Needles in pan...

[89RS&98Z28]

Hi guys, new to the forum but have tried to read all posts related to this issue. Got my 98Z28 used two years ago with 85,000 miles on it. Now after numerous oil changes I find a needle attached to drain magnet. Car is not ticking. I have put about 7,000 miles and two oil changes on car after finding needle. Still no ticking or any more needles. Just got through with a 500 mile trip where I would average 80 mph for a couple of hours at the time , no problems. Car still getting around 27 mpg on open road and averaging 23 mpg as a daily driver around 80 miles a day. So am I pushing my luck waiting until I need a tune to do(or check) the rocker arms? Have had several people tell me to wait for tune or until I hear a ticking. Also the TSB recomends pulling and cleaning pan, what do you think? I've only seen one instance where any real damage was caused by this. So what would you do?


LS1 4L60E sitting at about 140,000.

[mrr23]

um, if you have needle bearings in the oil pan, don't wait until you hear a ticking. you may end up bending pushrods and possibly damaging the heads because of it.
and why would you wait for a tune to do rockers?

[vettenuts]

I wouldn't wait either, especially if you plan to return to stock rockers. They are not expensive compared to the problems you could run into with a catastrophic failure or if a needle were to find its way into somewhere more problematic.

[Patriot Performance]

Replace your rockers asap. Also do clean your oil pan.