I had the valve cover off the drivers side--85 L98, I installed Alot of steel braided hoses on engine, and somehow I left a small screw on the plenum, and it fell off and into one of the oil drain holes where the valve cover goes. I believe its the 2nd hole from the back, I went to autozone and got a magnetic stick and tried to fish it out, but instead the engine got my bait....and the little magnet piece fell out the end--- , I don't think I can get the parts out from above on my own. I'm no mechanic at all....someone at autozone mentioned-checking in the oil pan, but wouldn't the screw have to go through parts first--cam, crank.? Any suggestions please. My car is Low to the ground and I don't believe I can lift it up to check out oil pan--has ground effects, I don't want to start is Yet--till I get some more opinions---So now I have a Small Screw and tiny magnet piece....thanks

 

Leave it in there, it will be fine..your going to have to take the oil pan off. To get the car in the air you can use drive on ramps with wood in front of the ramps so the incline is'nt so steep. Otherwise the ground fx are goin to scrape the ramps. The pan won't be too bad to do.

 

Well, you can't pickup a magnet with a magnet-soooooo, run a clothes hanger (steel) down the hole, hopefully the magnet will attach to it and come out-if the screw you dropped was stainless a magnet won't do any good anyhow-stainless is non-magnetic. Get it up in the air and pull the pan-you might get lucky. But that's what I'd do. Good luck.

 

I agree with the above also, I wouldn't drop the pan yet........ The screw is still up top right? I would get a gallon of diesel fuel and pour it down the suspect screw hole and wash it down to the pan. The diesel is cheap and is oil based so it won't hurt a thing. Then, I would drain the pan, the "extra thin" mix should flush your screw out the drain hole. If not it will be real close. Get an extra strong strotium magnet on a stick and fish it around the bottom of the pan until you find it. I have done this before and it worked.

 

Not trying to scare you, but look what happened to me when I lost something in my engine:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/showthread.php?t=920610

 

Do not start the engine or you could be in real trouble try to fish it out somehow if not you will have to take the head of an get it

 

I was thinking of you Timmy when I read this!!

Hope everything is going to be alright with your baby!

 

Pull the intake manifold off.. you should be able to access it from the lifter valley.. this is a hell of alot easier than pulling the oil pan off!!

 

Hmmm - that's debateable on an L98.

 

Do you have any friends that are mechanics?

If you could get a scope that will let you look into the hole for the bolt, (I fogot what they are called but they use a light and optics to look in hard to look at areas like pistons through the spark plug hole) you will know if it is in the lifter valley.

 

Borescope

 

Pulling a head won't help. It went down through an oil drain back hole in the HEAD. If you're feeling lucky, both items are probably still in the valley. You will probably find them by removing the intake manifold. If you use a flash light and bend your head all around, you MAY actually be able to see them. Knowing where they are, is half the battle.

RACE ON!!!

 

I agree. I have my L98 intake off right now. If it didn't roll around too much it is most likely still in the cam valley. Get a strong light and look down the the holes where the push rods travel to the lifters. You can probably see what your after trough those holes.

 

Get the intake off. If you haven't run it then it is probably stuck (hey its a magnet!) to the lifter valley. The drain holes in an L98 are in the front and back of the valley with none in the middle (if I am remembering it correct). How strong of a magnet is it?

 

Scorp has it right. The drain holes in the lifter valley are in the front and the back. The back ones are the size of nickels and are located one each in the back corners of the lifter valley floor. The front ones (two of them) are the size of quarters and located in the in each front corner on the cam drive gear wall.

 

Not to sound ignorant, but I haven't the slightest clue how to remove the intake manifold--nevertheless the fuel assembly--I removed the plenum/runners to have polished, but I couldn't remove the manifold--I think it was the fuel rail I couldn't remove--whats the trick to removing that? the hole that the screw and magnet fell in was in the back of valve cover, towards the manifold---removing those parts are a SERIOUS headache--just want to make sure that the parts could be just under the manifold first ? thanks--oh--what kind of damage could those small parts do? I saw the pics of that nut that got in the actual piston cylinder--but this is outside the cylinder...hmmm

 

If you have had the plenum and the runners off then you were 75% there. The fuel rail is held down by four bolts and the friction created by the injector o-rings that seat in the intake manifold. You will also need to disconnect the fuel lines near the front of the engine. Once that is done, a careful tug and out pops the fuel rail along with all eight injectors (don't forget to disconnect the injector electrical connections). But before that you will need to pull the distributor out. That is probably the trickiest part of the whole thing but not hard once you understand what to do. After the fuel rail and distributor are out, it's ten bolts and your home free. There are tons of good threads on this site that discuss how to put it all back together so it won't leak. Just do a search. Also, invest in a good shop manual. It will save the hair on your head assuming you have any left after dropping the screw.

To answer your question, I would give away my first born before I started my L98 with a loose screw in it. Don't tell my wife I said that.

The intake really isn't that hard. Just take your time, take good notes and have lots of little zip lock bags around to keep track of all the parts. In the end, you will have a nicely sealed intake that shouldn't leak oil and new gaskets and o-rings for the injectors. And best of all, no worries about a loose screw waiting to ruin your day.

 

I also suggest covering up all the holes you have open and blowing all the dirt and crap away from the injector bung before removing the injectors. I forgot to do this when I replaced mine and was paranoid for months after reinstalling everything fearing sand and crap had fallen into the injector bungs.

 

You sound like you're just learning to turn wrenches, so here's a quick suggestion on removing your distributor so you can get your intake off, and reinstall with minimum trouble timing the car.

Remove the cap, noting which wire goes to cylinder #1. Turn the engine over with a socket on the harmonic balancer until the timing marks on the balancer line up (0 degrees). Now look where the rotor is pointing. It will either be pointing to where #1 wire goes, or will be 180 degrees off from that. If it's 180 off, rotate the engine one full turn until it's on #1 and the timing marks line up.

Now, scribe a mark on the outer distributor body and intake so that you can line them back up when you reinstall. Scribe another mark INSIDE the distributor body relative to the shaft....a thin coating of white correction fluid works good. Now remove the distributor. When you go to reinstall, simply ensure that the balancer is still at 0 degrees and line the marks up. It will be timed exactly like before you took it apart.

Now.....to get that pesky screw and magnet out....remove the intake.

The nice thing about something like this happening to you is that it only happens once. I bet you make damn sure all holes are plugged next time. Good luck.

 

To follow up on the above, I take a small piece of masking tape and a felt marking pen and label each plug wire close to the dist.-then make a mark on the dist. cap where # 1 is. I also mark on the engine where the rotor is pointing. I never turn the engine over after removing the Dist. just makes it easier to remember.