I was changing the engine sump gasket out today on my 2004 disco. At first the engine looks great and there is no gunk anywhere. I'm excited!

...Then I find two metal bushing in my engine sump. They're pretty small. Can anyone tell me what I'm looking at and how screwed I am?

 

They look like the bushings in the valve cover gasket, they probably fell out when the covers were taken off and found their way to the pan via the oil return channels. Looks like one of them got beat by the crankshaft flailing around. Personally, I wouldn't worry about it, whatever damage (if any) is already done, if it's not making noise. You might want to pull the valve covers and see if the bushings are all there, without them it's possible to continue to tighten the valve covers until the gasket spits out the side.

 

Exactly what I see, and i agree about taking the rocker covers off but its not just that easy as say a older Chevy pick up but I would still go threw the work to check if anyone put them back in when they lost them the first time.

 

Well the engine runs fantastic. I just finished up the 90k maintenance. The idle is smooth and the throttle response is great. I burn about 1 quart of oil every 1500 miles so the oil loss isn't even that bad. I had a pretty decent leak coming out of this gasket so that's why I pulled it. Thanks for the reply let's hope things keep running smooth.

 

You got no worries.
Agree - those are the metal spacers from the valve cover gaskets being changed.
Yeah, one got whacked.

Otherwise looks clean in there.

 

one thing is for sure your oil returns are in good shape, otherwise the vc bushings would not have made there way down into the oil pan.

 

After toasting your good fortune with the fruits of the vine, consider appling some Locktite to the small bolts that hold the oil pickup, after you renew the O-ring.

 

It's like your engine passed a kidney stone

 

Ha. I was in even more of a panic when I found that large metal spacer that holds the oil pickup. Took me a minute to realize what it was. After an hour or so under the car cutting up my hands my brain was functioning slowly.