I was changing my oil for the first time in my 2006 LBZ and while I was unscrewing the filter I could hear something metallic rolling around inside. Once I got the filter off an allen bolt about 3/4" overall length and 1/4" diameter fell and dropped in the pan. There is what looks to be blue lock tite on the threads. I am taking the filter and bolt to the dealership tommorrow, but I didn't dare start my truck prior to consulting with them. I was wondering if anyone had ever heard of this happening or if anyone might have some insight about the origin of the bolt. Thanks in advance.

First time I have heard of bolts falling out of the motor! Jeez, and here I am worrying about a little oil leak!:eek:

Yeah, I would be on the phone FIRST thing in the morning!!

Rick

great,just great,now we know why these engines have that'MECHANICAL TYPEWRITER SOUND" ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.keep us posted on this,and good luck with your truck!

Muffler bearing ground wire stud???:idea:

The only allen bolts you describe anywhere near there are the valve cover bolts (LLY and newer). Was it inside the filter? or drop out after messing around the oil filter? One could have been sitting on the housing from before.

...good luck.

I was changing my oil for the first time in my 2006 LBZ and while I was unscrewing the filter I could hear something metallic rolling around inside. Once I got the filter off an allen bolt about 3/4" overall length and 1/4" diameter fell and dropped in the pan. There is what looks to be blue lock tite on the threads. I am taking the filter and bolt to the dealership tommorrow, but I didn't dare start my truck prior to consulting with them. I was wondering if anyone had ever heard of this happening or if anyone might have some insight about the origin of the bolt. Thanks in advance.


I think it fell out of his head :wtf:

lol your killing me

You never can tell. I had a customer with a gasser tell me his oil change place saw a bolt in the pan, but couldn't get it out-too big for the hole.:rolleyes:
We pulled the oil level sensor and dragged the bolt up the side of the pan with a magnet, probably 1 1/2 inch long, 8mm thread, no marks or loctite. Who knows where it came from (disgruntled employee at the engine plant?)

:nopics:

I was changing my oil for the first time in my 2006 LBZ and while I was unscrewing the filter I could hear something metallic rolling around inside. Once I got the filter off an allen bolt about 3/4" overall length and 1/4" diameter fell and dropped in the pan. There is what looks to be blue lock tite on the threads. I am taking the filter and bolt to the dealership tommorrow, but I didn't dare start my truck prior to consulting with them. I was wondering if anyone had ever heard of this happening or if anyone might have some insight about the origin of the bolt. Thanks in advance.

Gotta admit, that's a FIRST!!:eek:

I took the bolt and filter to the dealer today and the first thing the dealer said was that it wasn't the strangest thing he'd ever seen come out of a filter and then asked me if I'd ever worked on Volvos before. ????????? The head mechanic told me that since the loctite on the bolt looked undamaged that it probably had never been installed so I shouldn't worry about. The dealer then asked me how many miles I had on my truck and when I replied 1,000 he told that I had 99,000 miles left on my warranty and not to worry about it. The worst customer service I have ever seen.

The bolt fell out of the filter when I removed it and no I am not making this up nor did I imagine it. I can post a picture of the bolt if anyone thinks this might help them identify it.

The biggest problem is my truck is still parked because I don't dare start it.

On the H-D V-Rod Forum their was a similiar incedent when he was changing the oil, but it stuck to the little magnet. It turned out to be a bolt did come loose in the inside. Kind of scary.....

Asipila, make sure the incedent gets annotated in the GM service records so it can be refered to in the future if needed. Please post a picture, I'm sure one of the engine gurus on this forum can identify it's location....

Get on the horn to GM... Let them know about it.. I would be asking for a refund/new motor... No way in hell I would be caught driving that thing.

I'd be upset too but your dealer is right, run it,you have a warranty. The only bad thing to come out of this so far is your loss of sleep. Your dealer is fine, what the heck can they do?

Its possible the bolt fell down into an oil galley during assembly. The tech did say the bolt looked like it had not been installed. It just finally made its way to the filter.

I'd drive the truck. Just save the bolt and all paperwork for any future problems. Prostar is right. Short of tearing the entire engine apart, your dealer really cant do anything til something does happen.

I had a bolt take out a piston when new, covered under warranty . The engine seized at 150,000 miles ,not covered, Chevy 5.7 gas . The bolt wasn't anything from the engine . Must be the G.M. bolt fairy sticking them things in there.As a side note Chevy wouldn't give any assistance , it never hurts to ask .

More than likely the bolt was inside the filter when it was put on.

I agree with The Bac. Drive it, after first making sure there is a proper paper trail. One bolt in the oil filter on a new truck does not create a huge problem. A lot of ways it could have gotten there, but just as many it could not have gotten there. If there was any serious damage, it is already done, and you should have noticed it before the oil change. The chances of any further damage caused by the bolt are very minimal. You have 99,000 miles to go under warranty and any problems that might arise that are connected to that bolt are covered. I would suggest you carefully photograph the bolt and put a exacting description with the photo and place it on this thread for one of our resident experts to identify. It may not even be found on a Duramax engine. It may be a bolt that fell out of the shop sweeps broom at GM or off one of the robots. Anyway, nothing is hurt until something goes wrong that has causation from that bolt. Drive it, enjoy it, stop worrying that something is going to happen. The odds are heavy in favor there will never be another issue with it.

I agree with gardnerteam, don't worry about it.. since you ran it for 1000
miles already, and did not worry, no time to start now. As was said a while
back " don't worry...be happy".

The center (hole) of the oil filter is the outlet side. Chances are, and someone has already mentioned this, the bolt was in the filter to begin with when it was installed.
Where else could it have come from???

More than likely the bolt was inside the filter when it was put on.

I hate to say it, but its possible some jerk at the engine plant might have dropped it in, hoping it would get sucked into the engine and cause a problem. Our dealership has seen it all, including bags of dog sh*t inside the door panels, pepsi cans rattling in the doors, you name it. :rolleyes:

(Sad really, these guys have great jobs, and still pull crap like that!)

I agree with your dealer, you are under engine warranty till 100k, and if anything is going to happen to your engine because of that problem, it will happen well before that time. More than likely if nothing happens anytime real soon, you're just fine. :)

Just stop and think about the flow path. Your chance of getting struck by lightening is greater than a bolt falling out of somewhere and going against the oil flow into the filter. Drive it and don't worry, just a bore assembly line person having fun making you worry.

Greg

Guess about all ya can say is S$!T happens!!! Nothing the dealer can do and GM sure isn't going to give you a new truck or motor. Crank her up,run her, and enjoy 'er! If she crater's, GM'll stand by their warranty.

Truck on!!!:cool:

Well it damn sure didn't go through the pump to get there! Either from the assembly plant or somebody at the filter plant was having a bit of fun...
Fire it up!

Always inspect the inside of ANY filter before installing. I changed oil & filter on a 283 Chevy once. There was a strip of FELT inside the filter(which I did not see) It worked it's way into the drilled passage in the block. Gradual decrease in oil pressure till 5 PSI at highway speeds. Resulted in COMPLETE engine tear down to find the cause.
This post refreshed a bad memory.
This guys bolt probably got flipped up & landed in the filter & no one realized it. Could have happened at filter factory-not GM. Forget it!

Just stop and think about the flow path. Your chance of getting struck by lightening is greater than a bolt falling out of somewhere and going against the oil flow into the filter. Drive it and don't worry, just a bore assembly line person having fun making you worry.

Greg

X2

Oil passages aren't big enough (or straight enough) to allow a bolt to pass through. Ignore it, fill it with oil - put on a new filter and DRIVE IT!