he is probably talking about the piston coolers, it squirts oil into the bottom of the pistons to help keep them cool.
First off if they know there is a bolt in there then that means it was right at the drain pug, did they get it out?? only takes 5 minutes to drop th pan and put a mgnet stick down there to get it if it is too big to come out the hole.
6.0 piston squirter - Bing Images

Sorry about my lousy description, I was running out the door and trying to remember what the mechanic told me..... Anyway he said he thinks it’s the bolt that holds on a piston oiler, he believes the bolt backed out and the oiler is probably hanging down broken. The bolt is still in the pan and he said it’s an 8mm. They wanted like $500 to drop the pan and $1800+ to pull the engine, and investigate the problem. They said there is no other way to determine its origin, and if the piston overheats my engine is screwed. I would like to put it off for a bit to come with the cash but I don’t want to smoke my engine. I'm really new to whole diesel thing so I apologize for my ignorance.

Thanks for your posts I'm learning some stuff, I'll probably need to know down the road.

$500 TO DROP THE PAN!?!?!?! What kinda meth are they on?

It seemed high to me too. I guess I gotta check out some local shops or learn to turn big wrenches.

I'd run it :w2:

My question is how does he know there is a bolt in the pan if he hasnt dropped it yet? Sounds fishy to me.

Yeah it seems odd to me as well, I don't know if it was poking out of the drain or what. Its a bad deal, I gotta spend 2Gs just to verfy IF there's a problem or risk toasting the whole engine, and who even knows how long its been that way.

Put your 2k in your pocket for when you know your truck needs fixin and run it. :c:

Can't they scope it?