I'm doing a head swap and managed to drop one of the lifter tray hold down bolts into the engine. So now I have to drop the pan

Anyways, I have a cherry picker and still have the heads off the car. Would it be easier to unbolt the motor mounts and use the cherry picker to lift the engine enough to clear the k-member, or am I stuck dropping the k-member similar to the 'in car rod bolt replacement' write up?

Any other suggestions? Thank you

 

I've never had the PCV plate of either....Is therre anyway to fish it out that way with a magnet?

 

I've dropped a bolt and a razor blade in my motor. For the bolt I was able to locate it with a magnet and pull it to the oil drain. For the razor blade I dropped the pan and used a pen magnet to fish it out. I had the tranny/flexplate off when I did the razor blade so I had more room and could see in there better.

 

Well if it's actually IN the oil pan why don't you just drain the oil, drop the oil pan and fish it out with a pen magnet? You can drop the pan far enough to do an oil pump swap without having to pull the engine or drop the k-member. This should give you enough room to fish it outta there ;-)

 

Pull your knock sensors out, as well as the plate. You can fit a pen magnet down one of the two holes, and go into the oil pan to fish it out.

 

thats what i would try. or drain the oil and fish around the drain hole with a magnet maybe its close by

 

Thanks for the ideas guys. I removed the PCV plate and knock sensors - and definetely don't think that will work. I also dropped the pan and attempted to fish it out like that with no luck.

I have to replace my clutch anyways so the next step is to remove the trans and see if that gives me more clearance to try to fish the bolt out. If not I guess I'll have to use the cherry picker to lift the engine enough to drop the pan a little further.

 

Where did you drop it that it went all the way down? How do you know it reached the pan?

 

lightly knock on the bottom of the EMPTY pan with a rubber mallet...It should make the bolt clang around in the pan if it is in fact there.

 

Did you get that bolt out yet?
Hope you get it out.
Good luck.
Have a and try it again..
Bill

 

good luck bro! dump some oil through the motor so the bolt can maybe come out! or use a air compressor to blow it out to the pan!