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Hey look ~ they ~ bounce!
Joined: Sun Oct 22nd, 2017
Location: Evansville, USA
Posts: 2770
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Are you kidding me??? I pulled the first valve body bolt holding the solenoid retainer and the head twisted off! Of course, that meant that the entire VB had to come down to facilitate the broken bolt removal. 26 more bolts later, I had the VB off and the broken bolt removed. I decided to put the VB on the bench and change all the solenoids there because it would just be easier. That's when I discovered that the broken bolt was a blessing in disguise. I laid down several thicknesses of newspaper and placed the VB on the bench. There it was; the VB gasket was blown out badly! Had the bolt not broken, I wouldn't have had reason to suspect a blown gasket since I had replaced both of them in June of 2024.
I believe this one is on me. In June 2024, I did a complete drain and fill, new filter and VB gaskets. As careful as I was, I put one long bolt in a hole that should have had a shorter one (by about 5mm). So when I torqued the bolts to spec, this bolt bottomed out instead of the head applying pressure to the VB in that area. So not only did I compromise the bolt, but the VB wasn't really torqued down in that area, causing the gasket to blow out.
So, valve body gaskets are on the way and I can source a bolt from the maintenance shop here at work. We're looking at mid-next week before I have the parts.
I would have uploaded a pic of the blown gasket, but the forum still won't allow me to upload pics. *SMH*
____________________
-- Michael
2003 Ranger Edge / Extended Cab / Flareside / 3.0L FLEX / 5r44e Auto / 2WD / 8.8 LS 4:10 / Sonic Blue Pearl
So many mods... so little time...