Dirt in the engine

[GetTheExtractorReady]

Hey everyone, got a bit of dirt in the engine while I was working on it, and I'm trying to figure out if it's something that the oil filter will take care of, or if I'll need to do an entire teardown, clean, and rebuild. The spot it went into is circled in red, just below the alternator rotor. Any input is welcome and appreciated!

 

[CaptChrome]

Perhaps try a solvent flush:
-Drain the oil if you already haven't.
-With the engine upright, pour 250ml or so of mineral spirits or convenient solvent of your choice in through the oil fill.
-Grab the engine and swish the solvent around the bottom of the crankcase. Keep the engine upright while doing this.
-Pull the oil drain plug and the sump screen and drain the solvent. Keep track of the amount that comes out as you want to get most of this stuff out.
-Button things up. You can repeat this several times until the drained solvent is pretty clean.
-Dont forget to fill the engine with oil. After engine restart, change the oil and filter after your first ride just to be certain no solvent or loose debris remains inside.

 

[tstidham]

When I did my first oil change, I dropped the plate on the bottom to also clean the pick-up screen. I found a few chunks of clutch friction material in there and knew I would be doing a clutch replacement in the future. About 2000 miles later, when I renewed the clutch, the original friction discs had several spots where the material just delaminated off the metal plate (bare spots). It may not be "dirt" you're seeing but clutch material that has worn off, so you may want to pull the other cover and inspect the clutch discs as well.

 

[GetTheExtractorReady]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys!
CaptChrome - I'll definitely give the solvent flush a go. If there's a small amount of particulate left (since I won't be able to verify that I've gotten 100% out without opening the engine), will there be any catastrophic issues? I don't want to open up the engine if I don't have to, but I'd hate to destroy it because I was feeling lazy haha
tstidham - that's good insight, but I can definitely say it isn't clutch material - the dirt fell in from the hole where the starter motor slots in. I had pulled the starter because it didn't have a cable on it, so I wanted to test the motor and attach a cable, but I had to remove it to do so. While I was at it, I figured I'd pull the engine and give it a clean, because it was filthy. I didn't realize the hole below the alternator existed, so when I was tilting the engine, some dirt fell down from the motor cavity and into the hole.

 

[tstidham]

In that case, pull the bottom plate and screen to get a bigger opening for rinsing the dirt back out. You'll get most all of it out I'm sure. I know it wouldn't be worried about a little left in there. Pour the sole ent down the same hole too to chase the dirt down the same direction it went in.

 

[CaptChrome]

I agree to not worry too much about what is left over. I have seen some surprising things (like piston pin clips, gasket chunks, globs of silicone sealant, not to mention the clutch material already mentioned) in the crankcase bottoms of engines that ran just fine. However, if you flush the case bottom, you should get most of the debris along with whatever sins of the past may have occurred. May get some sludgy goo also, which would be an improvement.

If there is any debris left, it would have be entrained in the oil and make it through the oil pump intake screen and then through the oil filter element before it could do any catastrophic damage - this is not likely.

 

[Revvy Kevvy]

When I did my first oil change, I dropped the plate on the bottom to also clean the pick-up screen. I found a few chunks of clutch friction material in there and knew I would be doing a clutch replacement in the future. About 2000 miles later, when I renewed the clutch, the original friction discs had several spots where the material just delaminated off the metal plate (bare spots). It may not be "dirt" you're seeing but clutch material that has worn off, so you may want to pull the other cover and inspect the clutch discs as well.

I did the same and found some small bits of metal on the screen which has worried me greatly.