02 f250 w/ broken valve cover bolts

nunan · February 13, 2009

alrighty, here's a good one. I get a call from a buddy after i get outta work, i'm on the bike so i'm not gunna pick up till i get home. keep feelin the phone vibrate 4 more times, so i thought somethin was wrong. pick it up to find out my buddy was workin on his truck changing an injector, went to go put the valve cover on and ended up snapping 2 bolts in the head. they're the 2 top ones on the RS head. so i turn around, pick up some tools and head over. so i put a butt load of grease on the bolt and on the drill bit, and started drilling it out. the grease held most of the filings, but a very small amount look to have fallen near the pushrod area. i couldnt get it all, andi couldnt contain it all too. I know any metal in an engine is bad for it, but if a small amount of metal shavings from drilling got into the lifter area, should i be worried? We are just getting it back together now and i wanted to post this up here now so i can possibly sleep tonight lol. Thanks

Keith Browning · February 13, 2009

At this point what are you really going to do? Have a thin magnet that will fit down in there? Clean up as best you can. If you really want to be anal about it you could drain the oil, leave the plug out and run some fresh oil down the in the area and hope to flush it out but you would need a decent amount of oil.

I guess you weren't watching the day I was repairing in a broken valve cover bolt in that LCF eh? Next time I will make sure I show you how I prepare for these instances... I placed clean rags in the head neatly and TAPED around the edges sealing off the head around the broken bolt. I was able to drill and tap the hole for the Heli-Coil insert without any concern. Blow it all off with compressed air when finished and remove the tape and rags. I have much to teach you my young Jedi!

nunan · February 13, 2009

lol thanks keith. i had stuffed some rags around it but didnt tape anything. i kept wiping the shavings off the head towards the valley. the small pieces i couldnt get too. its what i get for trying to help someone out lol. oh well, back to the driveway

LARRY BRUDZYNSKI · February 13, 2009

Being the fact you used grease up there,(BE CAREFUL) you could heat up some oil and flush your area really well. The heated oil may break down the grease enough to let the shavings wash down to the pan and drain them out. Maybe do this a couple of times to be sure. In this case it's a crap shoot, just hope you get them washed down and cleaned up, or you may be looking at HPOP work as well.

nunan · February 13, 2009

i poured oil down it, and cleaned it as well as i could. how hot would i have to get the oil? i'm going to be changing the oil afterwards anyway, but whats the chance of this damaging the pump if i get the oil hot, than change it once or twice?

edit: oh and the filings that fell in there werent covered with grease. no grease fell inside the valve cover area.

LARRY BRUDZYNSKI · February 13, 2009

I don't know if you have grease that fell down towards the pushrod/lifter area or not. If it did and had metal in it the grease wouldn't break down until it gets hot. I would think temp. wise you would have to have it pretty close to operating temp. for it to move to the pan. If it were me in this situation I would try it before taking the chance, and change the oil before running. Maybe even changing the oil after a short time of running also.

nunan · February 13, 2009

thats what we're gunna try. only problem is last night we didnt have anything to heat the oil with (his mom wouldnt be too happy if we used a cooking pot lol) But i doused it with oil, and i'm going to change the oil after a short time of running as well after it gets to operatin temp (in the neighborhood..not gunna go too far just in case)

thanks for the help

Mekanik · February 13, 2009

IMO, I think you'll be fine. Posted Image

I like Keith's ides. Thats like performong open heart surgery. Posted Image

I think I rember reading on this site about draining the oil and then running the engine with a garden hose pouring water into the crankcase. Posted Image

Seriously though, I think the engine will be allright. There is only so much you can do in a driveway. Besides, these engines are pretty tough.

nunan · February 14, 2009

yeah thats what i figured. i beat the crap out of it to get it nice and hot, than drained the oil and let it run for about a half hour checking it over. i was happy and was able to sleep. lost a lot of sleep over havin to put an engine in this damn thing on my account lol. thanks for the help everyone

SteveS · March 16, 2009

WOW! I worked with a guy that we called "Stone Hands" because he could break anything! And yet he never broke valve cover bolts on a 7.3. Your friend either needs to learn his own strength, get a torque wrench, or stop trying to fix things.