The Adventures of Ash and Baby Taco

Shit. Trying to take the camshaft bolt off we broke a wrench. The piece is Mia . Not sure what to do at this point?

 

We are kind of at the point it would be nice to see where you are at with pics...
Broken wrench? and the piece is missing? Like you think the broken piece may be in the motor now or it flew across the garage?

 

I'll post pics later. I left for a beer. Going to order a snake cam, better wrench, and longer magnet and keep searching. Not sure what to do if nothing pans out. I might be picking up a beater, hauling the truck to ny parents and waiting for the cash to swap in something worth it.

 

Ok, I took the time to relax and think things through. This happened because I was being dumb. I used a cheap wrench and a cheater bar...it wasn't a lot of pressure but whatever. I got a quick smack in the head with the bar and didn't see what happened. I have searched all over looking for this piece of wrench with no luck. My guess is is fell down in the timing cover with the chain. I ordered a snake camera to be able to inspect the depths as well as a longer/flexible magnet to hopefully retrieve the piece of metal. I am going to attempt to remove the timing chain again tomorrow after I go buy a larger/better wrench.

Any ideas how to loosen this bolt up? This is what I am referring to. I need to remove that bolt so I can remove the sprocket allowing the timing chain to become free.

 

The chain should have a tensioner. Mark the cam shafts on the heads so you can get them back to the right timing. The your gonna need a 3' breaker bar and a nice socket.

Might have to get another big ass wrench to hold the crank shaft to keep shit from spinning on you.

 

I messed with the tensioner already and have that done according the Haynes manual. The next step was to remove that bolt. I have a big wrench to hold the cam shaft. I'll look for a socket that can fit with my breaker bar and try that.

 

About to goto the gym and then try to get this bolt off again. If I can't get it off, I am going to try and get that piece of wrench out. Button the truck up and talk to a mechanic .

 

Ok, fished for a long time with a 24'' magnet. Nothing and I tried all the small nooks and crannys.

I went ahead and slowly manually turned the engine. Nothing unusual/no weird ticks.

Going to keep searching the garage in hopes it took off outside of the truck. Is there access to the oil pan from the timing cover? I am guessing yes but I am not really sure.

 

I found it! Holy smokes what a relief. It was in the timing cover, in a nice little cranny that is hard to see. Had I started the engine all would have been fine. Probably could have driven the truck for a long time on the street...but the second I went offroad I would have been screwed.

 

Nice! Good job dude!

 

Anyways, I am halting my project and taking it to the pros. I tried...I really did. I could not get that camshaft bolt to budge if my life depended on it. I am glad I attempted to do this myself and I learned a lot in the process but sometimes it just isn't worth the money saved. If I had a proper shop with all the neat tools to go with it I think I would have been able to knock this project out.

 

I'm uncertain if your engine rotates the right way, but I have laid a 2x4 across the head, used a snap on 6 point socket on a 1/2" drive (held firmly against the 2x4!) and had someone bump the starter to get cam bolts out before. It's really hard to beat a good cordless impact for bolts like this. I have a Makita that will snap diesel lugs off it has so much torque.

 

Yea I was gonna suggest an impact if you couldn't get it with a wrench.

 

When you wish you could buy the whole hardware store . Valve cover is on. I thought I would be able to reuse the valve/spark plug gaskets but the sparkplug one was hard, and brittle. Actually broke apart a few times when I was pulling it out to inspect it. The valve cover gasket was also hard and had a few small cracks.

 

Shoulda planned on new ones of those anyways. Couldn't hurt and they are cheap

 

I did and put new ones on. I was hoping the old ones were good enough to put on and make it to whatever shop it's going to. Then I could just hand the mechanic all the gaskets, valve seals and whatever else I acquired.

 

Oh. He will be able to reuse them. Won't be heat soaked and old.

 

Well, the truck is running again and seems like everything is fine. I haven't moved it out of the garage but Ill be driving it tomorrow. Ill call some shops and price out the work.

 

Aw Man .... Should've borrowed an impact gun so you have gotten to the point of no return ! Lol !
I probably would have done just like you did , but I would have gotten to the point of no return and lost mind in bigger debt