drop screw into engine

careyo63 · Nov 8, 2012

Had that happen at one of shops I worked at. The Tech ended up pulling the Head. On his time :ashamed: Was it just a Screw or did it have a Lock Washer also? Most all Bolts have Washers 0n Mech. Equip.

Car Doc · Nov 8, 2012

Pull the intake manifold off carefully watching for it to fall out then and check with a flashlight and magnet all around the intake valves and dont crank the engine as has been mentioned already. good luck

California · Nov 8, 2012

Intake manifold on these is just a couple of inch vertical hole cast into the valve cover. Here's a Photo. Like I've said elsewhere, these are old school, have half as many discrete parts as anything modern, and are pretty much trouble free because parts that don't exist can't fail.

Removing the manifold/valve cover improves access into the head, but shaking the screw out of the passages will require removing and inverting the head. (or just invert the tractor as mjw said above

). I think I would spend some time with a dental mirror and magnet. If that doesn't work, then a tiny vacuum hose (with screen). Then if I weren't absolutely certain that I got everything out, order a head gasket and disassemble the head.

Car Doc · Nov 8, 2012

Then lets hope its not a stainless steel screw or he wont get it with a magnet and then as long as he sees it other means can be done to get it like something sticky or a vacuum visibility will be slim looks like?

In this instance where there isn't an intake as such, pulling the head is more of a probability on this than more complex engines in this case or it looks that way anyway.