so i finally got around to borrowing the needed tools to drill and screw my cover to hold the kdp, and i just got done drilling and counter sinking. went to tap the threads and "pop"...... apparently the truck has previously been drilled to kill the KDP and the bolt was countersunk well and covered in gunk so i couldnt tell it had been done before. so now what in the world do i do??? i NEED to have my truck running in time for work in the morning. do i need to take the cover off and check what the status of the old bolt is, now that i accidentally drilled straight through it?? i cant tap the old bolt to make room for a new bolt???? idk what to do i dont have a crank seal or a gasket for the timing cover, and i would have to use RTV if i need to pop the cover off. my biggest worry is now i have a hole in the side of my timing case and currently cant put anything in it to plug it, and now that the old bolt has been drilled through, im not sure if thats damaged or dropped into the case?? HELP PLEASE

 

if you drilled the head out of the blocking bolt/screw definetly would not start it.

get a ride to work!

take the cover off and tab it when you have time.

if you did not drill through, you might be able to use a magnet to help fish the whole bolt out carefully.

 

What was the "pop"?
The tap breaking?
If you drilled all the way though the bolt I don't see how much could be left of it to cause damage.

 

yeah, I don't really understand what happened here

 

well i ended up diving into the cover, and i drilled out the head and all of the top of the bolt, so 1/2 of the bolt was still in tact and actually dropped right in the grooves of the gears. i was able to get the case gasket to come off in one piece, and will just lightly rtv it for re assemble...... im off to put things back together, and will talk more once the truck is back up and running or if i have any issues upon re install

 

sounds like you're gettin' it done!

good luck w/ it

 

IM done, test drove and all is well - Kinda...... there is a small small oil coating along some of the bottom of the timing cover gasket area, so at some point I will have to get back in there and put a new crank seal and gasket on the timing cover, but other than that ALL IS WELL

forrest nearing...... and all the other confused members here is what happened:
i was going to be pro active and drill and bolt my kdp, i tore into it this afternoon, and put the jig down without cleaning and checking the area to see if a previous owner had ever done the KDP..... so i went on and drilled and counter sunk my hole..... took the jig off the timing case and went to tap the hole, and after about 3 turns on the tap "pop" i had broken the head of the previous owners KDP bolt...... thats right i just drilled clean through the bolt that was already in the case. so i had to now get into the cover to find out what happened to the rest of the bolt.....

when i drilled in to the bolt i drilled through the bolt shaft perfectly and as i bottomed out my drill bit on the stopper i drilled just far enough to cut the remaining portion of the bolt free and cause it to FALL INTO THE GEARS....... so i was very thankful to get into the case and deal with things the right way

 

yikes! well, I always recomend tabbing the KDP anyhow

 

well said.

was the dowel pin working it's way out?

 

I guess the moral of this story is to clean before you drill.

 

So true, and i should have know better seeing as i work on cars all day long ("B" level technician)

thankfully the pin was flush with the surface of the timing cover, and didnt appear to be anywhere near working its way out, thats why i didnt bother with tabbing it. if it was moving out of the timing case any then i would have tapped it back in and tabbed it, but since it was still seated in place, im not too worried about it. i guess if i develop a reasonable leak from either the crank seal or cover gasket, then i will tab it when i get back in to re seal all that stuff, but as far as i can tell i was the luckiest SOB out there and was able to re use my crank seal and cover gasket w/ some rtv and only what looks like a drop or 2 of oil from time to time

yet again thanks alot guys

 

true that.

 

Or use the better of the two methods of addressing the KDP.