Inside of PCV valve fell into engine

[Vincent Vercammen]

Hello,

I was working on my 1978 ford fairmont (which has the 2.3L SOHC ford lima engine).
I notice i burned some oil at high revs, and figured to check the PCV first. When I took it out (it was a plastic motorcraft one), the inside fell out. I heard a clunk and saw a metal spring lying on the engine block. I notice the underside of the pcv valve was just an little empty canister. It seems heat and time (and very poor maintenance by the previous owner) deteriorated the plastic. Now it seems that the pcv was plugged into a curved hose that fits into an oil vapour separator. I am very inexperienced and the separator is quite rusty and inaccessible.
Now I presume that there is another part of the PCV that actually fell into the engine (into the hose that connects to the separator, which in turn is connected the crankcase). Because a pcv consists of a little valve and a spring, and i could only find the spring…

Do you think it would cause any harm just forgetting about it, replacing the pcv valve and running the engine? Or should I get a mechanic to come pick up the car and dismantle the oil vapour separator thing. I just want you to know that apart from changing the idle speed and air filter, this is one of the first things i have ever done to a car. So dismantling the thing myself probably is too hard.

Kind regards,

Vincent

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[Dave Tidman]

Just my opinion, but I would not run it until everything is either accounted for or ruled out. Solid things bouncing around the valve train can lead to disaster.

[Vincent Vercammen]

Yeah that could lead to disaster, I ordered a little endoscope or whatever it is called to poke around and look for clues.

[Author]

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