Hello everyone,

4 months ago I had an intake cam freeze up. Scored cams, cam holders and cam caps....sheared the cam keyway, snapped the idler gear bolt. Car simply shut off going down road
After the incident, I endoscoped through spark plug holes on each cylinder and everything looked good on the tops of pistons. No clear marks from valves. I also had a leak down test done with no issues so I believe my valves are good and I got lucky.

Been waiting on new parts and finally everything has arrived. New cams, cam keys, new cam holders/caps (actually used), new idler gear, sprocket, washer, collar, and bolt....also new vtec gaskets/screen.

Anyways, one thing I had to do before I install all the parts is to remove oil pan as my old idler washer fell through timing chain cover. I was told that would be the easiest way to get to the washer
This morning I finally got around to it. I first drained oil. When I removed the oil drain plug, I immediately noticed this piece attached. I assume it is from top end of engine.




Anyone have an idea what this is? I still need to pull the pan off and continue looking but thought I would ask about this first.

 

It almost looks like the ground electrode of a spark plug, but it is a bit too large and not the exact shape, so probably not.

Have you checked the vtec solenoid screen, most loose material sucked up through the oiling system can end up at the vtec solenoid screen.

 

Plug piece on in pan? Woulda had to be giant hole in piston for that to happen.

One side smooth other rough. So it looks like the tip of a larger cylindrical part. Rough side looks like it broke off something.

 

Looks like a dowel.

 

Thanks guys, I actually just found the issue. It ended up being related to the damage caused from idler gear bolt snapping. The idler gear bolt goes through a washer, then the sprocket, then gear, then what is called a collar.
I just inspected the old parts and looked for any other damage other than the bolt. What I noticed was the "collar" has a lip that was mostly broken off. When I put the broken piece from oil plug up to it, it fit perfectly and matched.

Then I compared old part and my new part (I bought all of these parts brand new) which confirmed, this is where the piece came from!

I am very relieved this is all it was. Hopefully when I pull oil pan in the coming days, I will be able to get any other loose pieces

collar goes in from right side

can clearly see where the lip ripped off

old piece compared to new piece
.