My dad's '98 v10 van spit a plug. We got the kit to fix it. He was trying to find TDS on the cylinder, by putting a wood dowl down the hole and then cranking it through by hand. This is where it got really bad. Some how it chewed off the end of the dowl! I have know Idea how, I've done this befor in other engines and it worked great. Any Ideas? Is there any type of tool to look down inside the cylinder? Also how do you pull the engine on the vans? Down and out the bottom, or remove the front clip and out the front? Either way it pritty much sucks! Any help would be great. thanks.

 

It is your van and not mine, right now you've got a little mess on your hand

 

It is your van and not mine, right now you've got a little mess on your hands.
I think I would try this before I pulled the engine, take a piece of copper wire
something you can bend fairly easy and insert it into that cylinder and see how
far down the piston is. If you fell it's at the bottom of the stroke turn the engine
by hand a little at a time until the piston is up. Then using the copper wire
try and fish out the piece or pieces of the dowel. If they are too small to get a
hold of I would think you may be able put some duct tape on the dowel with
a wrap reversed and it would pick up the small pieces. About now there are a
few other things I would try, but I would start out as I said. Remember the real
fine pieces will burn.

 

It's premature to think about pulling the whole engine. Kotzys' idea about using duct tape to swab out the wood is a good idea. If you think there are still serious problems then you could just remove the head. An oily brush would also pickup some of the finer particles. As far as looking down into the cylinder, a small bright flashlight and a dental mirror may work.

The fact that the dowel got chewed is somewhat troubling. that shoudn't have happened. Did the dowel have a narrow tip on it. If it had a flat end on it, I can't imagine it got chewed unless there is a whole in the piston or someother calamity.

Since you asked, most or all of the full size van engines come out the front. I just pulled and rebuilt a 300 in my 95.

I have posted several photos of the removal and installation in my gallery. You can see these photos by clicking on my user name and then clicking on my galleries.

I did the whole job myself, and I can assure you removing the engine from a van is more work and time consuming than removing from a car or truck. the average mechanic can do it, with the right tools. From experience, I would leave the engine in the frame and just remove the heads if the block is fine. Once the heads are off you can inspect the cylinders and piston crowns for any other damage. If the piston crowns and cylinder bores are in good condition leave the block in the frame.

 

Removing the engine on my '87 E150 means disassembling half the vehicle. Sucks.

Get one of those retriever things, flexible, you push down the thumb plunger on one side and 4 little grippers extend and spread out the other end. Sounds perfect.

But I agree maybe the wood won't even do anything. If it's wider than the clearance at the top of the piston it won't run the risk of breaking the piston. I guess it could jam a valve open? This would probably be only a transient problem, without compression the cylinder might not even fire... guess the fuel might ignite somewhere in the exhaust though.

 

Hey, Thanks for the replys, I couldn't get on the forum last night. Anyway We tried the duct tape thing, it got a little out. Then we took a propane torch and stuck it down the hole for a few minutes. It seamed to work because now we can turn the engine through freely by hand. It seamed to be hanging up befor on some of the wood. We got the insurt put in and now all we have to do is hook up all the things we disconected. There is NO room in there! Thanks again everyone I really didn't want to pull the engine! Hopfully I will start up tomarrow! By the way two of the other plugs where loose enough to unscrew by hand! Later.

 

What if you modify a small plastic tube to a vacuum cleaner?

 

Good Idea Heavy460 I tried that too. thanks By the way it's running today! Thanks again everyone.

 

Might want to check that plug again, after you've run it, just to see if it's gotten damaged or anything. Kind of make sure everything's out.