Bolt Inside my Engine

[longstand]

My engine got a Nut or a bolt inside the engine.

my engine is a OMC v6 3.8L

i have remove the intake manifold to clean it up. my kid knock maybe 1 or 2 nuts inside while the intake manifold was off.

what can i do to remove it. will the Nut just go into the Oil PAN..

What freak out. what should i do...???

what will happen now.

 

[Knightgang]

Re: Bolt Inside my Engine

Do you know what port hole they fell into? If they fell in through the intake manifold, it is a good chance they will wind up in the head and jam a valve, of even fall through the valve and into a cylinder and ruin it. I would disassemble until I found them. They could have fallen into a cooling passage, then they might flow all the way to the thermostat and jam it or block the water flow. Either way, they need to com eout before damage is done...

 

[1960vw]

Re: Bolt Inside my Engine

Go to Harbor Freight and get either a flex mangnet or a telescoping one and fish it out.

 

[longstand]

Re: Bolt Inside my Engine

Soory but there is no way for the nut to go into the piston.. if you seen a omc 3.8L V6. when you have remove the intake manifold there is some kind of a shaft. the nut got into that area. from my understanding. there is an upper crank and lower crank.... i hope the nut could just have fallen into the OIL pan..

Anyone know this engine. V6 OMC 3.8L.. i need feedback. please. i dont want to remove the whole engine. apart if i dont have to worry about it.. because if it had fallen into the Oil pan then i just remove the oil pan and it will be remove..

OMC master anyone?

 

[havasuboatman]

Re: Bolt Inside my Engine

Chances are pretty good that the nut and bolt are in the oil pan. You can slowly rotate the engine by putting a wrench on the crankshaft bolt. I would remove the sparkplugs so the engine turns over easily. If engine binds suddenly, you will know there is a problem. If there is no binding after several rotations, your parts are in the oil pan. They will stay there, but if it were me, I'd fish them out using 1960vw's suggestion first, If you know how many are down there. Otherwise, drop the pan.

 

[jtybt]

Re: Bolt Inside my Engine

Because there is no way to tell if the nut came to rest in a 'safe' place, it really hard to recommend anything BUT removing the engine to get it out.

 

[havasuboatman]

Re: Bolt Inside my Engine

Because there is no way to tell if the nut came to rest in a 'safe' place, it really hard to recommend anything BUT removing the engine to get it out.[/

I agree

 

[longstand]

Re: Bolt Inside my Engine

Chances are pretty good that the nut and bolt are in the oil pan. You can slowly rotate the engine by putting a wrench on the crankshaft bolt. I would remove the sparkplugs so the engine turns over easily. If engine binds suddenly, you will know there is a problem. If there is no binding after several rotations, your parts are in the oil pan. They will stay there, but if it were me, I'd fish them out using 1960vw's suggestion first, If you know how many are down there. Otherwise, drop the pan.

I have try that. thanks.. Engine TUrns normal

I turn the engine slowly and there is no problem at all..there is only 1 or 2 nuts that was drop..

the oil pan is really deep. so i will not remove the oil pan. i will just leave it there...i dont think any wave will bump the boat so hard for that nuts to jump up into the crank shaft...

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Bolt Inside my Engine

If you are going to leave the nut(s) in the oil pan I'd 5200 or JBweld a big 1" neo magnet to the bottom edge of the pan. If the nut got to the bottom of the pan (isn't stuck in a baffle) it will will migrate around the pan and when it goes by the magnet it will be stuck in place.

Personally, I would be hunting those nuts down, with my luck it would bite me in the...

It sounds like you are 100% sure it went into the valley, and then into the oil pan. But since you said the intake was off , I would think it's a possibility they dropped into the head's intake runners, unless they were blocked off. If you haven't done so yet, I would fish through the head's intake runners with a magnetic pickup tool.

You said it's a 3.8L engine with a balance shaft under the intake, sounds like a Buick 231.

 

[Aviator5]

Re: Bolt Inside my Engine

Can anyone explain how the nut can get into oil pan from intake, or exhaust manifold on 4-stroke engine?

 

[gettin'even]

Re: Bolt Inside my Engine

Can anyone explain how the nut can get into oil pan from intake, or exhaust manifold on 4-stroke engine?

Large hole in the top of the piston??


The nut would make it to the pan if it went down an oil return passage in the lifter valley area of the block. That's the only way.

 

[witenite0560]

Re: Bolt Inside my Engine

Sounds like it went into the camshaft area. It could fall from there into the pan, if you were lucky. Or it could sit somewhere lodged against the camshaft and ruin it, in short order. Or it could get jostled around and go somewhere worse. If you're not sure whether there was 1 or 2 or....., then I'd presume you can't be sure where they went. It's a lot of work, but as I see it, your only option is to find them and remove them.
Many years ago, my Dad and I were putting a 327 in a Model A pickup, not stock of course. Somehow there ended up being a couple of 1/2" long, round head, 1/8" stove bolts in the intake manifold. Must have been in there stuck to something. The engine was disassembled prior to us getting it and we'd completely overhauled it. The intake manifold had been cleaned in a solvent tank and rolled around numerous times, so we never did know when or how they ended up in it. We did know, as soon as we fired it up the first time! I still have the flattened bolt and ruined piston around somewhere. In the Air Force we call that FOD, Foreign Object Damage. Regardless of whether it's a car, boat or aircraft, it's never a good thing and always expensive.
I'd be fishing a magnet through every nook and cranny I could on top, then through the oil drain hole. If I don't find them and remove them, it'd be time to take it out and apart until I can.

 

[Aviator5]

Re: Bolt Inside my Engine

Large hole in the top of the piston??


The nut would make it to the pan if it went down an oil return passage in the lifter valley area of the block. That's the only way.

And how can it get from intake or exhaust manifold into the oil return passage?
the only option here is a large hole in the piston

 

[CharlieB]

Re: Bolt Inside my Engine

My engine got a Nut or a bolt inside the engine.
my engine is a OMC v6 3.8L
i have remove the intake manifold to clean it up. my kid knock maybe 1 or 2 nuts inside while the intake manifold was off.
what can i do to remove it. will the Nut just go into the Oil PAN..
What freak out. what should i do...???
what will happen now.

It's time to freak out, just a little.

NOT knowing how many nuts or where they are would cause me serious doubts about running that engine at all.

WHAT nuts, are they steel or SS? A magnet may NOT work very well on SS.

With the intake off, how do you know if they fell into an exposed intake port or the lifter valley?

Just because you can bar the motor over now doesn't mean that a nut laying against the backside of an intake valve will not later move and hang the valve open, only to have the piston attempt to close it.

I would be spending DAYS, standing on my head with a good flashlight and dental mirror, inspecting every intake port very carefully to be POSITIVELY SURE that no nut or bolt was lurking in there waiting to later cause me great grief and destruction.

Same with the lifter valley, a nut or bolt later shifting position and getting 'pinched' by a cam lobe or balance shaft would absolutely ruin my day.

I once lost FIVE more pistons and cracked two cyl in my BBC due to a small piece of piston skirt from #7 repeatedly bouncing back up off the crank and contacting other pistons and cracking their skirts.

Maybe I'm paranoid, but if it were me, I'd be spending a few bucks for NEW batteries for my flashlight!

 

[Aviator5]

Re: Bolt Inside my Engine

It's time to freak out, just a little.

NOT knowing how many nuts or where they are would cause me serious doubts about running that engine at all.

WHAT nuts, are they steel or SS? A magnet may NOT work very well on SS.

With the intake off, how do you know if they fell into an exposed intake port or the lifter valley?

Just because you can bar the motor over now doesn't mean that a nut laying against the backside of an intake valve will not later move and hang the valve open, only to have the piston attempt to close it.

I would be spending DAYS, standing on my head with a good flashlight and dental mirror, inspecting every intake port very carefully to be POSITIVELY SURE that no nut or bolt was lurking in there waiting to later cause me great grief and destruction.

Same with the lifter valley, a nut or bolt later shifting position and getting 'pinched' by a cam lobe or balance shaft would absolutely ruin my day.

I once lost FIVE more pistons and cracked two cyl in my BBC due to a small piece of piston skirt from #7 repeatedly bouncing back up off the crank and contacting other pistons and cracking their skirts.

Maybe I'm paranoid, but if it were me, I'd be spending a few bucks for NEW batteries for my flashlight!

That is exactly what i'm trying to say. If those nuts fell into either manifold they will be in it or in the cylinder, but never in the oil pan. I'd take the head off.

 

[Maclin]

Re: Bolt Inside my Engine

I am with CharlieB and Aviator on this one. Not knowing how many went where is a big problem. They can get into the intake port as described earlier and work a valve stem into failing eventually, then that could hole a piston. Follow their advice.

 

[bonzoscott]

Re: Bolt Inside my Engine

Just take the heads off.

 

[funk6294]

Re: Bolt Inside my Engine

Dont rotate the motor over. Right now the last place the nuts are going to be is in the oil pan. If they fell down one of the holes in the lifter gallery then they are likely sitting on top of the cam. I would start by getting a flashlight and looking around really good. You may also want to do an inventory on nuts and bolts to try and determine how many are really missing. If that doesnt work, the only other option is to start tearing the motor down. If you can pull the pan off and take the cam out you should be able to find/dislodge your missing hardware.

 

[gettin'even]

Re: Bolt Inside my Engine

That is exactly what i'm trying to say. If those nuts fell into either manifold they will be in it or in the cylinder, but never in the oil pan. I'd take the head off.

Re-read the original post. He said the intake was off when the nuts fell into the engine. They are either in an intake port, or went through an oil passage in the lifter valley leading back to the oil pan.

 

[longstand]

Re: Bolt Inside my Engine

I i mention. i have to remove the intake manifold to clean and replace gasket and i had to clean the water passage around the head..

well i accidentally push a bucket full of nuts and bolts for the engine..
i did count every single one and i was only missing 1 nuts which is metal. not SS... I will take one of you guys great idea by putting a powerfull magnet in the buttom of the pan just to be safe...

and also i dont know who mention this but. YEs. i did find 1 bolts in the Intake Lifters. LOL 1 in each lifters.. Thank got i did not turn the engine. if so that bolt was going to make contact with the piston and then iam fXck...

Thanks alot for all your Comment's. and idea.. and no HEll no. iam not going to take my head off.. LOL. that's a lot of job..