need help please.

**bmx6454** · 05-21-2012

hello everyone. well, i was replacing my head gaskets, and i had everything finally apart, organized, cleaned, and ready for reassembly. i was torquing down the rear head, and the worst thing the could happen happened lol. the head bolt snapped about 1/2" below the deck. thats not the issue though.. atleast not anymore. me and my friend were doing the painfully long and boring process of drilling the bolt out for an easy out to go in, and when i was about an eight of the way into the broken bolt, it just dropped. the bolt dropped completely into the block... this could have been avoided if i used reverse bits, but lowes and home depot had none. what im wondering now is whats the damage? i sure know that i cant leave that in there, but did it fall into the crankcase? or timing chamber? or could it be as simple as dropping the oil pan and fishing it out? thanks in advance for the help

**Rico** · 05-21-2012

Which bolt was it? Close to the intake or the exaust. It's probably just sitting in the water jacket that goes around the cylinder. You could probably just leave it in there.

Did you reuse the bolts? Not a good idea with old TTY bolts.

**bmx6454** · 05-21-2012

it was the top ones. and wouldnt that cause clogs or something? and yes... stupidly i made that mistake and never will again.

**Rico** · 05-21-2012

The only thing you can try is possibly a small telescoping magnet? You might be able to get it up to the threads and back it out. The water jackets are kinda tight on the 3800 but there should be enough room for the coolant to circulate. That's if you give up and decide to leave it in there.

IDK, maybe someone else has some idea.

**BillBoost37** · 05-21-2012

No ideas from this peanut gallery.

**Z34Phoenix** · 05-21-2012

maybe take a pic of where it is and someone can give more ideas.

**MoarkatsINmuhtrailer** · 05-21-2012

Lemme go look at my block and ill tell you where it went.

**MoarkatsINmuhtrailer** · 05-21-2012

If it is one of the far left or right bolts then you can take either the rear main or timing cover off and get it out of the side opening. If it's one of the middle two then you can leave it where it is or take the head off and see that there is an opening beside each bolt hole into where the bolt is laying beside the cylinder wall.

**MoarkatsINmuhtrailer** · 05-21-2012

**MoarkatsINmuhtrailer** · 05-21-2012

If it is one of the side bolts.... I would be pulling the covers off (hopefully it being the timing cover side) because that is a coolant reservoir I believe and it could end up at the water pump possibly... And we all know what happens when you stick something in a fan

**bmx6454** · 05-21-2012

thanks 4 the suggestions, im gona check it out before work, and see what i can do. and it is one of the middle ones. this one to be exact:

**SlowNA06** · 05-21-2012

I'm pretty retarded, so I'd go with the old bublegum-on-a-stick method.

Except by bubblegum, I mean a drop of epoxy, and by stick, I mean a steel rod. Stick 'er down'ere and hold it on to the bolt and hold for long enough to dry, then you can pull/unscrew it out. Of course, if you got yourself into a situation in which the bolt's no longer vertical (can't see it?), then don't bother.

**bmx6454** · 05-21-2012

im thinkin that, or the old method of a small magnet on a string? if all fails, i might just leave it in.. but if its laying against the cylinder, wouldn't this cause a hot spot?

**MoarkatsINmuhtrailer** · 05-21-2012

You can get it out. You can see right down in beside the threaded hole to the bolt laying there if the head is off.

How long is the piece of bolt?

**bmx6454** · 05-22-2012

the peice of bolt is about an inch long

**MoarkatsINmuhtrailer** · 05-22-2012

You could fish it out if you hooked the end of it with something. That's a pretty wide hole at the bottom. Almost reminds you of an iceberg. Doesn't look like much on top but look underneath and it's huge.

**bmx6454** · 05-22-2012

i found the bolt, and im pretty sure i can extract it with a small magnet, or even long needle nose pliers. will try 2morrow morning, very hopeful

**bmx6454** · 05-23-2012

got the bolt:

thank you all very much for the assistance. i really appreciate it

Thread: need help please.

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