That's part of a external snap ring

 

Not a good sign. I'll look at a engine diagram and see where there are any used.

 

I do t see anything on the engine parts diagrams. Might be overlooking it. It might be off the oil pump or chain tensioner.

 

Good catch! Thank you .

 

Is that the engine oil or transmission drain plug?
There are several snap rings in the transmission.

 

Engine oil. I have scoured the parts lists and can not find an external snap ring anywhere

 

That's looks like a broken snap ring.

 

What year is it?

 

2018 Im told

 

I wonder if there is one inside the oil pump assembly?

Any chance it was picked up out of the oil catch pan or off the floor after removing?

 

It was on the magnet when first removed along with a bunch of scary whiskers. This belongs to a friend. He says its a 2018 with Dynamics shocks.

 

The one side in the pictures shows no signs on having a bolt tightened on it. If other side is same, maybe a dropped part during assemble? Would suggest starting a paper trail with Polaris just in case anything happens later. I would change oil every couple of hundred with filter until the drain plug was clean.

 

Bolt tightened on what? I'm I missing something in the pic?

 

If a bolt had been in the hole and tightened down, it would have left a mark on the metal. No mark, it looks as new around the hole. It was not bolted to anything by the one side. The back side could tell a different tale.

 

It's a snap ring, is it not? If so usually just used as a retainer for a washer or bearing.

 

Only thing I find around engine close to this is #7 in picture.

 

It seems weird how it's attached to the magnet, the smallest surface stuck to the magnet and it's standing straight up.

 

Not a snap ring. The end is wrong. It is a retainer shaped like a 1/4 moon with two ends like the one in picture, that is bolted in a groove to hold like a cam shaft or counter balance shaft in place.

 

That hole is very small. Pretty sure it is a broken snap ring. Cant figure out from where

 

It is so hard to get perspective in a singe picture. To me the end is to heavy built to be a snap ring. Going only by what I can see in single picture.

 

Yes I agree it is an external snap ring. I told my friend to change oil every 200 miles as well. He just left camp and it is burning oil , blue smoke when he gets on it hard. Smoke stops when he slows down. This is in glamis. I told him the motor is singing that song " nearer my god to thee". B Lol. Also save his oil change kit reciepts

 

Here they call them snap rings too:

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/b/performance-tool-4601/hardware---fasteners-16585/retaining-clips---connectors-25214/snap-rings---e-clips-19209/47f9e516add5/performance-tool-snap-ring-assortment/w5212/4614323/2007/chevrolet/avalanche?pos=22

 

Well after reading the responses, Im gonna go out on a limb and say that it was not in the oil pan. Looks to clean to have been stuck to the magnet for very long. My guess is that the plug was pulled, left on the allen wrench, hand went on the ground with the wrench still in it and it was picked up then 🤷‍♂️.....Like a guy stated earlier, Ive never seen any external clips like that inside the engines.

 

That is a Transmission or front diff drain plug.
They have the O ring seal and 8mm Allen
The engine has a copper crush washer and is 6mm allen

 

What PaulK said.

If your buddy drained the transmission and then filled the motor that could explain it smoking. It’s happened on here before.

 

Too thick to be a snap ring.

 

It's because the parts are close to the camera/phone when the pic was taken, look how large the small drain plug looks. At least 3-4 times bigger than it actually is.

 

turn the piece around, snap ring will have rounded edges on one side and squared off on the other like in pic !!

 

Before you condemn the motor for the burning oil, pull the charge pipes off the turbo and make sure there isn't a large amount of oil in the pipes. A turbo seal can burn oil too. I'm not sure how big the turbo drain pipe is returning to the motor but if its decent sized that snap ring fragment could be from the turbo. Not sure if the turbo has any snap rings in it, so just speculation.

 

So he ran it in the dunes with no tranny fluid. Well, I guess the tranny needs to come out anyway since one of the shafts has no snap ring

 

That is definitely the snap ring that breaks off or gets push off on the high gear in the transmission.
Very common problem.
Here's the fix; CryoHeat

 

That is definitely the snap ring that breaks off or gets push off on the high gear in the transmission.
Very common problem.
Here's the fix; CryoHeat

VERY common??? That's not good to hear. How common?

 

Depends on how hard you are on the transmission in high gear.
If your hitting big whoops full throttle.
Jumping with the throttle on a bit.
Big tune hauling across the desert.
Racing situations.... it's going to happen.