Socket Dropped In Engine Bay

||ReT4Ribution||

||ReT4Ribution||

New member
It really feels like I only ever post about stuff going wrong with my 4Runner....
Really wish I had some good news to post about :ybrick:

Ok, so I was retighting O-clamps on the intake I installed last week, and my friends cheap ass socket and wrench (was using his cause I didnt have a 8mm socket) disconnected. The socket dropped and I have NO IDEA where it went.
I was turning away from the engine and I heard it fall...

I cant see or reach 50% of the engine bay, how do I get what I cant see out of my engine bay??? :cry2:

I dont have a magnet wand and I even tried dropping another socket (attached to fishing line) to recreate the fall.

Help please
 
Last edited:
Register to hide this ad
||ReT4Ribution|| said:
It really feels like I only every post about stuff going wrong with my 4Runner....
Really wish I had some good news to post about :ybrick:

Ok, so I was retighting O-clamps on the intake I installed last week, and my friends cheap ass socket and wrench (was using his cause I didnt have a 8mm socket) disconnected. The socket dropped and I have NO IDEA where it went.
I was turning away from the engine and I hurd it fall...

I cant see or reach 50% of the engine bay, how do I get what I cant see out of my engine bay??? :cry2:

I dont have a magnate wand and I even tried dropping another socket (attached to fishing line) to recreate the fall.

Help please
Click to expand...
Do what most people do-start taking it apart until you can find it. Also buy a magnetic wand and a telescopic mirror.
 
It's got to be down there somewhere. You may have to pull the skid plates to see if fell to the bottom. You also need to get a magnet wand. I've used mine often.
 
1. Disassemble entire engine
2. Find socket
3. Re-assemble entire engine


Hey at least we can see to the bottom of our engine bay, I hate having to work on friends car's where everything is packed so tight.
 
I lost at least two nuts while trying to install the new ABR battery tray and while hooking-up the wires for my IBS dual battery controller. Couldn't find them anywhere! Started the truck and nothing broke. Unless your buddy wants you to buy him a new socket set I wouldn't worry about it too much. It'll find its way out or settle in a pocket somewhere (like the skid plate) eventually.
 
limamike said:
I lost at least two nuts while trying to install the new ABR battery tray and while hooking-up the wires for my IBS dual battery controller. Couldn't find them anywhere! Started the truck and nothing broke. Unless your buddy wants you to buy him a new socket set I wouldn't worry about it too much. It'll find its way out or settle in a pocket somewhere (like the skid plate) eventually.
Click to expand...

You get your tray already??

EDIT: nevermind, just saw the tray GB thread.
 
Last edited:
Get about 21 buddies and rock your car back and forth. If that fails turn your car upside down and see if it falls out.:naughty:
 
I would never leave anything that was not supposed to be there, in there. I'm sure you *could* be fine. Engines have a lot of moving parts, and yes gravity is your friend, but I still wouldn't want to take that chance. What if it gets knocked around by bumps or off roading and gets caught in some belt?

I fix the robotic lighting you see at rock concerts. Now they're no engines but have about 200+ moving parts in them. Something as simple as a loose tiny screw the size of one of those you put in your eye glasses can reak havoc in them and destroy the entire unit. Play it safe, find it and get it out of there. Just my .02...
 
RiDE said:
I'll put money on that socket being inside your engine skid. :) Take it off and check it out.
Click to expand...


^^^ what he said.

Want to check first? Hit the skids with a big rubber mallet or a dead-blow hammer (with your track record guess you will have to buy some first...:) ). If the socket's in there you will hear it rattling around.

Do not leave it- get it out.
 
Last edited:
Since I seem to be the only one advocating not to worry about it, what are the rest of you envisioning the real, practical risk is of leaving it alone?
 
limamike said:
Since I seem to be the only one advocating not to worry about it, what are the rest of you envisioning the real, practical risk is of leaving it alone?
Click to expand...

If he leaves it there here's what will happen:

About a year from now, he will be packing up to go on a long trip. He will be loading his 4Runner to the gills with people and gear. It will be the hottest, pavement bubbling day of the summer. He will take off and drive down the interstate. Several hours from home, out of the blue, he will have the worst rattling noise ever. It will sound like the front end is falling off. He will get out, crawl underneath to check. He will ruin something expensive (shirt, shoes) in the process. He will not find anything. He will repeat this several times throughout the day and end up calling a rollback to pick up his truck. This will only have happened after driving into the most desolate part of his trip and he has convinced himself that it is something terrible wrong with the engine and he cannot proceed any farther. He will have had to walk several miles through the desert to pick up a cell signal. He will not have brought along any water (assuming cell signal will be better 100 yards away) and get heat stroke. Eventually he will be found by hikers. After he wakes up three days later in the hospital with the worst case of sunburn ever he will remember this 8mm socket he dropped last year. It will have cost him several thousand dollars (hospital stay, clothes, tow truck) and his significant other wil eventually leave him for the tow truck driver as they got to know each other on the long ride out.

All this for a socket. Murphy's Law spares no one.
 
1engineer said:
If he leaves it there here's what will happen:

About a year from now, he will be packing up to go on a long trip. He will be loading his 4Runner to the gills with people and gear. It will be the hottest, pavement bubbling day of the summer. He will take off and drive down the interstate. Several hours from home, out of the blue, he will have the worst rattling noise ever. It will sound like the front end is falling off. He will get out, crawl underneath to check. He will ruin something expensive (shirt, shoes) in the process. He will not find anything. He will repeat this several times throughout the day and end up calling a rollback to pick up his truck. This will only have happened after driving into the most desolate part of his trip and he has convinced himself that it is something terrible wrong with the engine and he cannot proceed any farther. He will have had to walk several miles through the desert to pick up a cell signal. He will not have brought along any water (assuming cell signal will be better 100 yards away) and get heat stroke. Eventually he will be found by hikers. After he wakes up three days later in the hospital with the worst case of sunburn ever he will remember this 8mm socket he dropped last year. It will have cost him several thousand dollars (hospital stay, clothes, tow truck) and his significant other wil eventually leave him for the tow truck driver as they got to know each other on the long ride out.

All this for a socket. Murphy's Law spares no one.
Click to expand...

That's what I thought; thanks. :cowboy:

I'm all for Murphy's Law and that's always in the forefront of my mind when planning, but Occam's Razor wins this one for me.
 
limamike said:
Since I seem to be the only one advocating not to worry about it, what are the rest of you envisioning the real, practical risk is of leaving it alone?
Click to expand...

Personally I wouldn't be too concerned either. Make sure it's not sitting between a drive belt and a pulley. If I dropped a socket, couldn't find it and didn't care about it, I wouldn't worry about it (actually I would because I'm OCD).

Other than the spinning belts, fan and pulleys, there isn't anything else that could cause a problem. Well except if it fell against the radiator and wi wear a hole thru it, and the power leads on the starter and alternator.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

No members online now.
Total: 454 (members: 0, guests: 454)

Forum statistics

Threads
278,309
Messages
3,554,068
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Share this page

Trending content

Back
Top