mystery metal

[Ranger Rod]

OK, first I want to show my appreciation to all those folks who have posted to the threads which have been so helpful thus far.

Outline.... Cracked head in dead of winter, hoping to last till summer I tried can of sealer crap in coolant system against better judgment which clogged rad, which created back pressure in water jacket, which seeped into oil via crack or head gasket, which loosened crap everywhere, which clogged oil pick-up filter nearly solid.

Have re: & re: / rebuilt heads and hence proceeded to remove oil pan (due for replacement anyway) with motor still in truck as I am a backyard novice, while also cleaning pick-up filter to restore oil passage as none has been reaching top end since water jacket was compromised. When inspecting the oil pan for debris as I tend to do I found this piece of metal which I don’t think is either a cam or rod bearing as it is not wide enough to be from rod as-well to big to make way down from top end to oil pan.

Can anyone identify this piece of space junk found in my 1995 3.0 vulcan before I button up the bottom end again???

 

[ItsA5Spd]

Can't see the pic.

 

[Psychopete]

His pic:

Pete

 

[Ranger Rod]

one sec, was there a second ago

 

[Ranger Rod]

how now?

 

[mrecoolgar]

I hate to say it but... bearing material.

 

[TomB1269]

It showing now, and looks a lot like a mangled rod bearing.......

 

[Ranger Rod]

rod bearing with a tongue on it and oblong hole in in from manufacture?

 

[kcm1582]

looks like a rod bearing

 

[WNY964x4]

that looks like a rod bearing , you never know what they will look like when they come out , for example

mine:

 

[Ranger Rod]

So, assuming its a rod bearing which i could see no initial sign of through visally inspecting from under the truck, I should be able to pull off each end cap to determine which rod bearing is pooched, replace it ,,, torque to speck and off to the races again?

 

[Ranger Rod]

in reading up i found this post

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums//showpost.php?p=229757&postcount=12

Not sure i get what the trouble is "The biggest issue is the rod bolts and the crank shaft, it's a V design. It's isn't like you can just undo the rod caps, mains and drop the crank. If you attempt such a thing w/o condoms on the rod bolts, you'll scratch the crankshaft. Plus it's essential to keep everything CLEAN."

If no damage has been done to the rods and crank shaft once i get there, and if to just change the one or all rod bearings without dropping shaft, this could not cause scrathing spoke of could it?

And even if to drop the crank to be milled, if one were to brace it and pull all bolts and caps first off, there would not be concern would there? I mean you could reach and remove all bolt points even if positioned on a V angle?

 

[Sevensecondsuv]

Sounds like it's time to yank the engine and either rebuild it (expensive and lots of downtime) or get a junkyard motor (cheaper and fast, but make sure you get a good one). If you've gotten to the point of getting the pan off you've got to be about 3 bolts, 4 wires, and 1 vaccuum line away from gettint the entire engine out....

 

[Ranger Rod]

Found anouther old thread on this topic.

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showpost.php?p=112017&postcount=4

I may be lucky it seams so long as crank aint fubar, although on the other hand, I read on the other old thread that a rod bolt could scratch the crank, how can this metal bo so soft to make such a difference and, in saying the shaft is that suseptable or fragile this means my crankshaft MUST be damaged to a point that just changing the rod bearing won't do the trick?

Anouther thing that throws me is, the mention of getting into the copper of the bearing,,, in the pic of my finding the metal is without copper???

 

[Psychopete]

Not sure i get what the trouble is "The biggest issue is the rod bolts and the crank shaft, it's a V design. It's isn't like you can just undo the rod caps, mains and drop the crank. If you attempt such a thing w/o condoms on the rod bolts, you'll scratch the crankshaft. Plus it's essential to keep everything CLEAN."

The rod are bolts pointing in opposite directions on each side, trying to just take the crank out with the pistons as is; some rods will push out to the side of the cylinder wall and you'll end up in a catch 22. You won't be able to pull the crank because the rods / bolts won't allow enough clearance to get it through. Rods bolts will scratch the crank, you can use rubber hose (like fuel line) over them to avoid the issue, or they actually make rubber caps for that purpose.

Pete

Edit
+1 to pulling engine.