What the heck is this?

While driving through a Colorado snow storm recently, my oil light came on slowly and stayed on regardless of engine speed. I checked the level, (it was fine) so I moved the wire going to the sender switch. The light went out, so I assumed the wire was grounding due to loss of insulation. However after the light came back on and I continued to drive, I heard some bearing rattle like a rod was about to go. Today I pulled the pan and found a piece of felt was sucked into the oil pickup. It is about 14” long and about ¼ “ square. What the heck is it and how did it get there? I have 314K on this car and know the complete history. The engine is a virgin so this felt must be some kind of internal gasket or something. Any ideas?

In addition, I used the instructions from the FAQ page on making an engine holder out of 2X6 lumber and it worked great. I did one thing different than instructed though, I took down the sub-frame and left the mounts attached to the block. This way I have plenty of room to swap the bearings and the job is now a piece of cake. Thanks, Brickboard, for all your help.

Jon

Who changes the oil?

Something off of the pumping mechanism for an oil pipe in a 'quick lube' place?

You ought to have it analysed

I can't imagine what it would be- The gaskets are paper(ish) and the seals are rubber. Either its been there from the factory and finally moved to a bad spot, or it got in the oil filler somehow and worked its way down.

Sorry about your bad luck. The B230 uses no felt seals. The B16 in my PV544 used a front crankshaft felt seal. If your connecting rods have rattled very hard, the large end of the connecting rod will be stretched out of shape and replaing the rod bearing will make the know less, but not fix it. Ask me how I know.