1997 Avalon Oil Pan litter

[AnotherOldJeepGuy]

My son pulled his oil pan to put in a new gasket, and maybe a new pan cause the drain plug location  is a little messed up / bent, and he sent me the pic below.  He said he doesn't really see where the chips in the pan came from.  The car is running well just has an oil leak.  Any thoughts on where these might have come from?  I'm going to ask him to double check they are really metal with a magnet, cause just from the pic it looks like it could possibly be pieces of the old gasket to me, but all I have to go by is the pic.  Any thoughts?

 

[The86manche]

That doesn't look like metal shards. Looks more like nylon timing chain guide pieces. I bet the timing chain tensioner guide is worn. Or someone replaced it a while back and left the mess in the pan.

[AnotherOldJeepGuy]

I went over a took a look and it turns out these were not metal, and it just looks like pieces of RTV from removing the pan.  So doesn't look like there's a problem here!  Glad it wasn't metal pieces afterall!