[Coyote] Small piece of plastic fell into the oil filler tube. What to do?

[facultyofmusic]

Long story short: When moving the engine around the oil filler tube got twisted and one of the tabs that click-lock the tube in place came off. It's about 4mm by 2mm piece of plastic. The only place it could have gone is down the tube itself. The filler tube is on the passenger side valve cover. Here's a picture:
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The piece of plastic is missing from this slot:
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Looking down the hole it looks like it fell straight into the valve train:
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I pray that the coyote experts on this forum can guide me on what the next best step is. Will the piece of plastic fall down into the oil pan? Does the filler-tube just shower oil straight onto the valve train? Do I need to take off the valve-covers and remove the piece?

[michael everson]

I had the same thing happen. It’s really easy to remove the valve cover. If it fell into the pan, your good. It will come out during oil change. Honestly I wouldn't worry about it. Not my engine though.
Mike

[facultyofmusic]

I had the same thing happen. It’s really easy to remove the valve cover. If it fell into the pan, your good. It will come out during oil change. Honestly I wouldn't worry about it. Not my engine though.
Mike

Thanks for the quick reply Mike. My paranoid brain can't stop wondering what happens if it gets stuck in a spring or in the timing chain. Is it possible for catastrophic failure to happen in that case?

[Papa]

If it were my car, I'd pull the cover. If it isn't there, drain the oil and if it doesn't turn up, drop the pan. You might also be able scope the pan rather than removing it.

[JohnK]

Daniel - I have one of those cheap Amazon wifi endoscope gizmos that you can shove down the hole and have a look around (or into the oil pan if you drain the oil) if you want to see if you can spot it. You're welcome to swing by and borrow it.

[facultyofmusic]

Daniel - I have one of those cheap Amazon wifi endoscope gizmos that you can shove down the hole and have a look around (or into the oil pan if you drain the oil) if you want to see if you can spot it. You're welcome to swing by and borrow it.

Thanks John, will take you up on that ASAP.

[facultyofmusic]

If it were my car, I'd pull the cover. If it isn't there, drain the oil and if it doesn't turn up, drop the pan. You might also be able scope the pan rather than removing it.

Is replacing the valve-cover gasket a must? The engine is new and has never been run. AFAIK the coyote uses a push-in gasket instead of the liquid goop gaskets.

[Papa]

I don't know, but it may depend on what the gaskets are made of and if the cover comes off without damaging the gasket.

[michael everson]

It’s an O-ring style gasket. No need to replace. You can have the cover off in 5 minutes.
Mike

[facultyofmusic]

I borrowed JohnK's endoscope and stuck it down the hole. The little plastic piece was no where to be seen, and as far as I can tell the little piece of plastic probably fell down the timing chain cover, meaning there wasn't much I could do even if I removed the valve cover.

Here's to hoping either gets ground up eventually or drops into the oil pan sometime in the future.

[NAZ]

I suggest you drain the oil and see if the part comes out with the oil -- that would be the best case as then there would be no concern of FOD once that foreign debris is removed.

However, if the part that you lost in the engine is really 2mm x 4mm then I probably wouldn't sweat it. That part (.079" x .157") should be too big to make it past the oil pump pick up screen. I don't know the actual opening size of your particular screen but referencing the industry's most prolific P/U screen, a typical Melling P/U screen opening size is .040" nominal which would catch the part you lost. And the part is not big enough to blind off the P/U screen.

Consider yourself lucky and this a learning experience.

[Railroad]

I would pull the valve cover. Aren't you going to swap the oil pan? THEN, button it up and run it.

[facultyofmusic]

The oil pan is already swapped. I think I'll take the pan off again after I drop the engine in and before I fill it with oil. Would be easier to do from the bottom with the engine in the car.

[Henry350R]

The oil pan is already swapped. I think I'll take the pan off again after I drop the engine in and before I fill it with oil. Would be easier to do from the bottom with the engine in the car.

Did you ever find the piece of plastic? This exact same thing happened to me recently and I changed the oil twice with no luck. Used borescope down timing cover and oil pan, no luck.