Soo.. I had mentioned previously that I had a spot of bother with my 3B motor in my 200 Avant..
Finally got the motor out, and pulled apart. Nothing really unexpected. Lots of 'metal gravel', made up of smashed block, bit of aluminum from the piston and pan, and some broken black plastic bits from the oil pan.
But then there was this bit of 'unexplainedness':
The intake of the oil pickup was clogged full of small 'red' bits of 'something'. Same colour bits as a distributor cap or rotor, perhaps of the same material, but made of thinner section. The pickup was clogged with these red bits, but there was no sign of the same bits anywhere else in the motor. Just lodged in the pickup.
Also.. When I pulled off the oil filter/cooler thermostat subassembly from the block, 'red' oil came out, and same when undoing the oil pump. Same colour 'red' as the bits in the oil pickup. IF some of those red bits got past the pickup screen into the pump and got ground up, would make sense that the oil would go red. But then, the red oil was only 'near the pump'. Oil in the sump was normal colour.
All the crank bearings (both main and rod, including the one that had the rod let go) looked totally normal. No sign of failure, or lack of oil.
I'm not familiar enough with the 20Vt motor to know what these bits of red plastic could be. And I'm not sure if they could have been the cause of my problems, or only something else that could have been beat to bits, once the rod broke..
So my big question is.. Any ideas as to what the red broken bits in the oil pickup are, and where they could have come from?
Thoughts?