oil pan paranoia....

[Geoff]

Well, after reading all the threads about the horrific consequences of having your oil pan shift,  and hearing about bolts and pieces of chain laying in the bottom of our engines, I wont be able to sleep until I look in mine, a 91 318is with 128,000 miles on a never been dis-assembled,  and fairly gently driven 1 owner car...until I became the 2nd owner and started to drive the snot out of it:cool:...well its Saturday, I'm gonna have a cup o java and put my baby on ramps and see just what shook loose and what didnt.  Of course,  I will get back on later and tell any interested parties (partiers??nevermind)  just what I found in there..and what you may possibly find in yours, if you have been afraid to look.                                                                                     TTFN,
                                                                                           Geoff

[DesktopDave]

Always a good idea.  Likely a BMW mechanic has already attended to it, it's a widely known problem.  Post some pics!

[Geoff]

Its always a good news bad news scenario, isnt it?   very clean in there, I was happy to see. no bolts,  no bits of chain.  however, there was this weird collared washer, on which the collar is open a little less than 1/2 way and enclosed the rest.  Looking at the 6 bolts that hold the upper pan in place, it appears that the one that is the furthest in (about the middle of the back side) may have had that washer on it at one time, theres kind of a shadow there but I am not sure.  If not then who knows?   Also, these bolts were not finger loose, but they were too loose, imho, especially 1 of them, so I did the loctite excersise 1 at a time and snugged em up.  Then, on reassembly, I find the drain plug is stripped..so I reinstalled with 3m thread sealer,  which will suffice to hold it in place until I can replace the lower pan, or maybe helicoil it,  I'm not sure yet.  sorry no pics,  but I am completely inept at it an dont even have a camera.  I may get my brother to try and help me get a shot of this washer, if nobody knows what it is right off.  Thanks ,
                                                                       Geoff

[Geoff]

Some guys at a BMW shop gave me a new lower oil pan-thanks Southampton-     but they could not tell me what that washer is from.   ah well..
                                                                            G

[DesktopDave]

Post a pic...there are odd little bits like that in the motor...like timing chain rail inserts.  IIRC they're brass though.

[Geoff]

I'll try for a pic..

[lqbanotxano]

The oil pan paranoia led me to find nothing in the oil pan & all bolts tight....but it lead me to find a leaking oil pan gasket, 2 broken motor mounts & rotted half axle shaft boots.

[Geoff]

sometimes I think,  evrything was fine until I went and looked at it:rolleyes:
                                                                               G

Here's a pic of the suspect washer...anyone know what this is?  It's about the circumference of a nickle.

[Geoff]

A big thankyou to Desktop Dave, for helping with the photos, and , everything else also.  Got the new avatar working,   as you can see.              Soooo...does anyone recognize that washer?  surely the collective knowledge and experience of the mighty M42 board, when brought to bear on this question, will smite it asunder, and also maybe recognize the stupid thing??
                          thanks to anyone who takes a moment to look at this thing.
                                                          Geoff

[rjcaptsean]

That looks suspiciously like a piece of the chain guides, although looking at the pictures of my rebuild, the only place that could have come from is if one of the chain rails had come apart.  I would think that your motor would be making a bit of noise though.

[Geoff]

The previous owner had the tensioner done @80,000 miles-its at 127000 now...Maybe they did the chain rails also, and thats a piece of the old one?    I could ask them what they did when they were in there..
                                                           Geoff

[romkasponka]

The previous owner had the tensioner done @80,000 miles-its at 127000 now...Maybe they did the chain rails also, and thats a piece of the old one?    I could ask them what they did when they were in there..
                                                           Geoff

If you remove cylinder head cover you should see is it (bolt) in place or not. Could be it was lost during replacement.

Also you can search your pan with magneto for more parts.

[Geoff]

nothing else in there...and I hope that if anything crazy were going to shake loose, it would have done it between 80,000 miles and , now, 128,000.  
                                                                      Geoff

[colin86325]

sometimes I think,  evrything was fine until I went and looked at it:rolleyes:
                                                                               G

Here's a pic of the suspect washer...anyone know what this is?  It's about the circumference of a nickle.

Looks like part of one of the tensioner rails to me.