I have an 86 4x4 5spd turbo that I bought a couple months ago and got it registered and insured to finally drive it last week. Tonight I got under my truck and pulled the oil pan to put a new gasket on (the jokester who had it before me didn't have one, only the silicone, no gasket) and found a small handfull of broken metal and plastic debris in the bottom of the pan. Also, as I was starring up into the motor to try and find out what it was, I noticed a couple fresh drops of coolant coming from inside dripping down to the bottom. They seem to be coming from the first cylinder. (one closest to cab/furthest from front bumper)

A couple of days ago I noticed my temp went up for a minute and I checked, the water level was low and there is a TINY hairline crack in the top of the radiator that was bubbling a little. I filled it up with water, ordered a new radiator, and without even changing the new radiator out yet, the temp has not gone past halfway since. (was gonna put the new one in tonight after the oil change)

I haven't lost any power, and the oil I removed, which was hardly any left, was almost black.

My first question is, what in the hell could the debris be?

My second question is, How the hell do I have coolant in the oil and

my third question is: How is my truck running still?

 

My guess would be that the timing chain wore through the driver's side guide and chewed up the timing cover and you have coolant mixing into your oil. The broken plastic is your timing guide. I'd pull off the valve cover and check it out. Either that or a cracked head perhaps.

 

Before it gets any worse sell it to me, being a 86 turbo 5 speed. Just kidding, sounds like timimg chain and cover. Not a bad fix at all. But without pictures cant really help

 

I can take a few pictures of the broken parts and maybe get under the truck to get a pic of where the coolant is coming from. See what I can do. BRB

 

Ok so here are a few shots of the stuff that was in the oil pan. Would explain the rattling when the motor would wind up or down. The last photo in the top left corner you'll see the coolant drops showing on the bottom of the motor. Thanks for your input.

 

First off, you dont want to use a cork gastket on your oil-pan. It will leak. The motors never came from the factory with a cork gasket, came with FIPG which is like RTV that you can get from any autoparts store. Done properly RTV works perfect.

You could have a cracked head or failed headgasket.. a compression test will rule these as true or out. Otherwise coolant can come in through the front cover after the chain wears through the guide and the aluminum side into the coolant passage.

 

didnt see your last reply before i posted this, i had my reply then got interupted and didnt come back to the pc for a few hours.

The dark pieces are definetly your timing chain guide (driver side guide) but the coolant is on the back of your motor and i cant explain that. I see your rear oil retainer and coolant on it. Not sure where thats coming from. If its coming from within your block, only explanation i can think of is a leak within cylinder 4 but to go past the guides seems far fetched. ...

On the back of the head is a plate with a coolant passage. The only way i can imagine coolant being back there is from this plate leaking down onto the retainer and you're seeing the coolant leak onto the oil-retainer then in.. as is shown in the picture.

Check the back of the head closely and look for coolant there. Typicaly you might see oil leakage back there to but this is generally caused by leakage from the valve cover grommet

 

I can't account for the metal pieces exactly. That curved piece looks very similar to a rod bearing. =/

heres what my pan looked like full of timing chain guide;



=)

 

Does that round metal look like a piston "skirt" to anyone else....

I'd also say the dark pieces are from the timing chain guides, sorry

as to the anti-freeze coming from the rear of the block/ #4 piston, I don't have any good Ideas, sorry.

rebuild it.

Repo

 

Time for a rebuild!!!

 

So here are a few more pics of the metal pieces. I haven't yet determined where the coolant is coming from but my guess is its not good either way. What do you suggest I do. It's dripping now about a drop a minute or so. Seems more frequent than last night. My timing chain looks brand new from underneath so maybe the plastic is from before it was changed. My guess being that it was changed recently? Do I still need to take the valve cover off? Thanks

 

Well I'm not sure what that is...too thick to be a bearing I believe but I think it might be something kinda important.

 

I can do this without taking it apart? So your saying i'll see coolant on the back of the outside of the head? The truck does leak oil and only god knows from how many places. The whole motor is gross and oil has covered the tranny and driveshaft for the most part. I cleaned up alot of it when I bought it but it's tough to get it sparkling when its that bad and that old. Why don't people take care of their vehicles?

 

From the looks of what you have and stated the T-chain is Newish looking...... my engine appeared the same way.

Previous owner more than likely replaced T-chine w/o dropping pan, thus not removing chunks of old t-chain guides stuck in there???
My bearings looked kinda like little pieces of the guides had striped them here there and everywhere.
Oil pick up had a decent amount of plastic particle stuck all over it also.

I still say it looks kinda like the bottom bit of a piston, sorry.

Repo

 

Ok I don't see any coolant on the exterior. I just took a paper towel and cleaned everything off to better determine where its coming from. This pic shows where exactly its coming from. The drop builds up from right where the two parts of the housing meet. And it builds from inside the block. Drips straight down. Sorry for the newb explanation! Never been through this one before.

 

And by the way, I really appreciate the responses and input you guys have given me as i've been going from truck to the computer, to the truck, to computer to the truck!

 

And as for the metal, if it's a part of a piston, bearing, etc... Why didn't I notice anything before I took it apart?

And for the leak, It seems to me that at the rate its leaking now that I have the oil pan off, it would have had some effect on the performance or I would have seen coolant in the oil pan when I took it off.

My question is with both scenarios at once, how come I only heard the rattling, but did not notice a difference in the performance.

Also, is it possible that having the oil pan as loose as it was, that the coolant may have leaked before the oil due to not mixing properly.

Again, sorry for the newb questions but this is how I learn!

 

IF it were the bottom of a piston that comes below the cylinder wall, it may have caught up on a large piece of t-chain guide and broke off, not having any resulting "feelings" of drivability????

If it wasn't the plate on the back of the head or the water pipe wrapping around the rear of the head.... Freeze plug?????

Repo

 

It does look like piston skirt. I didn't see that you mentioned, but is that a piece of aluminum as it appears in the photo, cause that would lean heavily toward piston skirt in my mind. As to the coolant... Can you get a bright flashlight or shop light and try to follow the drip upward to narrow down its source?

 

Thanks frog for your help so far. I'll search the "freeze plug" and check it out.