Lifter Dropped..... HELP please

[99silveradodude]

So i was doing my cam swap and well one of the lifters fell, yes i used some wood dowels to hold up the lifters and yes i spun the cam, i took no chances, and now im kind of in a hard place. i have to pull the intake heads and maybe the oil pan. whos got the good write up on the heads and intake. i checked the "search" function but had a hard time finding anything really helpful, i need any help right now. and where did my lifter fall, is it in the pan or can it be lodged somewhere in the engine. thanks again for all the help. i guess i get to learn more about LS engines than i thought.

[danger_ranger83]

it could be ontop of the crank and it wont be in the pan if it made it past the crank itll be on top of the windage tray

[oleshifty]

i'm gettin ready to do a cam swap myself....does anyone now HOW it fell if he had the dowels in? I thought that blocked the passage...

[danger_ranger83]

well .....he could have had a dowel rod that was too small and just got lucky with the rest or it could be the back lifter and he didnt have the rod pushed all the way back

[zeake]

in for the results. Hopefully it wont be bad

[farmtruc]

I guess we've always been lucky, never used dowels during an install, we had to use pen magnets to hold up a few loose ones.
Before you pull the cam, keep the pushrods in place, spin the cam several times, none of the pushrods should move again after a full rotation of the cam, if any do then that lifter needs a pen magnet.
Also, swap the cam as fast as possible, don't let the lifters sit for a long period of time.

You might be able to pull the oil pan, hopefully, which is no biggy.

[RedHeartbeat]

bummer. Drop the pan, pull the pickup tube off the oil pump, drop the windage tray and the lifter should be easily removed. Get a new oil tube oring. I put a small bead of silicone behind the oring to make sure I don't have any leaks due to pinching the oring when re-installing and have not had low oil pressure since on any of my builds. Put the bottom end together after you're finished just in case you drop something else in there. Yeah, one new head gasket for the side the lifter fell on and one set of bolts for the head. Use the marker trick on the head bolt so you don't miss one when torqueing. Remove intake as a complete assembly by removing electrical connections, vacuum hoses and fuel line(s). I've reused the intake manifold and exhaust gaskets many times with no issues so far, lucky I guess. If you have time and access to a new lifter retainer, I'd replace it so it doesn't happen again in the future.

[99silveradodude]

alright i got the intake and head off, i am wondering about the valley plate, it has the two sensors in the middler and i dont want to break them, do they come off with the plate or do i have to disconnect them and take them out sperate, i pulled on the valley cover for a second but was worried something wasnt right when it didnt just come off.

[RedHeartbeat]

There is nothing under the valley cover. Leave it on.

[99silveradodude]

i thought i might be able to get to the lifter, or should i just pull the pan and look there.