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Hello fine folks of the forum! I am once again turning to you for some wisdom Over the last year, I've learned a lot about my 911 (1974 2.7 magnesium block), but every once and a while, something totally unexpected comes up.
This time, my mechanic and I found some broken parts on the oil screen while doing an oil change (See image).
We both think this could be the valve stem seals based on how it looks, plus the spring thing thats also there seems to be the same as the one found on the seals. Now, the weird thing is, if this is in fact the stem seal, it must have come from the heads, down the oil return tubes and into the block and end up on the screen. This is good because it traveled a very short way and most likely didn't do any damage. OR COULD IT BE SOMETHING ELSE?
THE WEIRD PART to is though, how did it stay in such a "good" shape if it is in fact the seal? There are two springs on the valve which don't have such a large space "between the rings" for this to pass through, and the surrounding space arround the spring also doesn't seem to be large enough for this part to pass through, let alone pass through without being totally crushed, since the running engine would make the spring compress a couple times a second.
Other facts I considered:
- The engine doesn't smoke on startup, except in the winter a bit, but my daily with tons of filtering equipment does the same, since there's water vapour in the exhaust.
- Engine runs fine, pulls like a train, is super responsive.
- It does leak a bit of oil after every drive, but it doesn't burn any while driving. I did around 2500km in the last year and it is missing a bit of it, but with the leaks, it's no where near the limit of what's considered "normal".
- The broken parts could have been there for quite some time from 2-4 years or more (lat oil change was 2 years ago, and the parts I guess would have been noticed). So my guess is they've been there for at least the last 2000km. If something were to happen, It would have, but didn't
- There was no change in performance or any wierd noises since I started driving it.
MY THEORY IS therefore, that this must have been forgotten in the case when it was taken apart. The problem with that is, it was taken apart about 10 years ago.
They could have been there a long time. Do you know for sure the screen was checked two years ago? Dropping the screen isn't standard oil change procedure on engines with a drain plug.
I'm not sure and I'd be more inclined to say that it wasn't checked when the prior oil change was done.
The thing that bugs me is it must have been there at least a year, by the way it looks, and I would have noticed at least something if it happened during my time with the car. It looks like the valve stem seals but there's no way those could get past the two springs without getting crushed, and the car doesn't produce the startup smoke as it should if it were indeed those seals.
I'm not aware of any other places where a spring like this could have been inside of an engine, so my assumption is that this is something that was accidentally left inside and the engine is in fact all good.
04-13-2024, 05:52 AM
Found weird things on the oil screen
Over the last year, I've learned a lot about my 911 (1974 2.7 magnesium block), but every once and a while, something totally unexpected comes up.
