[fortywater]

Hey everyone, my Indy recently found a small piece of what looked to be like the accessory belt in my valve train when the valve cover was being replaced. The piece was about 3 inches long.

I am assuming the PO had an accessory belt shred on it at some point before he sold it to me about 4 weeks ago.

I plan on having the indy put it up on a lift and remove the crank pulley and inspect the seal, but my question is, if there was even 1 small piece of belt in there, is the seal likely done for? I have no oil leaking from the seal currently, and so my fingers are crossed that the seal is mainly in-tact, however I am scared that if the seal is intact, that means that either multiple pieces got by without damaging the seal, or the PO just rolled the dice, replaced the seal and belt, and sold it.

Trying to avoid spending an arm and a leg dropping the pan and inspecting everything, but I understand how serious of a situation this can be.

Is it possible for pieces of belt to get by without damaging the seal? Seems like this wouldn't be a possibility....correct me if I am wrong.