Hello! For several years this page has been invaluable to me, so thanks for that! Whatever questions I’ve had have already been asked and answered, so I’ve just been lurking around soaking up info. I’ve got something that has me stumped now… I have a 2005 Gen 2 that has an engine clatter at idle. When you bring up the revs it gets quiet and almost goes away. The oil had some flakes in it so I pulled the pan. Inside I found the piece shown in the photo. It is ferrous. I don’t recognize what it is from. Does anyone else? I fully understand there may be other damage inside, but if I can temporarily get it running that’s what I need to do. I’m currently searching for a cheap used engine, but if I can isolate which piece/bearing/part is causing the issue, it’ll hold me over for a bit. There isn’t anything obvious from the limited view of the crankshaft/rods, or from pulling the valve cover.
Hmmm... Hard to tell because it's so beat up... If I had to guess it's some kind of small plate that holds something in place and not a major chunk of a more primary part, but that probably doesn't help much. Did you find anything of note in the sludge that would indicate something was ground up into a powder, or just this piece rattling around in there? Also did you isolate the noise at idle to the oil pan, or elsewhere?
There was some “glitter” in the oil pan. There was also a speck of something like this piece on the # 3 connecting rod cap. At this point that’s what I’m leaning toward this issue being. I can’t isolate the noise at idle. I only have hearing left on one side, which means I can’t differentiate where a sound is coming from. It’s pretty funny to watch me try to spot a plane in the sky or pick out who in a crowd is speaking if I can’t see their lips! I’ve buttoned it all back up for now so I could move it out of the shop. I have a camper with a bum roof that needed the shop space more than the Prius. If it is a rod bearing I’m torn between tearing it down to do a spot repair (just fixing what’s broken), selling it as-is, holding onto it until I can find a cheap engine, or parting it out.
Typically any engine damage we see has been caused by running the engine out of oil. Based on how many pistons have come off the rod and went through the block its usually upper rod wrist pin failure first then I woukd assume moving on to main bearing failure, See how loose the connecting rods are to the pistons.
