Parked the rover to head into the store when I came out it wouldn't start. It merely clicked once whenever I turned the key. My first thought, was starter. It may still be but when I was poking around under the hood and took off the oil cap I found a peace of metal immediately below the oil cap touching the valve cover. Is this normal or a sign of a more serious issue? See the pic below

 

usually one click would mean a lose wire or poor connection to me, a weak or dieing battery usual gives a series of clicks. jmo
that is a baffle used to keep oil from splashing up if you open it while running, perfectly normal

 

What he said above^^^ about the 1 click.

That "metal piece" you mention screws into the inside of the valve cover and unless the 6 screws came out it is where it should be.

Why do you unscrew the whole oil fill tube and not just the cap?

The inside of your valve covers look like burnt oil, Kind of like mine looked when I rescued it from it's previous owner. Under your valve covers probably look something like this right now. How often are you changing the oil?
Before:


After


By the looks of all the oil covering your valve cover you have a bad oil leak somewhere that needs to be addressed. I would imagine it is leaking where you take the oil fill tube off. Is your starter covered in oil also?

 

The cap was stuck on tighter than the oil fill tube and happened to be easier to unscrew. It is normally on nice and tight. The a leak is coming form the valve cover. It's on the list of things to do but time is not a commodity i have a lot of right now.

Changing the oil every 3k with full synth.

Yes after a fuller inspection the starter is pretty much covered in oil. That thing is hard to get at.

 

You could switch to Rotella 15w40 and let it do the work of cleaning that gunk out while you are busy.

I expect it would make your truck run smoother too, once you get it started.

The Rotella is full of the detergents and ZDDP that these engines need.

 

My cap used to stick. I cleaned the threads up and applied some lube (I think I used anti seize, just what ever was in the top of the box) has been fine ever since

 

i also had the same problem, I used a little black RTV on the tube doesn't unscrew from the valve cover any more

 

So in order to clean the electrical connections to the starter I pulled it out. Figured I would have it bench tested in case I needed a new one. There was a significant amount of oil around as well as crudded up oil in the starter and flywheel compartment. Finally I found chunks of rubber in the hole to the flywheel after pulling the starter --- any thoughts?


I'll add pics if I get a chance.

 

There are two inspection holes for the flywheel that are fitted with rubber plugs; usually they fall out, but yours must have fallen into the bell housing.

 

Check your oil pan to see if you still have 2 grommets in the inspection holes.