LS430_Mike

Lets start by saying this. I screwed up. When changing oil today, I had some plastic peices get put into the engine (i think). (same funnel as waste oil) I never even noticed it until after I got the last quart of oil into the car. I was in to much of a hurry and never wiped out the funnel before putting new oil in the car.


I fired it up crossing my fingers and not knowing if their was for sure anything in the motor. It ran good but......................I hear a small peice of something rattling around in the oil pan. Now I may be being paranoid and hearing things but I want to be sure. It could cost me $20 for a gasket now or $4000 for a motor later.


So now to my question...........

It looks easy to pull the pan off. Just a few plastic sheilds and the bolts look pretty easy to access. I am thinking that all I should have to do is remove these and slide the pan towards the rear of the car and it should pop rite out. Has anybody ever done this?

I don't want to launch an engine on this car.

I6turbo

iTrader: (1)

What kind of "plastic pieces" are you talking about? I seriously doubt that any plastic pieces are rattling around in the oil pan (or anything else, for that matter) and making noises you can hear. I'm thinking you're hearing noises that were there already, but you just hadn't noticed before getting paranoid over this.

LS430_Mike

I am hoping you are right but wouldnt you rather be safe than sorry?

I6turbo

iTrader: (1)

Yes, if being safe were that simple, but I question whether the diagnosis is correct. I'm having a hard time picturing any plastic peices *rattling around in the oil pan and making a noise* if that's the symptom you're looking to address. What kind of plastic piece are you talking about?

LS430_Mike

To be honest, I don't know what they were. I used the funnel to fill up the car with oil and afterwards, I noticed a few small chunks of plastic lodged into the end of the funnel. So I am really unsure if any actually made it into the motor.

Jabberwock

Hopefully chunks of plastic would be chopped or crushed up by the pump and/or would get trapped by the oil filter before going up to clog the motor passages and bearings etc. Plastic way better than chunks of metal - that would have been not good in a more serious way.

If I were you, I'd just immediately do the oil and filter change over again, maybe a double oil flush and fill, just to make sure you have no plastic debris running around inside the motor. Check the oil when you drain it and see if there are particles of plastic in it if so keep filling and flushing till its 100% clean.