What is this stuff?

[Knuckledragger]

Just pulled a 6.9 out of a 1987 truck at a local wrecking yard to replace the one that I was going to rebuild (cracked heads, early style pressed in piston coolers). As I disassembled it, I found these in the oil pan. They look familiar from my early days of playing with engines and transmissions, but I cannot figure out what they are or where they came from, unless someone at IH thought it would be funny to toss in a handful of spare parts while buttoning up the engine. They look like parts from an automatic transmission, but I am certain that one of the learned folks on the forums will set me straight.

 

[typ4]

They aren't engine parts. Could be injection pump parts but I dont know how they would get into the oil pan.

 

[icanfixall]

Those are parts of at least three lift pumps that gave up. Could be the owner or shop that didn't know how to install a mechanical lift pump installed them improperly. Glad you got the motor. It was great talking with you at the wrecking yard yesterday.... Too bad we didn't think about the oil dip stick you bought yesterday. That would have been part of the motor today. Glad you have it though.

 

[Agnem]

X2 on the lift pump arms. That's pretty darn funny. I'm pretty sure if you install the pump improperly (get the arm on the wrong side), the cam lobe will rip the arm right off and throw it in the pan with a "There! That will teach you!" attitude.

 

[Knuckledragger]

I recognize them now. One of the arms did not have any wear marks at all, perhaps substantiating AGNEM's theory. Fortunately, they were stuck in the sludge and did not appear to have interacted with any reciprocating mass.

Good thing they weren't bullets.

P.S. for new owners...an oil pan, while easy to find, is not a lifting point for the trucks.

 

[6.9poweredscout]

hmmmm... i see i had one of those springs in my oil pan! now i know.

-Jon

 

[icanfixall]

Many times when the mechanical lift pump break they throw up there internals into the oil pan.... And ifen you install them improperly they do this all the time and very quickly too. I'll bet the owner thought something was really odd when the pumps kept breaking and the guts disappeared along with the arm... But then again maybe it was a shop that had no idea what was going on too....

 

[Captain Morgan]

Make you wonder if you really "get what you pay for" these days, of course I am a little
late looking at this thread to be the winner of the "guess the mystery parts" game. Although I did get a good laugh thinking about the poor guy wondering " Where is the rest
of this thing at?" At least in only took him three tries to get it right.

 

[jimraelee]

Although I did get a good laugh thinking about the poor guy wondering " Where is the rest
of this thing at?" At least in only took him three tries to get it right.

Nahhh he just blamed the faulty pumps on Autozone, shucks, O'Riley...

 

[The Warden]

Where in the lift pump do those parts go?

I found one of those "arms" when I had my engine apart, but it's way too short to be the arm that rides the cam (that arm's somewhere around 2 inches long?)...and, I asked at the time and no one had any idea what it was. I'm guessing it's internal to the lift pump somehow? Does anyone have a diagram of what's inside the lift pump?

Just wondering