In cleaning the 2.5mm hole on the cam cover end of the part load breather, I lost the drillbit down the hole. Doh!

I read in one of the threads that there's a mesh screen in the tube which stops junk which makes it through the restriction getting into the cams. By itself, that doesn't matter - screen or no screen there's no way I'm firing it up till that bit's out.

But it did make me wonder: Can the breather stub be pulled out of the cam cover from the outside? That might let me fish the drillbit out if it's landed on a screen. It sort of looks like it might be removeable, but I don't want to apply too much force and find out the hard way it's not.

Otherwise it's cam cover off. Which isn't a big deal, I'd just rather not lose another week getting gaskets.

Dave

 

Bit of a bummer Dave....as far as I know, the PLB stub can't be removed....could be wrong of course.
Looks like it's cam cover off time ;o]
Could have saved yourself the grief by using a pencil style bit holder that jewelers and lapadrists use...I have a couple of them.
BTW...the mesh screen in the cam cover is not to prevent junk falling into the engine, it works as an oil/gas seperator.
Anyhow...you will remember next time won't you ;o]

 

The ONLY way the bit could make it past the mesh is that the metal cover over the mesh pocket had broken away. But, until you see it, you would worry about it anyway.

 

A very long shot with so much steel around but if you've got a little rare earth magnet stick one pole to one end of a short mild steel rod that fits down the hole and see if you can fish the drill out. It may be resting on the gauze and still in the hole - otherwise you're stuffed.

 

Hey! It's Thanksgiving!

 

Hi Plums,
with your computer skills can you fix us an 'Ironic Thanks' button ??

 

We can barely get the thanks button used

 

Thanks guys.

Having made a start on pulling the cover, it turns out there's oil in one of the wells, so it needed to come off anyway (same the other side too, the guy who did the tensioners 6 months or so back was obviously an idiot). But knowing there's a screen has saved me another sleepless night imaging all the unlikely ways the drill could have made its way into an oil passage, down the front amongst the timing, or other inacessible spots!

Re replacing the cam cover seals, my local jag parts guy is telling me I don't need to replace the isolators under the bolt heads heads, just the gasket, plug seals, and centre bolt seals. Is he right?

Dave

 

Most people around here don't mention changing them, so likely he is right.

There are US market Ford products which use the same gaskets that are cheaper, but likely not readily available in your market.

 

I can and do bring stuff in from the US, but it's a cost vs time tradeoff. Aftermarket bits ex US plus postage usually adds up to about 40% of the price of OEM bits bought locally from non-dealer sources. But it takes a couple of weeks to get it here by mail, and courier is expensive enough to eat up the cost saving. In this instance, I want the darn thing back on the road this weekend, so I'm taking the hit.

 

I pulled a cam cover last night (not the one with the drill bit inside it, but I'm assuming the vapour screen is the same both sides).

Looking at the metal vapour screen inside the cover, it doesn't look like it's designed to be removed: all those clipfits look like they'll need to be bent back to ungrip and will damage the plastic on the way off. Has anyone pulled the screen off, and can it be got back on again securely? Or is there an alternative way to get inside it (pull out the steel mesh from the end, for instance).

If not, I'm tempted to leave the drill bit in place - it looks like it'll stay put in there, and I don't the screen dropping onto a cam in a few months.

Dave

 

"If not, I'm tempted to leave the drill bit in place - it looks like it'll stay put in there, and I don't the screen dropping onto a cam in a few months."

As I sortta hinted earlier, thats what I would do.