Take a look at this jewel

Found this little guy on the magnetic drain plug on my new motor's first oil change...  

It looks like a valve stem seal retaining clip to me, so I pulled the valve covers and tried to find which one had broken.  Needless to say, I didn't have any luck.  It was very difficult to see between the damper spring and valve spring.

I did find one interesting thing---  the front oil drain back hole in the head on the driver side was filled w/ oil even though I just drained all the oil out of the motor?????  Does that mean something has this drain back blocked? (Valve stem seal material)???

I'd really like to find the other half of this retaining clip!  I'm not too scared right yet because I don't think any pieces went through the oil pump due to the screen on the pick-up...

Is the next step-- pull the pan and look behind all the trap doors for the rest of the clip?

Unless you're absolutely sure you've found 'em all, loose parts usually means "pull the pan" at the very least.

Looks to be part of a valve stem seal spring ring which holds the seal in place.

go back and recheck your inner springs. one is broken! i know this first hand. found this twice and checked the seals and could find whick one. try turning your motor over by hand and and using a small screw driver wigle the inner springs.

Ace

Well, it looks like the motor is coming back out... My solid motor mounts overlap the pan rail and have it trapped on.. No problem- I'm getting very familiar with all the bolts on this rig!