Dropped a piece of plastic into pcv valve hole

I was changing out my pcv valve and while taking the rubber grommet out a piece, about the size of an m&m, fell into the hole. How screwed am I, and can I still drive like this? I’m afraid to take the valve cover off because I don’t have any RTV to seal it back up, and am afraid that the gasket might also be too brittle and crack. Therefore being stuck with the valve cover off and no way to put it back on. What’s the best thing to do at this point?

 

Not sure about driving it with that piece in there, but the same thing happened to me when i was putting a new PCV valve in my daughters 02 4runner…..Luckily I was able to fish it out!!

 

Open the oil fill cap and go get the most powerful shop vac you have. Dump it first so the offending object will be easier to spot.

 

This is a good suggestion. Worth noting the old filler assembly is simply held in place with two bolts and can be removed for easier access.

You can also take a piece of hose to the shop vac to make a smaller sucker, one that may fit in the PCV hole.

You may be able to get in there with needlenose also, and see what you're doing by shining a light in thru the oil filler hole (after unbolting the filler neck).

 

Probably not the cheapest suggestion here but something like this first came to mind..
https://a.co/d/dFfBNLb

 

Small pc of Garden hose tapped to a shop vac.

my dad once cracked a spark plug and that got the PCs out

 

That pcv opening is full of nastiness. I would want to pull the valve cover anyway and see whats going on in there.

 

Agreed. It should not look like that in there.

 

with it being that nasty inside, what do you think could be causing that?

 

Maybe it's residual crap that rained down from above? Best guess. It almost looks like old oil caked on there, and is starting to slough off.

I wouldn't be able to hold back. I'd do the valve cover and plug tube gaskets with new hardware, and reseal the half-moon plugs, just so I could inspect what the top-end looks like, and make it easier to clean out the bits. But I completely understand hesitance in doing so, especially if it's a daily driver.