I'm in the middle of replacing my cylinder head gasket. I was removing a intake bolt when it slipped from my fingers and fell down a push rod hole. I grabbed a magnet and was able to grab something. I started to pull it out when it fell off. I heard the object strike sheetmetal and assume that it landed in the pan. The forward portion of the pan must be dry because it really rang. If the bolt landed in the pan, then I assume that I'll be OK. It'll eventually vibrate into the sump and stay there. There is a screen on the pickup-right? I just started wondering if maybe, just maybe I could have grabbed onto the lifter and pulled it out of the bore? I don't think the magnet would have been strong enough to do that, but I would like your input. What do I do?

 

I would drop the pan. There is no way I would fire up an $8,000 engine knowing that there is a bolt bouncing around somewhere inside it. Course- that's just me ;D

 

I agree. Personallly I would not even crank the engine over until I located and phsyically removed that bolt. Chances are that you could run the engine and nothing would happen, but I can't afford to take a chance like that. Can you ....??<br>Tough break, but these things happen.

 

On my 4x4, book pay,s 7 hours to replace the oil pan. wrecked my truck and tore out every thing under front end, hole in pan. Of course , after the shop torch cut the front drive train out, it probally did not take that long to do. they said it still was a bi*#h. I would pull the pan!!! :'(

 

Yea, I suppose you guys are right. I'll have to pull the pan. :'(

 

If you have a strong magnet and the oil is drained from the pan, you can run the magnet along the bottom of the pan and try to drag it to the drain hole. I have done this to remove small parts from friends engines both gas and diesel. Also Snap On has a magnet with a 4 foot spring shaft that is very flexible and will pick up a head bolt

 

Do not attempt to turn the motor until the bolt is in hand. I do not know how tight a clearance the rods and crank counterweights have with the pan but the last thing you want is to punch the bolt through the bottom of the pan with the reciprocating assembly.<br><br>Bummer of task to have to do.

 

I drained the oil and tried to fish it out. Because of the shape of the pan a regular magnet on the end of a rod won't reach. It tried to put a magnet on a piece of copper wire, but I came up empty handed. I'll see if I can get a hold of my snap-on dealer for that spring magnet. I was thinking about trying to move it with a magnet through the pan as suggested, but I havn't had a change to try it.

 

In an earlier email you said it sounded as tho the bolt hit bare metal. It may be caught up high. Try banging on the bottom of the pan with a hammer (but not hard enought to dent anything) and see if you can vibrate it lower and closer to the drain hole. It may help to jack the truck up to provide more of a slope. If there is a lot of sludge in the bottom of the pan this may not work as the sludge will act as a sort of glue.<br>Good luck!!

 

When I was poking around in the pan, it didn't seem like there was much sludge at all. Actually, I was rather supprised at how little there was. Does anybody know what the side plate (near the lifters and under the injection pump) is made of? I'm just wondering if the bolt could have hit that instead of the pan.

 

The lifter gallery cover is just stamped metal. That is the cover some people blow off when pressurizing block doing KDP jig fix. Definitely could be the noise.

 

Cord, after looking at a picture that shows the rocker gallery with cover removed there is no way it can get to pan. The bolt is probably in a &quot;blind&quot; space between cylinder lifters. Get a magnet on a flexible shaft and try that. I'll send the picture to you.

 

I was looking at a simular picture. It's hard to see, but I believe that there are some drain holes between every other pushrod. I'm told that these holes are big enough to let the bolt fall through. It doesn't really matter though. With my luck, which ever I take off is where the bolt won't be. :'( It's all wet and rainny until the weekend, so the project is on hold until then.

 

Well, did you find that bolt down the drain hole?

 

Yep! I got under the truck and with a rubber mallet, I rapped on the pan. I could hear it vibrate inside. I tried jacking up the front of the truck, but I couldn't get it to slide into the sump. I pulled the pan down and realized that it must have been caught in front of the oil pick up tube. Even if it had fallen into the sump, I would of had a very tough time fishing it out. The recessed drain plug creates a lip about 1-1/2&quot; high that you would have to reach over. In hindsight, the bolt would have been ok if I had left it in the pan.<br><br>I want to thank all of you for your help and input!