Hey guys, I found a broken spring in my oil pan when I changed the oil yesterday.

It is about 2 mm in diameter and about 2 inches long. Any ideas what this could be? The car runs great just as before and doesn't seem to miss the spring.

Thanks

Oil pump pressure spring would be my guess, look at the side of your oil pump...

Oil pump spring is way larger than 2mm in diameter and about 3 inches in length.

need a pic

Spring on the oil bypass? Thats pretty tiny.

Here is a picture of the spring with a penny for size comparison.

In the picture, the spring is broken in half and the hook on both ends of the spring is broken as well.

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2283...54820759CMXldw

I can't think of anything that uses a spring like that in the engine.

Drop a spring out of a tool or something?

That's a spring that goes inside of an oil seal. Got any major oil leaks? Front seal? Rear main seal?

Frank
CPT

That is a spring that is used in round seals to tighten around a given shaft to resist leak out. I suspect that came from the front crank seal or the rear crank seal. You should have a leak at one of those two places.

Somebody's thinkin'!!!!

I was trying to think from the block up and couldn't think of anything, ding ding!

kinda looks like one of those springs that comes with the locking header bolts... disregard I'm wrong...
did you ever have your engine apart? didn't even think about those springs...

Hmm...have never seen one of those come out or break, that why I guessed he intended wire diameter and said oil pump spring. But yeah - only spring in a motor like that is a seal spring.

The rear main seal is good, but the front main seal and/or timing chain cover gasket leaks a ridiculous amount.

Any estimates on how hard it is to replace both?

You should be able to replace the front seals by removing the timing cover in under 2 hours. Thats if you don't rip the oil plan seal.

-B

Those springs are usually on double lip seals. If the seal was driven in with a hammer and got cocked and was driven on in..it is a common thing for this to happen.


David