What if Metal Foil accidentally fell in

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What if the Metal Foil or part of it from the Castrol oil containers accidentally got poured into your engine while you were changing your oil?

This has not happened to me but I have heard it happening. People got it out one way or another but what if you were to leave it inside?

What could possibly happen?
 
its never happened to me either but im sure out of the millions of people that have poured out oil some of them have got some in their engine. I cant see it being a problem and if it was the bottle companies would not use them imo. It cant be worse than some of the oils people put into their cars.
 
It will likely get caught on the oil pickup screen. if big enough (like the entire piece from a 5qt widemouth jug), notionally it could restrict flow enough to cause problems.

But do a test... does oil dissolve the metal? Unless there is a way for the motion of the car to cause it to break up (it would ultimately get caught in the filter then though), it should jsut sit there.

Once I pulled an oil pan on a car and found a plastic ring from an oil bottle cap sitting in there. had to have gone in the top.

I suppose the other issue is though if it goes in the fill hole, sits on some parts, gets chewed up by the camshaft or something, then could it cause some funnybusiness on some surface? Perhaps. But again, given copious flow, Id imagine it would go around, get picked up by the filter and then stuck there.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2

Once I pulled an oil pan on a car and found a plastic ring from an oil bottle cap sitting in there. had to have gone in the top.


That would be funny. I kinda surprised that it did not melt. I know the oil pan temp is not reall too hot but its journey to it from the top would be a hot one. Do you remember what kind of car it was?
 
I wonder if it's "true foil" or 99% plastic with a little metal in there to make it shiny.

I don't think it'll make it down to the oil pan. Passages I've seen are about 3/8" or 10mm around. It'll wedge itself in a harmless corner of the valve cover.
 
I agree that there would likely be no problems.
I would still bite the bullet and remove the valve cover to retrieve the piece of foil, rather than simply hoping for the best.
Why incur any added risk if you can easily avoid it?
This is why you should be careful not to leave loose pieces of foil in the mouth of a bottle of oil you intend to pour into an engine.
 
It happened to me. Not foil but the foam plastic seal on a 1 qt bottle. I can't remember how may oil changes, maybe the next, it drained out with the oil. No apparent damage done.
 
Originally Posted By: abycat
Originally Posted By: JHZR2

Once I pulled an oil pan on a car and found a plastic ring from an oil bottle cap sitting in there. had to have gone in the top.


That would be funny. I kinda surprised that it did not melt. I know the oil pan temp is not reall too hot but its journey to it from the top would be a hot one. Do you remember what kind of car it was?


83 MB 300D with about 230k on it. Ran like a top.
 
I will say I love bottles of oil that don't do the stupid tin foil seal. Amsoil and many others don't use them for the most part. The ones that have a little piece that you grab and pull it off the the top. It's kind of folded down, so the whole thing peels off the top. I hate the tin foil set ups. I normally cut them out with a razor knife. Anything else is risky......

Don't know what to say on retrieval. I would probably remove the valve cover. Otherwise don't know what to say........
 
I worry about it too.I try to take as much of the foils as possible but still small pieces tend to stay on the bottle.

At least we know the oil is new and unused...
 
Originally Posted By: abycat
Originally Posted By: JHZR2

Once I pulled an oil pan on a car and found a plastic ring from an oil bottle cap sitting in there. had to have gone in the top.


That would be funny. I kinda surprised that it did not melt. I know the oil pan temp is not reall too hot but its journey to it from the top would be a hot one. Do you remember what kind of car it was?

Most oil bottles and caps are made of HDPE which has a melting point of 270 deg. F. If it had melted, it would be a sure sign of overheating I believe.
 
Originally Posted By: abycat
its never happened to me either but im sure out of the millions of people that have poured out oil some of them have got some in their engine. I cant see it being a problem and if it was the bottle companies would not use them imo. It cant be worse than some of the oils people put into their cars.


"If it was [a problem] the bottle companies would not use them"
This statement boggles my mind. Consider umpteen jillion other things made by man that are widely used, but can be misused.

Anyway, there are almost assuredly thousands of cars running around with some foil from oil or additives in the crankcase, with no problems.
But... it may simply lodge on the pickup screen, may block an oil return galley, get chewed in a timing chain system, lodge in a seal, get involved in the valvetrain somehow, etc..
 
I read somewhere that this was exactly why several oil companies stopped putting them on the bottles. Obviously then will not dissolve, otherwise they would dissolve in the close bottle on contact.

As for will it hurt, in most cars, probably. There are some where you are pouring straight to the oil pan, and those are probably alright, although if sucked against the strainer it would reduce flow.
On most cars you are pouring into the valve train. The seal will not pass through the drain holes and may restrict the flow to certain areas of the engine.
 
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