Dropped a bolt in the engine bay!

Sometimes diligence turns into disaster.
I was removing the top two bolts for the driver side timing belt cover for belt inspection and the inner (towards engine side) top bolt fell. I should have just pulled the bolt all the way out but that's my stupidity.

Anyways, I heard it fall once and stop (seems about half way down). I didn't hear it bounce around so I don't think it's on top of the skid plate (not on the ground). I looked for about 30 mins with flashlight, mirror etc, but can't come up with it. I thought about dropping another bolt from that spot to see where it wanted to bounce to, but that seems like a dumb idea.

My biggest concern is obviously having a bolt bouncing around in the engine bay that's full of rapidly moving parts (belts etc).

Has anyone ever had this happen and left it? Did it blow up your engine lol? How did you find it? I really don't want to start the engine until I find it. Should I start pulling stuff (like the skid plate), or is it really just a matter of making sure it's not caught up in the acc belt and ok otherwise?

Thanks!

 

bring in an extra set of eyes if possible.
get a jack and lift up a side (fr, rear, left, and/or right) to see if it rolls out.
if you drop another bolt, tie a very light string or fishing line to it so you can retrieve it. TIE IT TIGHTLY!
put a magnet inside a vinyl glove at the finger tip and fish around with the glove on your hand.
put a nut on the floor with lube dripping out of it and be ready with a net to catch the bolt looking for a nut

 

Thanks Fotnot,
The truck is currently on a sloped driveway and with a 6" lift I don't have a jack for it.
I don't really like my idea of dropping another bolt, so that's a last resort (if at all). I'll keep eyeing the trajectory of where the bolt could have gone and keep looking there.
I do like your idea of the magnet in a glove, I'll have to try that.

 

Drop something similarly shaped/sized (crayon or pencil or golf tee or idk?) from the exact same place a few times and see where it ends up?

Also, it's possible it fell all the way to to the ground and rolled up under a tire or something else really unexpected. On a flat floor the best way to find something small is to turn off all the lights (or wait until dark if it's outside) and, getting down on the ground, using a flashlight held parallel to the floor and looking down the floor instead of from up above. You'll be amazed at all the crap you can see.

 

Someone on here did that while working on their brakes this year or last. And found out in a painful way when it finally managed to get wedged.

However, this happened to me also, while doing my valve covers. I dropped a coil pack bolt for cylinder 1, and it bounced and fell down the front of the engine. I couldn't find it for the life of me. Then I walked away for 10 minutes, grabbed a beer, sat down to have a few sips, then came back with fresh eyes once I calmed down. I found it, just behind the serpentine belt, hidden behind a pulley.

Some other things you may try are getting a leaf blower and blowing around inside, from top or bottom. but before you do that, if you have a bendy magnetic tip rod - I have an ancient one from Sears, decades old - fishing around all over below the area may help.

Be sure to look along the framerails, and if it was up front, look at crossmembers, I seem to recall you have the RCD or TC lift, which may or may not make it easier.

 

i use this technique a lot at home with small parts with the lights on, but have done it with the lights off too. start finding more than you'd like.
agreed though with it rolling behind a tire. i've had that happen once after looking for a socket for about 5 minutes before i caught a glance of it shining at me from a different angle.

 

If you're concerned, pull the skid. The times I've dropped something and it didn't fall out of the bottom, if there was nowhere important it could fall (like it couldn't have fallen into the timing chain area right?) then I tend to ignore it if you can't find it after 5 minutes. It'll end up falling onto the skid or all the way out within a few minutes of driving, and if it gets caught in one of the accessory belts it'll just get kicked out is usually my thought. Not much you can do if you did due diligence looking for it.

Now if the engine is opened up, then I am extremely anal about finding it. My guess is it's sitting on your skid or on a cross member.

 

Thanks for the quick replies everyone. I think I'm going to step away for a bit then look some more. I will have to look some more at the outlying/unexpected areas in case it travelled. It really did sound like it hit the first thing and stopped (wherever that was), and I didn't hear any multiple tinks like it bouncing off of stuff. It seems to me like it should be about half way down to the skid plate, but that's where the belt is too.

JasonC- I love that trick of laying the light flat on the ground (and yes you usually see a lot that way!)
Shifty- I have a telescoping magnet and just got a bendy claw, but I don't have a bendy magnet. I do have the RCD lift.
Snivilous- Lucklily nothing was open on the engine so it's really just the acc belt that I'm mostly concerned about. Looks like I'll pull the skid if no luck.

 

Looks like the bendy claw I just got is actually magnetic also. I can't get to it until tomorrow, but should be able to fish for it with the magnet.

In the meantime, if you dropped on of those timing cover bolts... would "you"
A) NOT start it no matter what and disassemble the truck until you found the bolt?
B) drive and figure the chances of bindings/lodging somewhere would be low? (maybe it flies out or maybe it found it's forever home haha)
or
C) pick the truck up vertically and shake until the bolt and (whatever else) falls out?

My vote is look really hard then probably "B", but nice to know how hard I need to keep looking or not.

 

Knowing what happens when a bolt gets jammed in a pulley, or gets thrown by rotating mass inside an engine, and what can happen in an in interference engine if you jump timing, I wouldn't be driving and therefore would choose (A).

You may also try manually turning the engine over to see if anything shakes loose. Or pull the fuel pump relay and bump the starter a couple times.

 

This happened to me once...the main cross member under the engine has holes on top (and the sides, and the bottom) and my missing bolt found it's way inside (the telltale "clink" sent me in that direction). I fished it out with a telescoping magnet on a stick.

One day I dropped the skid plate on my Land Cruiser to change the oil (it's easier if you do) and I found a nice, albeit rusty, Channel Lock pliers inside (not mine). Another time a found a box wrench nestled therein (again, not mine). Never have I ever found a 10mm socket however...

Edit:
Exactly this!
https://www.tundras.com/threads/need-help-with-strange-mystery-bolt.124472/

 

FOUND IT!
Thanks to all that helped with the awesome suggestions!

 

You just gonna leave us hanging on where it was and how you found it?

 

Sorry for the suspense haha. Turns out it did make it all the way down to the skid plate. I was able to see it once I got better light in there. I think first bounce was off the belt so no noise till the bottom.
I think I'll keep that flexy magnet grabber tool even if I didn't need it... this time.

 

@shifty` - I had exactly same happen changing a failed coil at dusk. Too dark to find it so I waited till morning and there it was.

 

If this was a 10 mm socket, the outcome would have been much different. Those usually don't reappear.

 

Glad you found it. I dropped an 8" long yellow plastic trim removal tool under my hood and spent over an hour finding that big, obvious thing.

 

Thanks again for all the help everyone! Definitely got lucky with this one. Hopefully I don't have to use these great suggestions again anytime soon!