Aluminum piece in oil

[Tigwelder]

I found the problem! Got a blown up engine from the local small engine shop and tore it down. The inside were completely destroyed, Rod broke, cam shaft bent, holes in two sides of the block. Interesting thing that I could not find anything that looked like a place for the part we found but then looking through the pieces of broken parts, I found a piece that matched the one we found from my brother's motor. I remembered reading somewhere that this type of engine had a compression release and after a little research found that was where the piece came from. It is not listed in the parts breakdown, nor is there a line item to purchase one, as it is a part of the Camshaft assembly. I am suspecting this is what caused the catastrophic destruction of the engine we got, because nothing was left on the camshaft. A picture of a camshaft shows a counter weight assembly that is around the camshaft and holds a valve open to release compression when the engine is cranking and disengages around 500 RPM when the engine starts running. I think the valve adjustment may have something to do with this problem. We have replaced two intake push rods on this engine and he said it had been hard to start. If your engine gets hard to start, you may want to take some steps to prevent a bigger problem. Not certain what we will find when we open up his engine, but hopefully a new camshaft, a set of rings and some gaskets will get him back in service with a easy starting engine that will last a few more summers.
Thanks for the input from everyone.

 

[Tigwelder]

An update on my quest. Opened up the engine and as we suspected the compression release was broken in pieces and was laying in the bottom of the pan. There was no damage to anything and not certain what caused it to break unless some how something got out of line when the valves were adjusted. Anyway, after looking at the situation and not wanting to put a lot of money into an old motor (the compression release can only be purchased with a camshaft and set of lifters about $85.00) we opted to put it back together without the compression release. We were a little concerned about the lack of a compression release, causing a problem with it starting but it starts better than it did before we worked on it. Will have to say we did also find the starter was gummed up pretty bad and we cleaned and lubed the bushings in it so that didn't hurt any. We can't tell any difference in the motor without the compression release and hopefully it will run for a few more summers. We were lucky that the part fell in the pan and didn't get tangled up with the rod or camshaft and that he was watching when he drained his oil. It may have been broken for a while and may have never caused a problem but at least now we know that there is nothing loose in the motor and if it ever stops raining, he can start cutting grass again. Only cost was for pan gasket, valve cover gasket and bottom seal and a little time spent learning about Intek motors.