Trying not to panic. Chunk in oil.
 

Newly built 292 motor. Engine builder did initial break in and oil change. I just performed a 500 mile oil change and found a chunk on the end of my magnetic drain plug.

Any ideas what it is? Should I be crying?

Re: Trying not to panic. Chunk in oil.
 

Wow, that sure would make me nervous...no idea what it is.

Re: Trying not to panic. Chunk in oil.
 

Take the piece to the engine builder,and let him figure out what to do,he built it should fix it!!

Re: Trying not to panic. Chunk in oil.
 

Take off valve covers at least and see if all the keepers are in the springs.

:dunno:

Re: Trying not to panic. Chunk in oil.
 

How does it run, good oil pressure? I agree with taking the piece to the builder

Re: Trying not to panic. Chunk in oil.
 

I would love to send the motor back to the builder but thats a weird wrinkle in in itself. I bought the engine on Ebay from the original builder. I have been in contact with him and have talked about The Chunk but no resolution. The builder built this engine for a personal project that got abandoned, it isnt a commissioned engine build. I am not sure I have much recourse.

As far as running goes it has been running and driving great. Strong with plenty of power. This morning on the way to work I had a miss that went away after it heated up, but other than that its been running well. Oil pressure is strong!

Re: Trying not to panic. Chunk in oil.
 

Only one piece with no other pieces or filings? If so it may just be something that got missed in the cleaning process. If you had other pieces, or a bunch of metal filings I would definitely look at dropping the oil pan at a minimum. For more piece of mind you could cut the oil filter apart and inspect the pleats for metal.

Re: Trying not to panic. Chunk in oil.
 

I did cut the filter apart. No chunks. Just some small paint flakes and other trash that i would consider normal.

Re: Trying not to panic. Chunk in oil.
 

I'll +1 on pulling valve cover to check to missing valve keepers...

https://ic.carid.com/melling/items/vl-1098_1.jpg

Re: Trying not to panic. Chunk in oil.
 

Part does look like it was bounced around a bit. I think a valve keeper would have just washed down and stuck to the magnet without getting damaged. I'd pull the valve cover and have a look just to be sure of at least that

Re: Trying not to panic. Chunk in oil.
 

I'm sure that removing the valve cover and doing an inspection would add to your piece of mind. It would for me.
GOOD LUCK!

Re: Trying not to panic. Chunk in oil.
 

Another pull the valve cover. A little peace of mind couldn't hurt. A dropped valve would hurt.

Re: Trying not to panic. Chunk in oil.
 

Can you tell if it is cast iron?

Re: Trying not to panic. Chunk in oil.
 

Looking at the picture several times I agree it looks most like a valve keeper that got munched probably when it worked its way out
Have you pulled the valve cover off yet to inspect if all the keepers are in place ?

Re: Trying not to panic. Chunk in oil.
 

Thanks all!

I pulled the valve cover and checked (image attached) all keepers are present and accounted for. This is not that.

If I had to guess the chunk was cast. My running theory is that it might be the outside corner of a connecting rod cap.

Re: Trying not to panic. Chunk in oil.
 

Nice rockers.

Inspection camera up the drain hole to check the rods?

Re: Trying not to panic. Chunk in oil.
 

While you are looking inside the oil pan with a bore scope, I would pull the spark plugs and look at the cylinders and valves. Again for piece of mind.

Re: Trying not to panic. Chunk in oil.
 

Man! I hate 292 horror stories.

Re: Trying not to panic. Chunk in oil.
 

X2, the more peace of mind you can find the better.

Re: Trying not to panic. Chunk in oil.
 

:lol:

Re: Trying not to panic. Chunk in oil.
 

.

I'm going to camp solidly on the chunk-is-foreign-to-that-engine side of this mystery!

Happy motoring...



-klb

Re: Trying not to panic. Chunk in oil.
 

Good chance weq is onto something.

I've seen some junk come out of fresh blocks that just came from the machine shop. It's not like they are "clean rooms". Hopefully that's all it is...junk from sloppy machine work. At least your mag-plug did its job!

Re: Trying not to panic. Chunk in oil.
 

Looks like some serious money and effort went into that engine build. I see the intake headbolt bosses were milled out too. And a nice intake. I’d be nervous about that chunk also. I’d probably drop the pan and do a really hard bottom end inspection. Then if all looks good, do a compression check before I fired it up again.

Re: Trying not to panic. Chunk in oil.
 

It really looks like a munched valve keeper to me. So, given you verified none are missing from this engine the little part is likely just FOD left in the engine from the machine shop.

In a couple weeks/months you won't give a rats-a.... Enjoy your truck!

Re: Trying not to panic. Chunk in oil.
 

Ok, I will admit it...I have been known to loose a valve spring keeper or some other small object when working on the topside. Unless I drop something down the intake (been there done that), I don't worry too much about it. I just assume it will work its way down and either come out with next oil change or stay harmlessly in the pan. Never has this caused an engine issue.