Looks like a Balance Shaft Delete plug. That would be a bad time. Otherwise maybe the base of an oil squirter but that would be crazy for it to break off like that.
It doesn’t appear to be something that has broken off of anything. The balance shaft is there but I’m starting to wonder if the car was heavily modified and all the parts were taken off before sale. It’s been one thing after another so far. Looks like something that would’ve been pressed into a hole. I suppose if it came from a bs delete plug then it’s not something that needs to find a home again.
Just saw the second pic and yep that def looks like it. I really appreciate your input! I was trying to put the pan back on but didn’t want to until I knew more about my mystery oil pan treasure.
That might be from the VVT?!?! I'm not really sure on this one Can you get a side shot of that little plug?
Well I did just replace the whole Vvt set up so who knows. It does look just like the pic Johnny posted though.
That is what keeps the motor building oil pressure when the BSD kit is installed. Maybe it fell out and they thought they popped the motor due to low oil pressure or they rode it out and popped the motor.
Very well could be the case. I’m re-installing the balance shaft so I’m just glad to know it doesn’t seem to be a needed part. The reason I’m in there is because of a rod knocking. Vvt was bad and it starting knocking as he turned into the neighborhood. Been parked since. Did the Vvt not realizing the new knock was from a rod bearing. So pulled the pan and found the 2nd rod to be loose and knocking around. I know the right thing to do is rebuild it or at least polish the crank and all new bearings. But I’m honestly just trying to get the lemon back running as easily and cheaply as possible. I hand polished the crank with the sand paper strip and shoe lace method. It’s not too bad I don’t think but it’s not polished smooth looking like the one beside it I checked. It’s a crap shoot I guess. Figured it was worth a shot since rod bearings aren’t terribly expensive. My son only got to drive it a month or so before all this happened. It’s his first car and he paid for it by himself too. Just trying to get him back on the road.
At this point if you can spend a few bucks to get it on the road and have fun with it you might as well. It's going to be $$$ to rebuild it and time. If you do decide to build a motor I have all the info in my thread. https://www.mazdaspeeds.org/index.php?threads/johnnytightlips-build-maximum-carnage.7025/ and have made some how to's. I have seen success with hand polishing but it def will be a temp fix.
Thanks man I appreciate it. Now my dilemma is do I change all the rod bearings or just the one and save the other 3 sets for replacing that one again if needed. I’ve only taken the one other cap off and the bottom half of the bearing and the crank looked fine on that one. The other 3 uniformly felt tight compared to the bad one as far as just shaking them by hand.
Glad I took your advice, ended up finding 2 more bad out of the 4. Crank wasn’t great on 2 of them but the shoestring sanding/polishing made it a lot better. Just buttoned it up this evening (took a break) and let me say it runs better than it did when we bought it! Idk if the Vvt can cause issues with performance but it’s silky smooth now with plenty of power. Fingers crossed it last long enough to figure out the next move. But so far so good.
Great to hear, when you are at the point you were you can either spend big money and start fresh or spend a little money and time and get some more life out of it. Lets hope it holds up.
