Destroyed Engine Paranoia?
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From: St. Peter
Destroyed Engine Paranoia?
I replaced the intake gasket on my 94 4.0 ranger, and i'm paranoid that something may have gotten into the engine when the intake was off.
The reason i'm so paranoid is that i rebuild my 85 F150, and had a leaky manifold end seal (stupid cork), so I had to pull the manifold, and replace it. In doing so a piece of the old gasket must have fallen into the engine. After like a 20 mile drive, The engine started making noise and I had no oil pressure. A very small piece of gasket had gotten stuck in the new oil pump and locked it right up.
I never saw anything fall into the engine, and I was extreemly cautious about what i was doing. But even so, what are good precautions to take to keep things out of the engine, and what are good measures to take when things fall into the engine? Before I put the manifold back on, I drained the oil and left the plug out. then I poured oil all over the rockers, and into the valley. I poured about 1 1/2 quarts down. It should be enough to wash anything out. Any other tricks or ideas. THe engines all put back together now. My plans are to run it for like 50 miles, then do an oil change.
What do you think?
The reason i'm so paranoid is that i rebuild my 85 F150, and had a leaky manifold end seal (stupid cork), so I had to pull the manifold, and replace it. In doing so a piece of the old gasket must have fallen into the engine. After like a 20 mile drive, The engine started making noise and I had no oil pressure. A very small piece of gasket had gotten stuck in the new oil pump and locked it right up.
I never saw anything fall into the engine, and I was extreemly cautious about what i was doing. But even so, what are good precautions to take to keep things out of the engine, and what are good measures to take when things fall into the engine? Before I put the manifold back on, I drained the oil and left the plug out. then I poured oil all over the rockers, and into the valley. I poured about 1 1/2 quarts down. It should be enough to wash anything out. Any other tricks or ideas. THe engines all put back together now. My plans are to run it for like 50 miles, then do an oil change.
What do you think?
Last edited by Peter94; Jun 9, 2007 at 11:12 PM.
Post Fiend
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 8,462
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From: Durant, OK (SOSU)
I always tape off the ports in the intake or heads when I do any kind of work that opens them up. Better safe than sorry.
If something falls in...not really sure what you could do besides put a vacuum on the spark plug hole and use a cheater bar to turn the engine over until the intake valve opened and the item fell through into the cylinder and was sucked into the vacuum.
If something falls in...not really sure what you could do besides put a vacuum on the spark plug hole and use a cheater bar to turn the engine over until the intake valve opened and the item fell through into the cylinder and was sucked into the vacuum.
Post Fiend
Joined: Jan 2005
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Fling caution to the wind and drive it like you stole it, it's cheaper than theropy and more fun. Your engine paranoia will be gone in no time, or your engine will, either way, it's in God's hands and they sell more hee hee. Zach has a good sugestion, also you can stuff shop towels in the ports, thats what I have done in the past with good rtesults. Good luck with your engine.
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From: St. Peter
Yeah, i'm not so much concerned with things falling into the ports, because like you guys said, i had them stuffed with paper towels. But I'm worried about pieces of stuff falling down the oil drain back holes in the engine. Then having a chunk of gasket floating around in the engine, and getting pumped through all of the oil galleys.
Post Fiend
Joined: Jan 2003
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From: Connecticut
I agree with Wendell, you have to try and not sweat it, since essentially there's nothing more you can do about it at this point.
FWIW, on my DOHC SHO motor, on the top of each head, there are a couple of oil drainback holes, about the diameter of a quarter. There are countless stories of people working on the motor and accidently dropping something in the holes (valve shim, nut, bolt, etc.). The only saving grace is that the drainback holes lead straight down into the pan. Many times people can even hear the "clink" of the dropped item as it hits bottom. Needless to say, jacking up the car, removing the Y-pipe and dropping the oil pan to fish out the item automatically gets added to that person's "to do" list.
FWIW, on my DOHC SHO motor, on the top of each head, there are a couple of oil drainback holes, about the diameter of a quarter. There are countless stories of people working on the motor and accidently dropping something in the holes (valve shim, nut, bolt, etc.). The only saving grace is that the drainback holes lead straight down into the pan. Many times people can even hear the "clink" of the dropped item as it hits bottom. Needless to say, jacking up the car, removing the Y-pipe and dropping the oil pan to fish out the item automatically gets added to that person's "to do" list.
Last edited by Rockledge; Jun 10, 2007 at 11:24 AM.
Post Fiend
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 8,462
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From: Durant, OK (SOSU)
Anything that winds up in the oil pan away from the pickup that's solid (ie metallic) won't pose any problems as long as it stays away from the pickup.
Rock and Wendell are spot on though, it's a little late now, just give it a go. Chances are, absolutely nothing will happen.
Rock and Wendell are spot on though, it's a little late now, just give it a go. Chances are, absolutely nothing will happen.
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Post Fiend
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 5,242
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From: Kiev, Ukraine
The only answer - be carefull. Ones I droped a nut in manyfold of 4-cyl engine of ukrainian tavria.... Nicking sound appeared for 2-3 minutes, dissapeared later. 4 years later I removed cyl. head and found this nut nocked into piston. Fortunatly valve was not damadged.
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