Help. with missing bolt.

Jwebb1981 · March 24, 2006

I was working on a 03 6.0 f 250. Somewhere b/w the 5 and 7 injector. I droped a bolt from the top of the oil rail. I think that it has made its way to the oil pan. Though I am not sure. If any one has a surgestion I am open to it. Spent 3 hrs looking for it and worked over too.

6.0 are a pain in the a## esp when you are only making 14/hr. conmission

Keith Browning · March 25, 2006

Oh Wow! I feel your pain. I am sure that I am not the only one that has gone searching for missing pieces of injector inlet seal retainers. You are not working an a very open area of the engine compartment either.

The best case is you have to remove the oil rail which will let you see down around the valve springs and the injectors. Sometimes dropped/broken parts hide in that lower most area between the injectors and the head. Follow the push rods carefully with a long magnet. The bottom of that cavity will trap a bolt.

Other than that, I can only suggest that you use a nice bright light, a clean mirror and a good magnet on a flexible handle to aid your search.

Jim Warman · March 25, 2006

If dropped in the #5 area, it will most likely be still in the head girdle.... #7 has a straight shot to the top of the bed plate right at the back. If it is something the size of an oil rail bolt, you can let it be... t certainly can't make it through the pick up screen.

One big downside to these motors is that anything dropped "outside" the engine has a very good chance of never making it "all the way through".... However, there is a "pocket" at the back of the cylinder head that likes to collect errant parts. Also, many parts can come to rest on the bed plate/upper oil pan either behind or under the starter....

It's not hard to tell that the current crop of engineers only ever gets dirty fingernails from maintaining their "Turf Builder" lawns.

gasgasman · March 25, 2006

6.0 are a pain in the a## esp when you are only making 14/hr. conmission

Dang. Even the flunkie lube guys here are making $16 / hr.

All they do all day long is "gravy" work that requires no thought or skills. While us certified guys get stuck with all the crap work.

Jwebb1981 · March 26, 2006

gasgasman..I work in a small shop only 3 guys plus me and 1 lube tech. I have only been full time for less than a year.

I went though the ford asset program. During the 2nd yr in the program ford notice that it was geting harder to find and train people on diesel due to the fact that anyone in the shop doesn't want to work on it. I was part of a pilot program that would send us to diesel training for one week and make us cerified.

The problem with me atleast is that I am the only one that can work on diesel other than the tech beside me. But he doesn't want to work on them and will do anything to get out of it. So most work falls on me. I don't really have anyone I can turn to at work for help when something like this happens.

I am also the only one that does wheel alignments so there is many times I will have to stop in middle of a job and take care of that. I also do gasoline diag on check engines lights and electrical stuff. So on top of that my boss want to send me to hybrid school b/c we don't have anyone trained at this time. And no one wants to.

Also my boss threaten to fire me over this droped bolt just bc this truck belongs to a friend of the owner of the store and expects everything right then and there. We even rolled the milage back on the R.O to make the truck back in warrenty.

If I bring up anything about more money he can't tell me to turn more hours bc I am turning right at 40 hrs. which no one else is coming close. He brings up stuff I broke like that injector connector. He expects me to have all the skill of someone that has been in it for 30 yrs. I keep telling him that this is still all new to me b/c i didn't work nor have any training on cars before I went to college.