QT of oil foil seal

[olds72]

UPDATE: I was able to get the valve cover off without issue (10 min). I didn't find oil container seal laying on top of the head. I used my inspection camera and looked in the lifter valley and down the oil passageways. I could see from one side of the head to the other. There is no sign of that cardboard seal. I talked to my brother who owns 2 auto repair shops and he thinks there is no way that the seal would have made it to the bottom. There is no way to know if I really lost that seal down the funnel. Unless I remove the oil pan. This happened on the last quart of oil and not enough oil in the quart to wash it down. If it is down at the bottom, my brother said that the oil pick up screen is about 5 inches and it really wouldn't create enough oil restriction the do any harm. He recommended to keep a log of the oil pressure every time I run the engine. So I will put the valve cover back on today and fire the engine up. Your thoughts?



I changed my oil on my engines (1997 7.4) yesterday. I opened the quart of oil like normal (pushing the seal with my thumb) as I was pouring the oil into the engine I saw the seal go down the funnel and into the valve cover. I couldn't see the seal upon inspection with a flash light. I plan on using my inspection camera to look into the valve cover tonight. How far can this seal travel? This happened on my starboard engine and with the last qt. of oil. If I have to remove the valve cover, will this be a difficult task? Thanks in advance.

 

[Carpediem44DB]

Removal of the cover should not be difficult at all, You will want to make sure you replace the gasket. I am not so sure there is a lot to be worried about though. It is best obviously not to have any foreign objects in the engine but not sure what damage could be done by a small round of foil. It will eventually make its way into the oil pan I suppose and then just find its way onto the screen at the oil pick up but it is so small that it won't block a significant amount of oil.
Best to just go after it and consider it a hard learned lesson. I don't think, in my 45 plus years of changing oil in cars boats, planes and tractors that I ever completely removed that little foil seal but don't recall ever losing one into the engine either.
Happy hunting

 

[Little Ducky]

Good luck and tell us how it goes.

I bought one of those little inspection cameras recently and I've really been carrying it around everywhere trying to find something to use it on. Sounds like this would be a great opportunity.

I wonder why there are not screens built into many funnels?

 

[scoflaw]

Doubt you can get the cover off with the ex. manifold still on.

 

[JohnGordon]

You can get the valve covers off without removing the exhaust manifolds. Use a 3/8, 1/4 drive swivel socket and a long extension. You will have to remove the coil bracket/relay wiring and move the oil cooler line out of the way.

It's tight, but doable.

If your gaskets are the silicone variety you should be able to reuse it. I did and did not have a leak.

99 7.4 MPI

 

[olds72]

Doubt you can get the cover off with the ex. manifold still on.

I got the valve cover off in about 10 min. Without removing the exhaust manifold . I used a 1/4 in. drive socket that I ground down to just cover the head of the bolt. Then I
used a universal joint on the 3 bolts near the exhaust manifold that were the most difficult to access. The rest were easy.

 

[fwebster]

In 50+ years of servicing my own cars, boats and various equipment, I have removed the foil or cardboard seals on every fluid container before pouring the oil/transmission hydraulic fluid and coolant into the engine. Perhaps I am anal, but I don't want to pull an engine out of a backhoe, dozer, pick-up truck or a Lexus car/SUV to find the foil seal I lost. Spending an extra 2 minutes on an oil change it a lot less time consuming and expensive than tearing down an engine to recover the bottle seal.

It does happen. What occurs is the seal curls up and blocks the internal oil return galleries in the engine which inhibits the oil flow back to the oil pan which causes the engine to run low on oil.

At our marina, there is a list of firing offenses on a poster board in the mechanics shop…….# 5 or 6 is failure to remove the seal on oil, transmission and coolant bottles. So, this is serious business in professionally run shops.

 

[ttmott]

In 50+ years of servicing my own cars, boats and various equipment, I have removed the foil or cardboard seals on every fluid container before pouring the oil/transmission hydraulic fluid and coolant into the engine. Perhaps I am anal, but I don't want to pull an engine out of a backhoe, dozer, pick-up truck or a Lexus car/SUV to find the foil seal I lost. Spending an extra 2 minutes on an oil change it a lot less time consuming and expensive than tearing down an engine to recover the bottle seal.

It does happen. What occurs is the seal curls up and blocks the internal oil return galleries in the engine which inhibits the oil flow back to the oil pan which causes the engine to run low on oil.

At our marina, there is a list of firing offenses on a poster board in the mechanics shop…….# 5 or 6 is failure to remove the seal on oil, transmission and coolant bottles. So, this is serious business in professionally run shops.

And that ain't bad - A friend was having chronic low oil pressure anything above idle on a remanufactured engine he bought complete as a drop in for his Chevy truck (a classic small block 350). He went back and forth with the supplier who sells a lot of engines nationally until out of desperation I pulled the oil pan for him and found a red shop towel plugging the oil pickup screen. Photos galore and another couple of telephone conversations; he received a gratis engine and they didn't want the old back. There were red fibers all through that engine.....