General Maintenance & Repairs - Help! Some huge bolt fell off, need help to identify

Sounds silly I know. But this night after some testing on the road I heard sound like smth. small fell off, stopped and saw huge bolt on the road. I don't remember seeing such bolt anywhere. K-member bolts are similar size but it's not one of them... It was 5am so I was dead tired and couldn't return to base to check everything...
Help!

Wow,that is a generic Gm bolt that fit in any of a dozen places. :(

Wow,that is a generic Gm bolt that fit in any of a dozen places. :(I don't think it was anywhere in the front suspension. Although, the bolt was hot when I picked it up, so might be from the front still. It has that large plate under the head that is almost 2" in diameter, not very common...

I don't think it was anywhere in the front suspension. Although, the bolt was hot when I picked it up, so might be from the front still. It has that large plate under the head that is almost 2" in diameter, not very common...

Check your k-member as that looks like one of the 6-8 (can't remember the exact amount) that hold it to the body.

Torque arm bolt?

How long is it? Hard to tell in the pic, but that almost looks like a brake caliper bolt or something else in that general area. Could explain why it was warm if it came from near the wheels

http://sdparts.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/product_full/12557840.jpg

Check your balancer bolt.

http://sdparts.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/product_full/12557840.jpg

Check your balancer bolt.:eek2: is that even possible???
Bacon: it's about 4" long, 14-16mm diameter

Its very possible. Plus thats a balancer bolt you took a picture of lol.

I was thinking the balancer also haha

Yes DEFINATELY the balancer bolt. DO NOT drive the car anymore till you confirm that it does or does not have a bolt in the balancer. A balancer coming off while the engine is running is a very bad situation.

Do they fell off like that? :O :O :O In Nissan world it's hard to even loosen that bolt, and GM bolts fall off by themselves??? I just wonder how does that pulley still stays there

Its very possible. Plus thats a balancer bolt you took a picture of lol.

thats what it looks like to me too...........check it before you drive it again.

have you changed balancers or pulled the old one for motor work in the past?

you should always use a new bolt on install or restall.

it might not of been torqued to speck on install or the pulley was never on 100%.or some one reused an old bolt.....thats a couple of reasons they fall out.

good luck!

That's not good...:eek2:

No I haven't touched it since I bought the car in 2007....

New bolts and red loctite.

Is new bolt really that necessary?? I don't want to be off the road for 2 weeks just for the balancer bolt

Definitely a balancer bolt. I would put a new balancer bolt in with some red Loctite and tighten it down with an impact and you should be good to go. Your local GM dealership should have that bolt in stock so you shouldn't have much down time at all.

I don't have GM dealership as such :) everything must be ordered, 1.5-2 weeks wait time...
I just wonder what's the need for new bolt for such a thing? It's not head or bearing caps where torque is crucial...

Vetal, a few very capable people have said you need a new bolt... for the amount of catastrophe that could happen IF that bolt failed after re-installation... I'd say it's worth the wait and minimal cost to do it right and have that piece of mind. Just my $.02...

That bolt is torque to yield and requires a certain torque sequence. not replacing it with a new bolt risks the balancer spinning freely and damaging the crank shaft. I had one come loose years ago when a mechanic doing a motor swap for me failed to use a new bolt and the balancer rounded off a chunk of the crankshaft as well as the messing up the front cover seal. I ended needing a new crank. Is it worth the risk not replacing it? Also you could probably find one on ebay.de if your creative in your search and have it in less than a week.

its a stretch bolt and should be replaced

yes of cause this is right, funny thing is, I was tuning the car for 2 events that will be tomorrow :)

I just wonder what's the need for new bolt for such a thing? It's not head or bearing caps where torque is crucial...

That's a TTY bolt.

If you don't want to use the GM TTY bolt you can pick up a ARP bolt. Use red loctite on the threads and their moly lube on both sides of the washer and be prepared to use a big ass breaker bar. I think its like 240 ft lbs or something stupid like that.

Big-ass breaker bar is not a problem, but how would I lock the crank? I tried locking one of torque converter's pad against ground, but at ~120lbs*ft whole nose starts to rise
edit: yes this was the balancer bolt :(( how lucky I was to loose it at 40mph not 120

Big-ass breaker bar is not a problem, but how would I lock the crank? I tried locking one of torque converter's pad against ground, but at ~120lbs*ft whole nose starts to rise
edit: yes this was the balancer bolt :(( how lucky I was to loose it at 40mph not 120

flywheel holding tool is needed for an auto car, for manual guys the e brake and 4th gear works.

His location shows as "Latvia" northern EU I believe. Does anyone have a Spec for this bolt? maybe he can get one locally, they do have cars there.

No problem, I'm ordering the bolt tomorrow and it will be here in about 11 days. As far as I remember service manual says 37lbs and then 140 degrees more, BUT before this OLD bolt must be installed with 240lbs*ft which is huge. Damn that's twice the torque typical Honda makes :O
I don't know, this whole "240lbs" thing looks stupid and crazy to me.