dropped valve keeper down oil return passage in head

[moby]

I recently became the proud owner of a 82 diesel vanagon with original 1.6 n/a mechanical head and all 48 ponies! 90,000 miles, treated real nice over the years. It burns some oil and I decided to try the easy fix and replace oil seals. Long story short, valve keeper fell down the oil return passageway in the bottom left corner of the head! What should I do? Thanks in advance. Moby

[Fatmobile]

Stick a long magnet down the hole it fell into since those engines have a gangster lean to them and it might be stuck to the back of the block. It's not real far to the bottom of the block so the magnet might go all the way to the pan.
Maybe pour some oil into the hole it fell in, to wash it into the pan.
Dragging a magnet around on the outside of the pan might help drag it over to the oil drian hole before you open it. Then drain onto the magnet.

[moby]

Thanks Fatmobile for your quick reply. I tried the magnet trick down the hole, didn't pull up anything though. I'll try using my large large "fishing magnet" to persuade that little bugger to migrate towards the oil drain plug. Let you know if it plops out. If it doesn't, what do you think? Pull the pan, or just let it sit? Thanks , Moby.

[Fatmobile]

If you let it sit; it will probably migrate to the oil pump intake screen.
I don't think it could slow down oil flow or go through the oil pump.
I'd feel funny driving around with it still in there but I'm not sure it could hurt anything.

[rsxsr]

Sorry, if you can't retrieve it, drop the pan. Good time to look at the lower end. Maybe even slap in some new rod bearings and a oil pump. Sorry about your luck. I dropped a pushrod on my Volvo B18 years ago. The time I spent trying to retrieve it, I could have dropped the pan, which I ended up doing. Go for the peace of mind. Are you 100% it went down there? There is plenty of webing under the cam carrier for it to hide behind. Regards

[caveman]

Cause i need to kill some time and a it's a good story:
One guy i was working with-i'll call him german steriod boy, once did the same thing on a 2.0 l jetta. After a while the assistant service guy, who was then helping him after an hour of swearing, came and borrowed my thin long magnet. They couldn't get it so they dropped the pan. Found the keeper, put it all back, started the car,,,,, About an hour later i went over and asked where my magnet was,,,,,,,,,, No where to be found. Drop the pan again, there it was , wrapped around the #4 journal.

[moby]

Wow I've learned so much reading around on this forum! What a great place to be.
Thought I'd update you guys. I tried the magnets and draining the oil, but to no avail, so I went ahead and dropped the pan. The keeper was right there along with a 10mm nut which must have been a gift from the previous owner! Don't think they would have done much harm but glad to get them out! While I was at it I removed the oil pump and cleaned the screen,(really not all that dirty) Oil pump clearances
were within spec and no unusual scoring or wear so it went back in.
The first thing I did when I got "Moby", (The great white whale) was to put a proper oil pressure gauge on her. Running Rotella 15/40 gives me a 1 to 1 ratio in 4th when fully warmed, i.e. 50psi at 50mph, 70psi at 70mph, etc. (just kidding about the 70mph, even down hills I never take her over 56.75 mph, but hypothetically I'd be getting 70 psi.)
I cleaned and scraped off some black gook from all surfaces and then put the pan back on with a new gasket. This brings me to another question for you all, when to use "gasket maker" and when to go "dry"? Seemed like clean surfaces and new gasket was sufficient so I went "dry" on the oil pan. Another question in the same vein is -when to use "anti-seize" and "lock-tight"?
I put everything back together, checked camshaft and IP timing filled her up with new oil and filter and turned the key. Started right up! Oil pressure good and after 1000 miles runs great doesn't leak anything and the best news is that her oil consumption has gone down from a quart every 150 miles to a quart every 500! Thank you new oil seals! That's a number i can live with. Thanks for the help and you'll most likely here from me again. Take care everyone, Moby.


1982 vanagon NA

[Fatmobile]

Good to hear you found it, along with some other treasures,..
got some gunk out of the oil pan,..
and already have 1000 miles on it.

I don't use sealant on the oil pan gasket,..
I've been using the reusable rubber gasket.

[rsxsr]

I always put a film of sealer where the aluminum covers meet the cast iron block. You should be good though.