Saw a county sheriff pulled over with a sedan just down the road. Sat there for quite some time, and I didn't see any activity. About 40 minutes later, a tow truck shows up, loads the sedan and everyone leaves. Being curious, I took a walk down the road, maybe a roadkill I couldn't see from the house, and I won't pass up fresh back straps. I found a trail of little metal parts along the shoulder. I wasn't a NASCAR mechanic, but pretty sure these are supposed to be inside the engine block.

Looks a bit like parts of a piston and the wrist pin that holds it to the connecting rod.

Was there a bit of oil on the road where you found them ?

Thats the crazy part, no oil at all. Must have run dry up over the hill and finally let loose.

Quote I heard years ago - "Keep it lubed , keep it happy".....applies to more than mechanical things ...lol

Even the wrong oil is better than no oil.

the splines on the one piece in the right part of your hand point more to some sort of driveline component.

Thats part of a piston, the grooves are for the piston rings. There's also a part of the connecting rod where the main bolts go, the wrist pins, and some other pieces.

Definitely a catastrophic event

Piston McNuggets with a side of wrist pin…uffda

I see what your saying now, yeah that’s definitely a bad day

Wow

Lol....reminds me of a friend , years ago , about 40+ years.

He had at the time an early 1st gen Plymouth Valiant with the slant 6. The engine had some issues but he had another engine at his shop and was planning on swapping it out. One day as he was driving the car , the engine let go with a bang. He had put the #3 connecting rod through the block. It was still running on the other 5 cylinders but shaking like crazy. Knowing the engine was junk at that point , he didn't care as he had the spare engine. Continued to drive it trying to get it back to the shop more or less on it's own power. It was making quite the racket and shaking violently. About another mile down the road , lost another cylinder , now running on the remaining 4 cylinders. Making a horrific noise , spewing smoke and leaking oil , not to mention the whole car was shaking at this point. Shortly thereafter a policeman noticed him and pulled him over. Engine still running the cop told him to shut it off , my friend didn't want to. The cop made him do it. My friend was ticked off at the cop because now the engine was so messed up it would not restart. Cop made him get it towed the final mile to his shop. My friend just wanted to get it there without paying for a tow. Cop told him he couldn't do that and leave a trail of parts and oil as it was a safety hazard.

Interesting. When young blown motors etc were a “crap” whatever kind of deal and sort of common to hear about.

With todays vehicles and all the warning features including automatic engine shut down you have to work awfully hard in the ignorance shop to have this happen.

Osky

I was only a dealership mechanic for 12 years, but you wouldn't believe the level of ignorance that would come through the doors.