I pulled the oil pan on the 4runner today to take care of a leak. Ipon pulling it I found a bunch of either plastic or Teflon. I was worried about it being metal chunks at first but after spraying them down with brake clean they definitely aren't metal.

My question is does anybody know what this could be from in a 5vz. I put the pan on about 10k ago and they certainly weren't there when I did that. There's quite a bit in there. Couldn't have been something I dropped in the oil fill. I surely I would have noticed something that large. I've been through about 6 oil changes since then using Napa gold oil fters and Napa synthetic blend oil. The truck runs great and hasn't made any new noises. There is a valve tick that it has had since I bought the motor. No concerning chunks were in the old pan.

Compression was about 180 on a six when I put the motor in. I'll do another test once I get oil in it again but I'm pretty sure it'll check good again. It's never had any compression related power problems nor has it ever smoked.

 

the guessing begins. My first guess wouldbe part of the PCV system. Probabyl the baffle housing

 

What baffle housing? The baffles in the valve covers are all stamped steel.

 

Bump.

 

Anything plastic inside those napa oil filters? Like beneath the filter medium...?

 

That's kinda what in thinking. I'm wondering if I managed to get a bad one. I was hoping there was some 5vz expert out there that would know of any plastic components within the oil system. I'm probably gonna cut open one of those oil filters and see what's inside.
​​​​​​

 

i know of 2 systems in oil filters that may have plastic.
The anti syphon valve on the outlet (inner hole) side of the filter (rarely exists) and
The anti Drain Back valve on the inlet side (outer ring).
I dont beleive either have any plastic, but more a rubbery flap for the anti drain back valve (in almost every oil filter) and mostly steel in the Anti syphon valve (only in some inverted mount oil filters).

I think you can rule out the oil filter as the source.
perhaps the spark plug tube seals dried out and fell into the rocker area, and donw into the sump?
Could be cunks of dried up gasket from either the oilpan or rocker cover?

 

That crossed my mind too.

Rubber...now that you mention it....tends to get hard and brittle from oil contamination. So that opens up the suspect list to any seal or o-ring...though plastic isnt quite off the hook. So basically checking around for oil leaks might be a lead.

Arent the oil filters upside down at an angle? Trying to remember. Maybe a foreign object found its way inadvertently as the filter was either being removed or installed...just a distant guess.

Or traces of the pan gasket?

 

Are you sure its plastic and not dried up old baked sludge that got dislodged from the top end after being put back into use with fresh oil, I see no shapes, just random chunks, you mentioned you installed this motor, how long was it sitting, have you looked under the valve covers yet to see if it had the sludge issue. Any parts missing from your oil cap, perhaps 1/2 of the PVC Grommet?..

 

I replaced every seal and gasket (except head gaskets) on the motor before installing it in the truck that was about 10K ago in December. Shouldn't have any issues with seals hardening yet. Other than the oil pan, there are no other leaks.

Its definitely plastic. You can't really tell from the pictures but there are obvious hard rough edges where it broke off. Oil cap is good. PCV grommet done about 10k ago and is good. However long the engine was sitting I don't know. It came from a junk yard runner with 200k on the clock. The 180psi compression test suggest there's less than that on the motor though.



This is how the heads looked when I put the motor in.

The oil filter on these sit almost horizontal. More upwards. For sure could have been something in the filter. Once again everything has been replaced recently and has no leaks. The pan gasket was cork so that rules that out.