the pan and have a look.
i would be able to sleep, that thought on my brain.
 
If it were mine, I’d be looking at the bottom end to figure where it came from or what it is. If you don’t, you probably will, only it might cost more than a few gaskets.
 
Worth dropping the pan for a look see for sure. That's why God gives us winter... Chap
 
Worth a look. After 30K miles it is time to take up the bearings anyway. This is a maintenance task on an engine that has babbett bearings.
 
picture of the piece?

I don’t have a picture. The pice got tangled up in my shop rags and thrown out :mad: I thought of taking when it was to late. Now I have fresh oil in. Before I get involved I’m going to put a few miles on and watch and listen! It’s definitely on my mind
 
By the time you hear anything, it might be too late.

You know ..your right! I’m going to drop the pan. Hopefully I just have to make some adjustments and don’t get the domino affect. I will feel better once I take a look
Thanks everyone!
 
Is there a chance somebody put 1 of those copper Brillo pads in the oil filter tube maybe just a small fragment in 1 of those if so it's nothing to worry about
 
Please don’t try to fix something that might not be broken.

It was running good before you drained the oil. How is it running now?

If still running and sounding great? Drive and enjoy you car.

People spend a lot of money fixing things that don’t need to be fixed.

Enjoy.
 
I believe in not fixing stuff that isn’t broken, but would at least drop the pan and have a good look. This would be a good time to check the bearings too, and check everything else. Who knows, whoever was in there before might have left something.
 
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