the hole is in the METAL! lol... thats what im saying... wtf? why? i guess im going to try to either drill and tap, or use an easy out to get the junk out while the cover is in, so i can suck all the shavings and junk out with a shop vac, then pull the valley cover. a buddy of mine has a spare 5.3L is going to let me get the valley cover so i can put mine back together... but im going to have to find one replace his. where can i get one? most junk yards wont let you take parts off of a motor... also, the parts store cannot find a "valley cover" gasket. am i going to have to go to the dealership for that also?

 

lol **** the parts store. Dealership is where its at for stuff like that. Surely you could find one used somewhere? 4.8/5.3/6.0/ls1.....

U can pull the valley cover and just stuff a rag in the two holes underneath it, they arent that big. Then work on getting the broken bolt out.

This is what it will look like under the valley cover

 

ahh okay... i was expecting a mess of moving parts like in the gen1/2 series motors... looks like taking the valley cover off is the easiest way then! thanks. ill go out there and take it off real quick... im kinda interested in looking at the hole from the otherside and see wtf cuased it. ill post more pics

 

Glad I could help

 

heres the hole from the otherside... and also, 3 of the bolts holding this valley cover on were hand tight... seems that someone has been in here before. also, one of the rubber gromets that go over the knock sensor mounts was backwards. im not sure which one is backwards, but they are inverted from each other.

 

well, its 2:45 a.m. and i finally got the dern thing out. i noticed there was a good bit sticking out, couldnt get it with vice grips so what i did was... i got a 12mm, 12-point socket with extension and beat the socket onto the part that was sticking up... after using a ratchet wrench and a pipe as a breaker bar (and busting my knuckle open) it broke loose. here is what broke off in the first place:

 

Congrats! Yeah that's a hole alright! Also, my rubber grommets were also inverted, idk if its supposed to be like that or if it's how you remove the cover or what. No worries. Buy oem knock sensors!

175 for both sensors and harness. I know it's steep but they are important! Unless you talk to the guys who have turned theirs off lol

 

Glad you got it out, hope you get your truck back on the road ASAP.

 

i dont remember what i torqued them too, i just remember getting the torque specs from another truck site... i dont believe this happened from over torqing. the knock sensors are 2 peices, one inside of another... when i went to unscrew that back sensor the top/inner peice was rotating inside the body which was screwed into the block. i had to take a screw driver and a hammer and put several "pings" in the top for it grab the body so the whole thing would turn. lol i think i hit it just a little to hard and must have weakened or broke the base, which ended up breaking off at the ridge you see in the comparrison picture... thats what you get when you buy cheap parts i guess! hopefully when i replace these sensors the light wont come back on.

 

I wonder how that hole got there?