'87 4kq: oil system question/emergency?

[Huw Powell]

> My mechanic, who makes house calls, came by today while I was at work. He left
> a note saying he'd had the cam cover off and not found the foil. This leaves me
> wondering where I go from here.
>
> One lister emailed me that the foil would likely be ground up by the oil pump,
> the bits of it would lodge in the oil filter, and that would be that. That
> certainly seems plausible, but I'm also having a vision of it, somewhere in the
> engine, doing an imitation of a leaf pinned to a storm-sewer grating by the flow
> of water, and cutting off oil to a bearing or some such. Anyone care to lay odds
> on which is more likely to happen?

Well, it started off in the cam cover area.  In order to leave that area
is has to get down the oil return passages, and this thing is at least
1/2" square, right?  So it's not going there without help.

However, if the engine ran, the cam and valve lifters (and vacuum pump
rod) might have ground it into smithereens, alllwoing it to drain into
the sump.