Help Please - Is This Bad?

[broken line]

Was winterizing the boat this afternoon and changing the oil. Go figure, one of the foil tops from the oil bottle came loose and went inside of the oil chamber of the motor. I can't see it anywhere...tried putting more oil through it and it did not flush out. What does a guy do....does it need to come out or will the oil filter catch it.

Help or advice appreciated as I have no idea what to do. The motor is a brand new this year Mercury 150 hp 4 stroke.

[LwnmwnMan2]

The problem will be, even if the filter catches it, is that it will suppress oil flow.

That won't be a good thing.

Pull the oil resevoir and drain.

[upnorth]

Yep, you need to find that thing.

[S.D. Ice Angular]

I know it is a pain but you really gotta find it...

[hhguide]

I would drain it all and then maybe a shop vac or something to suck it out?

[KTapper]

Oh boy! yeah you need to get that out. Drain it and try to flush it out. I couldn't imagine seeing that slowly fall into the motor ahh! hope you get it out without to much of a problem

[Surface Tension]

Drain the oil and leave the drain plug out. At the filler hole attach the hose of a shop vac, getting a tight fit.

[bak2MN]

This is real bad, my buddy had it happen to him but he didnt know it happened. Found out after $1500 of repairs!!

[reddog]

Those seals are always a pain, whether its oil, gas treatment or whatever. I usually just push them in with my thumb, and hope that enough of it stays attached to hold it. Why cant they add a pull tab folded over the top that you could grab abd pull to remove the seal?

[Black_Bay]

Try a small hand pump like the ones used on stern drives to suck the oil out of the dipstick tube.

[broken line]

Thanks guys...you all confirmed what I thought but I guess I just needed to hear it from others. The shop where I bought the boat from advised flushing the oil tank with kerosene several times with the hope of flushing the piece out. Hopefully it will work, we'll see.

[S.D. Ice Angular]

Had any Progress???

[solbes]

Oh, I feel your pain!!!

Same thing happened to me on my car. Brand new Acura on it's third oil change and the stupid M1 foil tab flows into the engine. In my case I could actually see it. I even got a scrapped out set of biopsy forceps from work (tiny jaws opened on the back side of a cable). Still no dice on getting out, I only pushed it deeper. I ended up having the pull the valve cover to get it out. Not fun on a brand new engine, but you gotta do it.

I agree with the other poster on why these things are even on oil containers. The coated styrofoam type tops are better, they always can be ripped off instead of punctured. Lately I've been using a screen to strain fresh oil for just this reason.

[Phred52]

broken line, I'd add that if nothing's been done to drive the foil deeper into the crankcase, you might try some compressed air from the drainplug and try to blow it out/upward rather than sucking it all the way through the engine. Just a thought, Good Luck! Phred52

[Surface Tension]

broken line, I'd add that if nothing's been done to drive the foil deeper into the crankcase, you might try some compressed air from the drainplug and try to blow it out/upward rather than sucking it all the way through the engine. Just a thought, Good Luck! Phred52

Exactly, thats why I mentioned a vacuum cleaner through the filler. Give that a try first. Then if that doesn't do it induce compressed air through the drain along with the vacuum cleaner. If that doesn't work reverse, suction at the drain and air through the filler. What can happen is the piece will fly to an eddy inside the crank and stay there so next make an extension to your air end that can be rotated around inside the crank while applying vacuum to the filler.

I wouldn't flush with fuel oil till I've exhausted the above methods.