Bolt found above oil strainer (with pics)

[BrewBus]

Hi Folks,

I set about some more "routine" maintenance today, changing the oil in my 79 Westy (Type IV, Fuel Injected) and found a mysterious and loose bolt above my oil strainer. It was lying loose in the gap between the bell looking housing (pic 1) and the engine case. Any idea where this might have belonged and what it means to my immediate driving future? I did try to see if it fits the hole in the first picture, but it is too small and not long enough to thread to anything to fit there.

There was also a small (about 1 inch) and very thin piece of silicon gasket type of material in my oil strainer itself (or stuck to the outside of it actually). I suppose that is not supposed to be there either??

Thanks in advance for any insight!

J
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79 Westy

[2VWs1BMW]

looks like an engine tin screw. maybe someone dropped it in an open oil filler neck.
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- Brian -
'17 Alltrack
'99 ///M Coupe w/48k mi - Bimmerforums
'77 Westy w/156k mi

[germansupplyscott]

the screw is to secure the oil pickup and windage tray together. the windage tray is a sheet metal baffle that is above the oil pickup, and without that screw in place it is somewhat free to rattle around inside the sump of the engine. it should be a hex head screw not a slot.

fyi the fact that you have this windage tray and/or oil pickup means your engine is not original, it came from either a porsche 914 or a vw type 4 car. it's difficult to tell for sure but it looks like the windage tray might not be there, it should be sitting right on top of the oil pickup and the original screw is a similar length to what's in the lower photo. so maybe you have the oil pickup but not the windage tray. if you stick a small screwdriver through the hole in the pickup and poke around you should be able to tell if the tray is installed or not.
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SL