[72GT]

swallowed a washer?

Yesterday I was cleaning the filth out of the engine bay on my 'new' GT.
I removed the air filter cover located on top of the Weber carb and found 3 of the 4 bolts were resting on the throttle plate! yikes! The worse part is I couldn't find 1 of the mounting washers. I'm hoping that maybe the previous owner had lost it, and it wasn't eaten by the engine. What sort of damage would this cause and were could it be now if it was eaten?
Before I had found this problem I drove the car about a mile to get the car to my house.
Thanks,
Bob

 

[RallyBob]

If it was just a washer, it *probably* spit it out the tailpipe. I've had two Opels in the past that had this happen. One actually took a 6 mm bolt, it ran on 3 cylinders for a quarter mile or so, then it died on the side of the road. I tried refiring it, it started, made a hell of a noise, then actually spit the mangled bolt out the exhaust!
Another engine I had was not so lucky, it only swallowed a washer, but it accomplished the same thing....the engine died. Wouldn't restart though. I towed it home, pulled the air cleaner off and saw the bolt in the air filter base, but the washer was missing. So I pulled the head off, and there was the washer, imbedded in the piston top. I pried the washer out, put the head back on and all was fine. I was lucky, it only 'dented' the head a bit, and didn't mangle a valve or seat. So I can't rightfully say either way what the results of your engine's ingestion are, it can go either way.

Bob

 

[chuckspeed]

the path...

Thru the carb into the intake manifold - parts move pretty easy once they get past the throttle plates.

After that, the first big obstacle is the intake valve. If the washer gets caught between the valve and seat - the engine will run real rough - if you're on the gas, or flat die at idle due to a backfire condition.

When the motor is cranked, the part will fall into the cylinder. Once there, the damage it does is a direct function of the size and duration of time it spends in there. A washer can sound like a rod knock as the piston/head make contact...The piston is usually the loser here, unless the part is thin enough to allow knocking with minimal damage.

If you're lucky, the part will get pushed out thru the exaust valve after a short period of time - this is not usually the case, tho. It's easier for a part to get pulled in than it is to get pushed out. If it spends enough time in the motor - yeah. It's gonna beat the snot outta the piston, can crack skirts/rings, and score the heck outta the cyliner walls.

Best bet is to pull the inake manifold (fairly easy) and make sure the part isn't in there OR the intake ports - a good flashlight will help you get there from here. If you can't see it - It's a good idea to pull it apart just in case.