I think I "might" have dropped a 10mm bolt down the plenum today. I didn't see it go down there, but I searched high and low in the engine valley under the truck, on the frame, the floor, you name it. The thing is I don't feel comfortable putting everything back together unless I either find it laying around or I am certain it didn't go down the plenum.

My plan is to take the plenums off and root around with an endoscope, shop vac and a few other tips I picked up from another thread which a guy did the same thing as me. If I do not see it after I take off the plenums could the bolt have potentially made it past the valves? Any other suggestions if I don't see anything?

 

The plenums have a mesh just inside the opening expressly designed to catch a dropped bolt like that. Inspect that mesh and if you don't see the bolt it fell someplace else.

Where did the bolt come from?

Removing the plenums means you need to reinstall them and that's a hassle.

If anybody wants to run a pool on location of the missing bolt, put my money on the square that says "gooey spot just in front of rear valley drainage hole".

 

Not all plenums have that wire mesh stuff. I know mine doesn't, have heard of others dropping a bolt recently that also didn't have the mesh

Paper towels stuffed in it or even a "surgical"/nitrile glove stretched over the opening is your friend

 

That just sucks i hope you find it before you have to dig deeper!
i put rags in mine when i was rebuilding my turbo, although i forgot to take them out and put the spider back together, i was not happy having to take it apart again, yes i figured i out before i started the truck!

 

I'll see if I can find that recent thread where this happened to another FTE'r. Perhaps some advice or wisdom can be gleaned from it.

 

Found it: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...se-advise.html

 

losing original bolts and screws is infuriating but it happens. I don't believe the plenums on mine have the mesh either so I have been careful to stuff rags down in there the one or two times I've had the spider off. I sure as heck wouldn't run the engine until you're fairly certain it ain't in there. Some soft rubber caps to fit over those holes would be a nice idea for covering those but I am trying to picture what those would normally be used for.

 

I recently retrieved a razor blade from inside my exhaust manifold by reaching through the collector and up pipe. I broke the end off a telescoping magnet and attached it to a piece of wire.


Maybe something similar would work.

 

I seriously doubt it could get past an open valve. But no promises!

The recent thread you mentioned and Sous linked should have some good info and ideas.

 

Yep...a royal pain! ha ha. I'm a noob at this and thought I would attempt replacing my cac boots and maybe get adventurous and take on the foil delete!

So far I've gotten as far as removing the spider, but after I removed the sensor plugs, I noticed a 10mm bolt at the bottom with what to me at the time appeared to be a flat grounding cable (it was covered in grease so, I didn't know what I was looking at). It was the only thing holding back the spider so I decided to take it out. Once I got it out the cable that the strap was hooked to pulled and the bolt disappeared into the ether. My plenums were open and I don't have the mesh on the inside of mine, so I have no idea where the bolt went. I am scouring every inch of my garage floor with a sweeper magnet and I'm getting ready to do one more expedition into the engine bay before I start removing parts. I did read the thread of the guy with the van and I very much feel his pain. Thanks for posting that.

I stuck a camera down the plenums and didn't see anything, but I feel like I need to take them off to know for sure. What I don't know yet is what I'll do if I don't find anything...roll the dice and start it up or dig deeper and pull the heads? uggg.

Thank you all for the replies. I'll keep you posted on what I find.

 

Does anybody know how large of an opening there is at the valve? Could a 10mm x 3/4" bolt go all the way, given the opening size?

 

I don't know when they started installing the mesh but I have a 99.5 block that did not have it.

 

My 2000 made in December of 1999 DOES have the mesh.

EDIT: Due to some other maintenance I identified my plenums do NOT have the screens.

 

Could a 10mm x 3/4" bolt go all the way, given the opening size?

I would doubt the valve opens that far. Can you see any of the valves now as they sit, to judge their opening size?

P.S. - I can relate to your fears - I unknowingly dropped a tiny washer into a Camry V6 engine when pulling the manifold, and 15 seconds after startup it started clattering. One $550 junkyard engine and many hours later, the car was right again! It was a fix-and-flip and I broke even, rather than making any money.

 

I just removed the passenger side and I don't see anything down there. But the camera I have has too large of an end on it to get all the way in there. I'm getting a different camera tomorrow so I will try it then. I also tried the ol' shop vac hooked to a small hose trick and I didn't catch anything. On to the drivers side...If I don't find anything I'm going to roll the dice and put it back together.

Anybody have experience replacing the plenum? Should I remove the wiring harness to make more room?