Desperate: need advice on object that fell into oil pan

I desperately need a little advice as I'm heading out of town for
the weekend and I think I may have created a problem for myself!

I have a 1999 Volvo S80 that I had put away for the summer
and I pulled it back out for the winter.

The oil needs to be changed and I was checking the power steering
fluid and the oil levels before driving it much further. When
I went to pull the oil dipstick out, it got stuck and broke into
several small pieces.


I was able to get most of the pieces out but one of the small pieces
fell down the tube.

Assuming the piece went all the way down, what are the risks?
Could that little piece cause a blockage and, perhaps cause
engine seizure?

Would changing the oil remove the piece? Would it be safe
to drive a few miles to the dealer to have them fix it?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!! The quicker
the better!!

Thanks!

 

Depends how big it is. I dropped a small bolt into the sump of a 350
chev years ago - down the distributor hole. The bolt was probably a
5/16UNC bolt about 12mm (1/2") long, with a captive nut under the head.

IIRC, it was one of the bolts that held the coil bracket onto the inlet
manifold and I was removing it to convert the engine to electronic
ignition.

The bolt stayed in the sump for several years, coming out when I
removed the sump for an unrelated reason. I think it was the sump that
got squashed in a crash, but might have been when I was changing sumps
to put the engine in a different car. Don't remember, but doesn't
matter.

The bolt had a few gouges in it where it had obviously been a bit close
to moving parts of the engine, but there were only about 2 or 3 marks
and there was no obvious damage to the engine, which is still in a car
(a Volvo, even) and runs fine.

I don't know enough about the specific model of engine or the size of
the broken piece, but as a general rule, I'd suggest that a small piece
shouldn't do too much damage provided that it is too big to be picked
up by the oil pickup and ends up falling into the bottom of the sump.

 

I guess that's my big concern there: It's small, plastic and likely
to float and not go to the bottom.

Thanks for the response.

 

If it's plastic it probably won't cause much of a problem, if it does
get into anything moving, it'll be shredded and end up as bits in the
oil filter.

 

That's pretty much my thoughts, too. Extremely unlikely to damage any
metal bits in the engine. If it floats, it might get bashed around a
bit and that's about that.

Of course, if you have some engine oil and another piece of the same
stuff, you could put it in a jar or similar and check whether it floats
or sinks. If it sinks, forget about it completely!

 

How about dragging a magnet from the outside of the sump all round to
the centre where you drain the oil and see if it shows up....ahem drain
oil first!!!

 

Timing gear teeth are a regular find in the oilpan of B20 & B30 engines,
so usually small pieces pose no problem. Provided the sieve on the
oilpump is intact. This could be damaged if you have a large dent in the
bottom of the oilpan. You don't want the oilpressure relief valve jammed
open!

 

xntrick wrote:

It won't. It's plastic.

 

Given that it's plastic, I have slight doubts as to a magnet being
helpful

 

Isn't that what an oil filter's for? It would stand to reason that the
filter stands between the oil in the pan and the engine. Perhaps next
time you change the filter you'll find the piece.

blurp.

 

For a plastic part that is probably true, but if it were a metal part
it would have to go through the oil pump first, and that could
definitely be a problem.

And as another poster stated, you don't want anythign to get wedged
into the oile pressure relief valve.


__ __
Randy & \ \/ /alerie's
\__/olvos
'90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate
"Shelby" & "Kate"

 

Nope. The filter is between the oil pump and the "engine". Anything
caught by the filter has already passed through the pump. There's also a
simple wire mesh strainer on the pump inlet, so as to protect the pump
itself. Get a small piece of wire, or a coil of swarf from a stripped
bolt, through this strainer and into the pump's gears and it's likely to
damage the pump, possibly enough to cause low oil pressure problems.

 

A plastic oil dipstick?
My XC has a cheap yellow plastic transmission dipstick with no handle on
it which is concealed by a hose that is stamped "made in Spain", just to
keep owners from checking their own fluid or it's color.