I identified the piece of metal...

I thought your car coughed up oil everywhere? At least it's not from inside the engine, right? Do you think this was the cause of the failure then - wouldn't it essentially mean the engine was running completely lean? (I'm not a mechanic but have some grasp of mechanically enginey things )

Originally Posted by muffles

I thought your car coughed up oil everywhere? At least it's not from inside the engine, right? Do you think this was the cause of the failure then - wouldn't it essentially mean the engine was running completely lean? (I'm not a mechanic but have some grasp of mechanically enginey things )

this is a completley seperate issue to the head gasket,

I found this piece of metal next to the crank shaft cover, all cover in swarf and oil...

The oil was there because when the engine got hot the seal doesnt seal and it spits oil out, My fear was it had spat this chunk out with it denoting a destroyed conrod or simillar.

When I did the cambelt about 3 months ago i destroyed the retaining pin in the injector pump by turning the engine over with the pin in.. no damage was visable, but putting 2 & 2 together last night and matching the circumfance of the pulleys it would see to denote that that is the location of debris...

It shoudl be fine as its a backing plate, not a structural part...

heres hoping as I have already sepnt 5 hours stripping it down to replace the head gasket...