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I ended up buying a used ls3 engine. It seems as though someone broke the coolant steam pipe nozzle off in the head. Then someone tried to get it out with an easy out which broke.
I drilled one out but the other fell into the head when drilling. So I am left with a small piece of metal in the coolant passages that cant exit via the steam tubes.
Any smart ideas how to get it out without removing the head? Will a small bit of metal in the coolant passages effect operation?
I think you need to remove the head to get it out. Better safe than sorry. You man not have any problems but there is always the possibility that it causes an obstruction leading to overheating. Could also get into the water pump and cause a failure.
Question, where does that steam passage go. Does it drop into the block cooling passages? If so, when I pull the head wouldn't the piece be inside the block?
There's the distinct possibility that it dropped down into the block cooling passages, but, the passages are big enough to at least attempt to get the metal out with a pen magnet. You can't even try that with the heads on.
If you leave it in there you run the risk of a blockage and possibly destroying your engine. Right now you haven't moved the engine around and forced the metal further into your engine. To me it's worth the price of a set of gaskets and head bolts for the peace of mind of having that metal out of my engine...
I understand. Is there any way to get it out without removing the heads such as flushing the passages with water with no water pump on and the freeze plug out? The issue I have is the metal that's in there is aluminium so a pen magnet won't get it.
Those look like the plugs that are placed at the rear of the heads. to prevent the block offs from leaking.
You typically have to knock them out with the heads off. Since you have ARP head bolts, I would pull the heads and pop them out. Then you can extract the loose piece in the block.
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Oops!!! Metal in coolant passage now... 
