Why would this be in my oil pan?
04-19-2015, 07:06 PM
#1
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Why would this be in my oil pan?
I had a small knock at startup on my L46. I dropped the pan to see if I saw anything unusual. When I was cleaning it out I found this washer. It's very thin. Could be a spring washer or a shim. Anybody know where it could have come from or how it could have got in the pan? Thanks for any help.
04-19-2015, 07:44 PM
#2
Race Director
Without the thickness of the washer and the measurements of it....it is hard to say. OBVIOUSLY it fell into the engine...but it can possibly be a washer used at the bottom of the shaft of the distributor that is or can be installed above the gear on the distributor. SO there is no way that this washer can 'fall off' the distributor....especially if the gear is proper pinned to the shaft.
DUB
DUB
04-19-2015, 07:59 PM
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Without the thickness of the washer and the measurements of it....it is hard to say. OBVIOUSLY it fell into the engine...but it can possibly be a washer used at the bottom of the shaft of the distributor that is or can be installed above the gear on the distributor. SO there is no way that this washer can 'fall off' the distributor....especially if the gear is proper pinned to the shaft. DUB
04-20-2015, 06:11 PM
#6
Race Director
Unless someone was adding the washer to the head bolts...I am not aware or have ever seen washers for head bolts on cast iron heads.
It got dropped into the engine at one time or another....because there is nothing that it can fall off of. I can not see what it could have fallen off of except from what I had mentioned earlier....but it did not fall off of the distributor...it got dropped into the engine.
DUB
It got dropped into the engine at one time or another....because there is nothing that it can fall off of. I can not see what it could have fallen off of except from what I had mentioned earlier....but it did not fall off of the distributor...it got dropped into the engine.
DUB
04-20-2015, 06:24 PM
#7
Le Mans Master
04-20-2015, 08:42 PM
#12
i had a small knock at startup on my l46. I dropped the pan to see if i saw anything unusual. When i was cleaning it out i found this washer. It's very thin. Could be a spring washer or a shim. Anybody know where it could have come from or how it could have got in the pan? Thanks for any help.
04-21-2015, 05:42 PM
#14
Race Director
.....and I have never come across any washers under head bolts for this era of Corvette.DUB
04-21-2015, 05:49 PM
#15
Team Owner
Sure looks like a distributor shim, to me.....
04-22-2015, 08:00 AM
#16
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YEP...when a distributor is out....it is funny how something can find its way down into the block through this hole. I KNOW it all too well also. SO...EVERY TIME I take out a distributor...I have a plastic plug I put in the hole the second I get the distributor out of it. .....and I have never come across any washers under head bolts for this era of Corvette. DUB
.....and I have never come across any washers under head bolts for this era of Corvette. DUB
04-22-2015, 11:30 AM
#18
Le Mans Master
04-22-2015, 11:53 AM
#19
Team Owner
Must have been dropped in the pan during engine assembly. Not a problem, though; it couldn't be sucked up through the suction screen, and there's not enough oil turbulence in the sump to cause it to wander from the bottom of the pan. It would just sit there forever without causing any issue.
If you heard a "knock", it wasn't because of that washer.
If you heard a "knock", it wasn't because of that washer.
04-22-2015, 12:38 PM
#20
Team Owner
My curiousity finally got the best of me, and I walked out to the garage, and dug out a package of Mr. Gasket distributor shims, that were buried in the tool box. Using just a ruler, not calipers, my measurements showed the shim to be 7/8" OD, 1/2" ID.....