Washers found in oil strainer

[Matt S]

I've just pulled the sump plate and oil strainer out of my 1974 911S. Two aluminium washers were caught by the strainer, so I'm trying to work out where they may have come from.

One washer looks new, the other pretty badly deformed, but they otherwise appear to be the same part.

The good one measures 6.4mm x 11mm x 1.5mm. It sounds like it should be securing my chain covers, rather than floating around in my case. Of course, this would mean someone had to misplace the washers during some previous work.

Anyone know where else this part might have come from? Was this washer used internally? How worried should I be?

[thor66]

the worry is if there are others inside the engine

[Flat6pac]

There is no aluminum washers inside the motor, all outside.
6 mm has to be exterior chain box.
The breather and the thermostat use steel waves washers and non nyloc nuts
Bruce

[47silver]

My take:
Persons unknown had the nuts off of the chain housing and when reinstalling dropped the aluminum washers down an uncovered or even partially covered distributor hole.
if they knew about it they probably turned the motor over by hand and felt the aluminum washer get crushed and finally purged into the sump.
And then they buttoned it up.

[nomore]

This is too funny. A couple years ago I had the strainer out of my 74 Targa and a banged up aluminum washer fell out as well. There was some clanking around in the sump and after removing the washer, just quiet. No problems for the last 2500 miles. Still don't know what it went to or how it got there. Good luck, John.

[gomezoneill]

Aluminum washers wont hurt a thing too soft.

[Matt S]

Thanks for the info. Glad to hear that the washers are only used externally.

At some point, the chain tensioners were upgraded, so the idea that washers were dropped while the distributor was out seems plausible.

[Matt S]

Originally Posted by nomore

This is too funny. A couple years ago I had the strainer out of my 74 Targa and a banged up aluminum washer fell out as well. There was some clanking around in the sump and after removing the washer, just quiet. No problems for the last 2500 miles. Still don't know what it went to or how it got there. Good luck, John.

Maybe it’s an undocumented feature of ‘74 models

I’ve never noticed the sound, so unfortunately I won’t be able to appreciate a quieter sump

[RDM]

Some years ago I opened my sump for the first time in my ownership and found all the parts for a chain tensioner collar down there. Blue anodized aluminum, 2 pieces, plus two allen screws to hold it together.

When I did the tensioner upgrade some time later, I found one chain tensioner had a black collar. So someone tried to mitigate tensioner failure at least twice.

So I'm not a fan of chain tensioner collars.