<html><body><div>Michael,</div><div> I found the same item sitting in the bottom of my oil pan. I have a BN1 and think the way it was baked into the debris on the bottom of the pan, that it had been there a long time. It is a timing chain tensioner (sp?). Mine had been sitting there for years I'm sure, but it never affected my oil pressure. And still doesn't. I never took the engine apart to replace it and I've put many a mile on the car since I discovered it over a year ago now, so it seems my car can do without it. Had me baffled though and it was through this email list that I got point in the right direction.</div><div> Good luck in finding what's causing the oil pressure drop. </div><div>Steven Kingsbury</div><div>BN1 #598 </div><div><br>On Sep 24, 2017, at 01:34 PM, Michael Oritt <michael.oritt@gmail.com> wrote:<br><br></div><div><blockquote type="cite"><div class="msg-quote"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="color: #3333ff;" data-mce-style="color: #3333ff;"><div id="m_-5828027016813668652gmail-post_message_1063767" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fafafa;" data-mce-style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fafafa;"><blockquote class="m_-5828027016813668652gmail-postcontent m_-5828027016813668652gmail-restore" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; word-wrap: break-word;" data-mce-style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; word-wrap: break-word;">There has been a slow, gradual decline in my engine's oil pressure for a while now--60 to 65 psi on start-up from cold dropping at running temperatures to 30-35 psi at 3K rpm's and 10 psi or less at fast idle. Yesterday I took the car for a long ride and after a while at 65-70 mph the oil pressure actually dropped below 30 psi, so it's now officially below the "10 psi/1K rpm's" threshold. <br><br>The engine has about 60K on it since complete rebuild so this morning I decided to bite the bullet and drop the sump with the hope that I will find nothing worse than a worn oil pump and/or main or rod bearings, either of which I can repair/replace in time for some fall driving. <br><br>I first removed the spin-on oil filter and upon cutting it apart noticed a bit of black plastic debris--irregularly shaped pieces, almost gravel-like perhaps 1/16" to 1/8" in dimension on one end of the cartridge. The filter medium itself was fairly clean though I did notice a bit more shiny bearing-like material than I would have liked to have seen.<br><br>While draining the pan I heard a clunk or two from some solids going through the drain hole and landing in a catch pan and on examination I found a couple of larger pieces of the same kind of stuff--definitely some black plastic material, not particularly hard as it would give when bitten. <br><br>The big surprise was what I found when I removed the pan--a lot more of the same small stuff and four segments of a black plastic piece. In the attached thumbnail you'll see that they form a semi-circle about 5" in diameter and notice on the two pieces in the 9 o'clock position that there appears to have been some gear-like teeth molded in. The small debris is inside the semi-circle.<br><br>I'm going to remove the oil pump tomorrow but wonder if anyone has an idea as to what this stuff could be?</blockquote></div><div class="m_-5828027016813668652gmail-attachments" style="margin: 20px 30px; padding: 5px 10px; border: 1px solid #cecece; background: none #ececec; border-radius: 5px; font-size: 12px; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif;" data-mce-style="margin: 20px 30px; padding: 5px 10px; border: 1px solid #cecece; background: none #ececec; border-radius: 5px; font-size: 12px; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif;"><fieldset class="m_-5828027016813668652gmail-postcontent" style="margin: 5px 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; border: 0px initial initial;" data-mce-style="margin: 5px 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; border: 0px initial initial;"></fieldset><br></div></div></div><img src="cid:30946036-ea88-4561-9575-291796531e1c@icloud.com" alt="" class="_auto-scale" data-inline-image="true" data-mce-src="cid:30946036-ea88-4561-9575-291796531e1c@icloud.com" ><div class="_stretch"><span class="body-text-content">_______________________________________________<br>Support <a href="http://Team.Net" data-mce-href="http://Team.Net">Team.Net</a> <a href="http://www.team.net/donate.html" data-mce-href="http://www.team.net/donate.html">http://www.team.net/donate.html</a><br>Suggested annual donation $12.75<br>Archive: <a href="http://www.team.net/archive" data-mce-href="http://www.team.net/archive">http://www.team.net/archive</a><br>Forums: <a href="http://www.team.net/forums" data-mce-href="http://www.team.net/forums">http://www.team.net/forums</a><br><br><a href="mailto:Healeys@autox.team.net" data-mce-href="mailto:Healeys@autox.team.net">Healeys@autox.team.net</a><br><a href="http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/healeys" data-mce-href="http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/healeys">http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/healeys</a><br><br>Unsubscribe/Manage: <a href="http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/healeys/airtightproductions@icloud.com" data-mce-href="http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/healeys/airtightproductions@icloud.com">http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/healeys/airtightproductions@icloud.com</a><br><br></span></div></div></blockquote></div></body></html>