Dropped nut in the Valley

rosspulliam · May 1, 2016

So I'm in the middle of repairing my oil leaks in the engine valley. I decided to do the no EBPV pedestal, changed the turbo outlet housing to the one with no valve, bellowed up pipes.

To make a long story short I couldn't get the up-pipe to turbo clamp on with the nut installed (had the same problem getting it off), and of course I dropped the stupid thing putting it back on. I was slowly groping through the engine valley looking for it and I believe I might have knocked it down the weep hole in the back of the engine valley.

It was either that nut or a piece of dirt I missed I'm honestly not sure. I removed the inspection cover and pulled the starter. I cannot find that damn nut anywhere.

I've been searching trying to figure out where it would have gone had it gone down the weep hole with limited success. I think since it's a drain open to the atmosphere it hopefully couldn't have gone anywhere catastrophic. Can anyone confirm that?

Second question, what kind of nut was on that clamp? Will just about any nut work or do I need to get a new clamp with the supplied nut?

After all of this work I'm pretty frustrated I got careless for that split second, but hopefully I can somewhat easily recover.

Any helpful tips on what my next move should be?

Thanks,
Ross

Vader's Fury · May 1, 2016

I would bet it is sitting on top of the transmission case. There are a couple of pockets in the casting on top and have dropped that nut before and had it go there.

rosspulliam · May 1, 2016

If that's where sh1t goes that goes through that valley weep hole I'll go out and keep looking!

Thanks for the response, hopefully I can find it. Otherwise I guess I'll go buy a lock nut and hope for the best.

joe d · May 1, 2016

If possible have a friend start it and you look underneath at the same time.. More then likely will fall out...

rosspulliam · May 1, 2016

Well good news is I can turn it over and nothing blew up. Bad news I still have no nut. Guess I'll go buy a new one!

Vader's Fury · May 1, 2016

Its a metric nut. Keep that in mind if you buy another.

bluedge8 · May 1, 2016

He meant behind the block on top of the transmission.

benjamindurtka · May 1, 2016

Dropped some stuff back there today also. On top of the trans is where I found it.

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78f100 · May 1, 2016

Unless you had something else apart in the valley like intake boots there is no way it could cause a problem even if you never find it. I would bet money it on top of the trans like everyone said

rosspulliam · May 1, 2016

Thanks everyone, glad I don't have to worry about it. I tried on top of the trans as much as I could. I'll probably find it when I pull it to rebuild it later this year.

I always get nervous when I drop stuff and can't find it. I always think it's going to fall where it's going to cause a bunch of damage, even if I don't really have much apart.

78f100 · May 1, 2016

Almost every 7.3 I work on has some sort of surprise in the valley, bolts, wrenches, sockets, pecans, acorns, rats nest...LOL

TyCorr · May 1, 2016

78f100 said:
Almost every 7.3 I work on has some sort of surprise in the valley, bolts, wrenches, sockets, pecans, acorns, rats nest...LOL

You can see 90% of mine. Clean as J Lo's buttcrack.

PSD POWER007 · May 1, 2016

I'd look around the oil filter head too. Fish around with a telescopic magnet under the pedestal too.

Arisley · May 1, 2016

78f100 said:
Almost every 7.3 I work on has some sort of surprise in the valley, bolts, wrenches, sockets, pecans, acorns, rats nest...LOL

That's the way mine used to be.

TyCorr said:
You can see 90% of mine. Clean as J Lo's buttcrack.

That's the way mine is now. I can look in there and see a leak in a second. Dropped a ratchet down in a customers truck engine bay once. I could see the end of it poking out of a body panel. Tried everything short of dismantling the truck. A magnet would not pull it, it was wedged. Five years later, I had to replace a fender on that truck, it belonged to someone else at that time. Finally got my ratchet back. Sometimes you just gotta say "Oh well". I dropped a washer down a carb intake once. Found it a lotta miles later. sitting on top of a piston. no damage at all, just welded to the piston top. Sometimes, it better to be lucky than good.

TyCorr · May 2, 2016

Thats funny Andy!

I found my old snap in 1/4 in drive ratchet when i pulled my cab three weeks ago. Down in and back behind the wheel well liner on the dr side.

78f100 · May 2, 2016

Lol, at the lost tools, I found my flex head snap on ratchet down by the motor mount of a duramax I had worked on over a month before. Can't believe it hung out there so long.