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I'm doing the timing belt on my 02 EX for the first time and when I was cleaning the corners where the valve cover sits a small piece of red RTV fell into the head. It was maybe about the size of a pea or a little smaller. It just went over the edge and rolled down it looked like under the cam shaft on the transmission side. I can't see it under the oil. What should I do? Should I try to fish it out with a pick or something? Should I try to drain the oil and see if I can see it? Do I need to take out the camshaft? I didn't try anything because I didn't want to make it worse.

The crank pulley bolt came off without too much trouble, but somehow I manage to screw up the easy things.

 
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I'd probably try to use a fluid extractor/evacuator or Mityvac brake bleeder setup or a shop vac with a vacuum hose/straw/tube to suck the chunk of RTV up out of the oil.

If you can't find it, I don't think I'd worry about it much. It will probably find its way to the oil pan (eventually) where it will spend eternity because it's too large to fit through the oil sump pickup screen.

 
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That's good to know. Something like that isn't big enough to clog the oil passages?

I finally found a picture of a cleaned disassembled head and where it went was pretty well contained. I was able to get enough oil out with the corner of a shop towel to be able to see it and pull it out with the pick.

 
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It would have to get through the sump pickup screen first.

Yay

 
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How about a junebug? I was doing the valve clearances and a junebug flew under the valves and as I was trying to get it out it fell down the oil passage. So now there is a junebug in my oil pan. I just put the pan back on so there isn't any oil in it.

What kind of problems would a junebug cause in my engine? Should I take the pan off again and get it out of there?

 
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Take a look at ezone's first response in the post above yours.

A bug, in the heat the oil gets to in service, would disintegrate into carbon dust in short order anyway (get it? short order... deep-fried... ahem).

 
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That's kind of what I figured, but would all that extra carbon clog my filter?

 
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OO00ohh..... 0_o
It's organic. Leave it in there long enough and it might turn into more oil. Hopefully the filter would catch the bigger parts of it if it gets through the pickup screen?




Uhh... How big was it?
Will it fit through the drainplug hole?
Got a extra quart or two of oil? I guess any engine oil would do. Even the used oil that just came out of it?

Pull the drainplug out, put a clean pan under it...Pour a quart in the top of the engine down that hole, and see if the bug will come out the drainplug hole. Check in the pan for the bug.


/Lather, rinse, repeat.
//Wipe hands on pants.

 
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That was about a glob of RTV. It wouldn't break down in the oil.

A big bug might.

Wanna try an experiment? LOL

 
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That's a good idea! I was thinking about putting the old oil back in and driving it for a bit to get it to break down and then changing the oil, but this sounds easier.

 
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I poured about 2 quarts through the hole and I don't think any bug came out. Should I try to burn it up in the old oil for a couple hundred miles or just not worry about it and put the new oil in?

 
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I can't answer that one.

What's your choices? Either do it that way or yank the pan off again?

Flip a coin?

 
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My request to look wasn't referring to the RTV per se. It was that neither the RTV nor the bug would get through the pickup screen as they were.

It is true that when the bug finally does disintegrate and get through it, the filter will catch it (the first place the oil goes after the pump). Draining may get the bug out, but it may not. I personally wouldn't worry about it -- if you knew what kind of sealer and carbonized gasket bits get caught by the filter in the first 1000 miles of operation... then how much babbit bearing material gets shed into the oil pan at high miles... you'd seriously reconsider modding. But despite that, your oiling system seems to get by without grenading the motor into the next county.

When someone posts that a VTEC screen cleaning reveals failure pinpointed on a charred junebug, I'll adjust my advice. Less that, it's up to you to figure out if a pan removal is worth it for one bug.

 
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Smaller than a garter snake?

Imagine the aroma when you crack the filler cap open after a day of driving... guh.

Moral: Make sure only chickens get into your oil return passages next time, and make sure they're smothered in buttermilk and beer batter first. Adjust idle to 4000 rpm so the oil is always at the correct deep-frying temp.