Thread: Shim fell down a oil hole!

happened to me when i was changing valve seals.... fished that mofo right out.... i wasnt about to leave my motor with something in it that wasnt suppose to be THERE

When i first got my car i went from 3rd to 2nd by mistake and broke some rockers. One of my shims went down in the pan. My brother-in law fixed it but never removed the shim and one day i was driving and lost oil pressure. When i took everything apart i found a hole in the screen on the pickup, so I removed the oil pump and found the shim in there. It damaged the pump big time.

If I were you I would remove the pan and take it out. The time it takes to remove the pan is less than going to buy a magnet then wasting time trying to fish it out.

I knew someone that had a very similar experience, we ever opened the motor to see what happened though.

I had a shim fall in one of those holes when I was putting my motor back together. I used a magnetic pick to fish it out. I would never leave a loose shim or anything else in a motor. You are just asking for things to go bad. As a side note I used a lighted pick so I could see and those holes are not the same size all the way through. I would bet the shim is still sitting in the bottom of the hole.

I got it out today by pulling only one lower oil pan, used the magnetic flexible flashlight thru the hole in between the oil pick up and the baffle.

Got the engine put together only to find out the head gasket didn't seal properly.
Damn MLS head gaskets dont leave room for mistakes. I messed up by not cleaning the head bolt holes properly. Cylinder 3 isn't firing and got coolant in the oil dipstick.
I learn my lesson on this one, so much work and effort tgis weekend down the drain.

My recommendations do not use the VE metal head gasket unless you resurace both and clean your holes, lol.

How did not cleaning the bolt holes cause your hg not to seal?

I've yet to benefit from taking the quick way out of doing anything. Though I haven't been set on fire yet.

Well all the holes(head bolt) looked dry exept one, had oil almost all the way up to the surface of the block. At first i thougth about cleaning that hole but i had no means at my house garage (now that I think about it I could use an injection to suck it up, the oil i mean)
So I put the head on, although the chain gave me hell cause it got in the way at first, but got it lined up with the block dowels...good. Keep in mind i was by myself and it was 98 degrees.
So when i put the head bolt in that particular hole with the oil, as i screw it in by hand the oil flooded up and got in between the block and head gasket. I even saw it drip down. So at that point Thougth about getting the head off and cleaning it dry but like i mentioned it was so hot that day that i took the easy way out and said to myself that it will burn off as the car heats up.......WRONG.

Keep in mind i used a metal head gasket. If it was the composite maybe it would have seal

its always a good idea to clean the mating surface with brake clean. on the bright side you can remove the head and clean all the fluid out. use copper gasket spray when you put the head back on with the vet gasket.