Dirt!! NOW WITH PICS!

[The PIG Smith]

UGHHHH!!!
As I was out today, cleaning my spare motor, thinking about great it will look in gloss black, when I noticed the oil pressure sending unit and adapter was missing.
I dunno how much water got in.
What's worse, I saw a spec of dirt on the thread of the hole.
I thought, "I've got it get it out", so I stuck my finger in the hole to wipe the dirt out.
BUT, I knocked the spec of dirt in.
I am such a klutz!

I immediately ran out to Lowes and bought a plug and sealed this hole.

So, what to do?
Have I ruined this motor by introducing water and dirt in where it should never be?
Can I take the oil pan off or something to clean this?

Should I just relax, take a deep breath.
Then, when I am ready to start then engine, (Long ways away) do an engine flush and let the oil filter catch the dirt?

[Jayrodoh]

Depends on which hole you has the dirt in, if it was the one from the oil pan, the filter will catch the dirt. If it was the one to the engine/bearings, that'll cause trouble.

Sounds like a tear down is in the future if you are uncertain about the engines condition. A few hours of teardown/cleaning can help with 10's of thousnads of trouble free miles. Doesn't take much to shorten an engines life.

[shackwrrr]

do you have a mity vac? if so stick that sucker in there and get the dirt and water out

[The PIG Smith]

Here are a couple of pics of the hole that some water and a spec of dirt got in.
The pipe plug is the hole.







What is this hole near the oil filter, where I have this plug installed?
The '78 model timing cover does not have this, but this '89 does.
It is not 3/8 NPT, but something else.
The 3/8 NPT pipe plug is finger tight, just seal the hole, but not to damage the threads.

[J4GRAND]

The plug near your oil filter is where the cap for the oil relief spring/plunger should be. You may want to fix that by getting the proper cap and make sure your spring and plunger are present.