So, let me start off by saying this is my first time working on a v6, and that I am usually a good mechanic, but for some reason am making the stupidest mistakes on this car.....

I bought this car with an oil leak on the backside of the intake manifold near the firewall. All I had to do was take the intake manifold off, and run the bead of gasket sealent on it and stick the intake manifold back on to fix it. Well I got it off finally, and forgot to cover up the dist. hole. When I went to pull the intake off the 2 washers to the stud closest to the dist. fell into the hole. When I tried to get them out one fell farther into the dist. hole. Also after that I dropped a nut into the valley where the cam is. My question to you guys is, am I going to have to pull the cam out to get to these items. And where does the hole from the distributor go to the crank? It seems pretty deep right under the back of the cam.....I wish I knew more about these motors, and appreciate and help you can give me........

 

Try fishing with a small pen-magnet . Autozone sells 'em. Don't get the big massive one (tho you can try it) but one of the smaller ones.

Otherwise, yank the intake completely off (NOT FUN. Have to remove the valve covers, to get the base off!) then you should be able to get to them.


FOR GOODNESS SAKE DO NOT SPIN THE MOTOR OVER WITH THOSE IN THERE!!!

 

yeah no ****, thats why i'm so angry, cause i can't just forget about....


also I've got the entire intake off it was a beech.... thats why they fell in there cause the intake was off and the holes were uncovered.....

 

Do you have the base intake off? The very most bottom, so you are staring at the lifter valley?

 

Did that go through? It doesn't show me as having the last post in this thread!

 

You can get the long magnet and grabbing thing as a set for like $3 at my autozone. They should come out easy.

Would of been worse if it fell down the intake with an open valve. then trying to fish them out the spark plug hole.

 

I have all intakes off i'm looking at the cam throught the holes...

 

If you still can't get to it, it may have fallen all the way to the oil pump/into the oil pan. Might try going under, then.

 

A bad distributor o-ring will look like an oil leak from the manifold back there; are you sure it wasn't just the o-ring? Either way, when you put the dist back in, replace the current hard-as-plastic o-ring on the distributor shaft with a new "one inch inside diameter, 1/8th inch thick" o-ring.

Well first it'll pass the back of the camshaft where the distributor gear mates to the cam gear. Then the hole goes to the oil pump. There should be a hex shaft sticking up (might have been stuck in the distributor gear's bottom when you pulled out the distributor), that's the oil pump drive.

So I guess it's possible that the washer made it past the oil pump and is just sitting in the bottom of the pan?

I'm not quite sure how well the oil pump fits up against the block. If it creates a tight seal, then the washer is just laying against the top of the oil pump. If the hex drive shaft is still in the dist hole, use a long pair of needle nose pliers to pull it up and out. Then use your magnet-on-a-stick to see if you can pull the washers out.

I dunno about the lifter valley tho; after it opens up to the cam, doesn't it then open up to the crankshaft?

Could the oil get drained, and then the magnet-on-a-stick be used to probe around inside the oil pan, thru the drain hole, to see if anything gets picked up?

 

BTW - you should be staring at the hole that the distributor was in. Did you pull the oil pump pushrod out with the distributor? If not, maybe the washer is around it

 

And yes, TomP, that's my next suggestion to him

 

If it made its way into the oil pan you are probably safe.
I dropped the cam roll pin on a 302 ford once into the pan. I just get a new one and left the one in the pan there. It never hurt anything. It eventually cam out during an oil change.

 

only thing i pulled out was the dist. i looked really good in that hole, its not anywhere in site, it prolly fell to the pan.... if the hole under the back of the cam goes to the pan....

 

well i'm still worried about the nut i lost in the lifter valley under the cam....

 

under the cam = in the oil pan.

The crankshaft is under the pan, yes, but I can't think of anywhere it'd sit - unless one of the crank counterweights is JUST right that it landed, didn't bounce (unlikely - steel is ELASTIC), and just sat there.

Fish in the oil pan.

 

hopefully they are just in the oil pan, so should i just pull the pan and hope for the best?.,....

 

I don't know.

Can you get access to the oil pan with the timing cover removed??
anyone?


Most times you gotta lift the motor to remove a pan. and honestly it can be a pain, gotta remove motor mounts n crap. Might be easier to just go ahead and install a new timing chain. If you can get access there. Then ya just fish around with the magnet in the pan. Will probably pick up other tiny bits of metal.

 

Yes, you can get to the front of the pan (not the sump in the back) from the timing cover... Me, I'd fish down around the cam and crank, or drain the oil, and fish through the drain hole.

 

yea, pulling the pan would be a PITA. that would be a last resort. id fish around w/ that magnet for as long as you can to try and find it. its not enough of a "plug" to stop the oil pump from sucking up oil so youd be good there, and if its not on the cam or anywhere around it, youre pretty safe in assuming that itll be in the pan. personally, id probably pull the pan, but thats just how i am with stuff like that. i wont roll the dice on that chance. i dont have the greatest luck w/ that crap, lol. i hope everything works out for you man, good luck.

 

I had to replace my oil pan after getting run off the road and hitting the only chuck cement found on the HWY.

It's not fun pulling the pan, but not that hard either. Just a lot of diconect this so you can get to that. I had to diconnect the the Y pipe from the manifolds so I didn't bust any exhuast mounts. You have to the engine up about an inch and a half in order to have enough clearance. I also removed the starter to make it easier to ge to the pass side manifold to y pipe bolts. Don't forget to remove the dist cap or you smash it into the firewall. I removed the nut from the trany mount so it could move with out damaging anything, but didn't remove the trany mount. Hardest part was getting the oil pan bolts back on. after that it was easy.

Here's some pictures of the damage. Also a picture of the engine hoist safley lifting the engine.

http://f1.pg.briefcase.yahoo.com/bc/...view=l&.src=bc

Also if your engine mounts are crapy now is a good time to replace them. I should have done it, but my back was hurting from a previous injury and I was laying on a cold drive way in Jan.

 

so i fished around a bit for them with a magnet with no luck, so i just assume they went to the oil pan?

whats under the cam? the crank and oil pan?

and in the dist hole? the crank and pan also?