Plastic in bottom end

[Zach]

Howdy, took apart the engine that came with the mustang and was met with quite a surprised. A lot of exploded peices of plastic in the bottom end, it is pretty hard but can bend and isn’t metallic, looks to be circular in shape, easily a handful or 2 of material. No idea what or where it is from and was hoping some one here might know. Some in bottom of pan and in the oil pickup mesh, rotated engine before taking pan off so unsure where it all was sitting but is obviously mangled. Engine has no signs of severe damage. Not familiar with ford engines so I have no clue where the plastic bits would come from, they were only visible once I took the pan off.

 

[Sheriff41]

Most common culprits are valve stem seals and the original cam gear for the timing chain.

 

[tony-muscle]

If you send me a piece I could perform a FTIR test to try identifying what plastic it is at no cost. I work with plastics and have one of these machines here at work.

 

[Zach]

If you send me a piece I could perform a FTIR test to try identifying what plastic it is at no cost. I work with plastics and have one of these machines here at work.

Appreciate the offer but shouldn’t be necessary, found another post on this forum and it’s the exact same thing. Just odd I didn’t see signs of this until I took the pan off. Thanks guys, guess I don’t have to worry too much.


https://7173mustangs.com/threads/whats-this-under-my-351c-valve-covers.30677/

 

[Ron Tanzi]

It is most likely what the other members suggested IE: Valve stem seals or parts of the original style nylon coated cam sprocket. Although the black color of the pieces parts are indicative of valve stem seals.

Ron

 

[California 72]

Just curious, were you planning a complete tear-down of the motor? Asking because those pieces can wreak havoc on a motors oiling system.

I'd also add you're dang lucky the pump screen did a good job keeping the big pieces in the bottom but, can't loose the sinking feeling something might have slipped by and come back to haunt you if a complete tear-down isn't on the menu.

My '66 289 bit the dust one very cold February morning in 1980 and right after I had just popped my new copy of Rush's Permanent Waves in the cassette deck. That's when a combination of the valve stem seals, and solidified engine sludge broke loose and seized my oil pump, which in turn caused the engine to fully seize. When we tore it down, we discovered the P.O. (and original one at that) quite possibly never performed an oil change and just added oil. Shame we were decades from camera phones because it was absolutely a sight to behold with the lifter valley being almost completely crusted with what can be described as a 2" sheet of "coke". The areas around the lifters and pushrods were cracked and probably where the debris was dislodged.

We also discovered that it created a situation where not one part of the entire rotating assembly was able to be removed. The loss of oiling system turned the motor into one solid piece of iron and aluminum. Only salvageable parts were the heads but those needed some "gentle coaxing" to get operational again.

 

[Zach]

Just curious, were you planning a complete tear-down of the motor? Asking because those pieces can wreak havoc on a motors oiling system.

I'd also add you're dang lucky the pump screen did a good job keeping the big pieces in the bottom but, can't loose the sinking feeling something might have slipped by and come back to haunt you if a complete tear-down isn't on the menu.

My '66 289 bit the dust one very cold February morning in 1980 and right after I had just popped my new copy of Rush's Permanent Waves in the cassette deck. That's when a combination of the valve stem seals, and solidified engine sludge broke loose and seized my oil pump, which in turn caused the engine to fully seize. When we tore it down, we discovered the P.O. (and original one at that) quite possibly never performed an oil change and just added oil. Shame we were decades from camera phones because it was absolutely a sight to behold with the lifter valley being almost completely crusted with what can be described as a 2" sheet of "coke". The areas around the lifters and pushrods were cracked and probably where the debris was dislodged.

We also discovered that it created a situation where not one part of the entire rotating assembly was able to be removed. The loss of oiling system turned the motor into one solid piece of iron and aluminum. Only salvageable parts were the heads but those needed some "gentle coaxing" to get operational again.

Yep complete tear down, I have an info/build thread too. Bought the car completely disassembled, I’m assuming they ran the engine like this or in the 20 years it was sitting they petrified but who knows, there are a LOT of signs of wear and poor maintenance throughout all moving parts in the engine.