sigeye
Member
Well, I was on the home stretch with adjusting my valves (measured clearances at 25k miles required adjustment) and I was on the 3rd to last in need of shim replacement. I had all my spark plug holes covered and the only areas that appeared to be drains covered . I picked up the bucket with a magnet very slowly and carefully as I had all the others and as soon as I got it free, the shim fell out and rolled forward toward the exhaust valves and disappeared ???. After some immediate panic, I found the two large drain holes that exist between the cylinder exhaust valves. I have NO IDEA how I somehow missed these but I in fact never saw them until I was looking for the lost shim from one of cylinder #2's intake valves. I am not 100% certain that it went down one of those passageways nor am I 100% certain that it rolled off the head and onto my garage floor. The shim fell out of the bucket and I lost eye sight of it as it rolled forward.
Since this happened 2-days ago, I've searched my garage floor in very high detail to no success and I've also removed the oil passageway cover, oil filter, oil pan and oil pump but still no luck in finding the shim (oil was drained prior to all work and nothing was in the pan). I traced the passageways down from the head all the way to the crankcase where they drain the oil into the sump/crankcase area. If it fell down one of those passageways up in the head, it would seem that it would immediately spit out into the crankcase and into the oil pan, but it was not in the oil pan and I can see around the crankshaft and case pretty well without the oil pan.
At this point, I'm exhausted...I've got the head cover off, clutch cover off, oil pan off, oil pump off, oil filter off, oil passageway off and I've not found the shim. I've dug in everywhere I can reach from every direction with a small flexible magnetic tool and I've blown compressed air down through the passageways from the cylinder head and it cleanly blew out the bottom with no obstructions (one exits to the clutch side of the crankcase and the other exits through the alternator side of the crankcase). I've even rotated the crankshaft to see if it was sitting on top of it and would fall off. BTW, I've also looked all through the cam chain area.
I'm beginning to wonder if the shim is anywhere in the motor at all now, and I don't know what else to do. I have never removed the cylinder head before but I'm wondering if it could be in there somewhere/somehow. I can't make since of it because the two big passageways in the head appear to lead straight down to the crankcase (and maybe only the crankcase), but I guess anything is possible.
Has anyone had a similar experience before with this motor? Does anyone know if it is possible for it be in the cylinder head somewhere if only those two large drain passageways were open and all buckets, holes, etc. everywhere else were covered up? As you all can imagine, I'm literally sick to my stomach with this and I've exhausted my technical abilities with looking for it.
Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions for me? Any help is MUCH APPRECIATED.
PS: For anyone doing your valve service, do not forget to plug those two holes up front. They're big enough to swallow a shim and I somehow missed those holes when I was looking around. Must have had oil over them. I feel like a moron now but everything was going smooth until this point.
Since this happened 2-days ago, I've searched my garage floor in very high detail to no success and I've also removed the oil passageway cover, oil filter, oil pan and oil pump but still no luck in finding the shim (oil was drained prior to all work and nothing was in the pan). I traced the passageways down from the head all the way to the crankcase where they drain the oil into the sump/crankcase area. If it fell down one of those passageways up in the head, it would seem that it would immediately spit out into the crankcase and into the oil pan, but it was not in the oil pan and I can see around the crankshaft and case pretty well without the oil pan.
At this point, I'm exhausted...I've got the head cover off, clutch cover off, oil pan off, oil pump off, oil filter off, oil passageway off and I've not found the shim. I've dug in everywhere I can reach from every direction with a small flexible magnetic tool and I've blown compressed air down through the passageways from the cylinder head and it cleanly blew out the bottom with no obstructions (one exits to the clutch side of the crankcase and the other exits through the alternator side of the crankcase). I've even rotated the crankshaft to see if it was sitting on top of it and would fall off. BTW, I've also looked all through the cam chain area.
I'm beginning to wonder if the shim is anywhere in the motor at all now, and I don't know what else to do. I have never removed the cylinder head before but I'm wondering if it could be in there somewhere/somehow. I can't make since of it because the two big passageways in the head appear to lead straight down to the crankcase (and maybe only the crankcase), but I guess anything is possible.
Has anyone had a similar experience before with this motor? Does anyone know if it is possible for it be in the cylinder head somewhere if only those two large drain passageways were open and all buckets, holes, etc. everywhere else were covered up? As you all can imagine, I'm literally sick to my stomach with this and I've exhausted my technical abilities with looking for it.
Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions for me? Any help is MUCH APPRECIATED.
PS: For anyone doing your valve service, do not forget to plug those two holes up front. They're big enough to swallow a shim and I somehow missed those holes when I was looking around. Must have had oil over them. I feel like a moron now but everything was going smooth until this point.
