Where’d my damn tool go?
 

I wish someone would invent a dropped tool locating device (maybe there is one I don’t know about.)

My car has the cylinder head, exhaust and intake manifold off but yet I can still manage to drop a couple of sockets and extensions into the abyss that somehow allude discovery or magnet search. IT SHOULD Be RIGHT THERE,

Maybe attach a tiny led to it or fishing line or something? Or just get better tools?..

Removing the front splash guard makes a big difference for me. The tools I drop can fall all the way to the ground instead of bouncing into some hidden location from the splash guard.

It’s off also....stuff just has a knack for finding hiding places. And this stuff is shiny, should be easy.

Just venting, thanks.


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I think my BMW is one of the easiest cars to work on from an engineering standpoint. Things seem to come apart and go together with relative ease. I've noticed that while working on it, I drop things I would never drop when working on something else. I drop sockets, extensions, screws, all of which I had firmly in my grip.

I'm still missing some tools. I have no idea where they went. I'm taking the metal pan off the bottom this weekend and I hope to find a treasure trove of tools in there.

Trying to avoid taking the big plate with the controversial one timeuse bolts on it. I can cover the whole thing with a magnet and a mirror but the deep well 11mm I need has vanished.


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I hear you. While doing the valve stem seals, this thin bendable magnetic pickup tool saved me hours of aggravation in finding lost stuff, especially the tiny valve stem keepers. Anything lost in the engine had to be found. That was my situation. The tool also helps in finding stuff lost in other parts of the engine compartment. You just wiggle it around the general area of the fallen part and wait to hear for the relieving "ting" sound.

Where’d my damn tool go?
 

Where’d you get that-need one.

And I familiar with that “ ting” sound...


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Amazon. It's made of copper so you can straighten or bend it any way you like with no problems.

https://www.amazon.com/V8-Tools-3826...9MEPWVSC2Y8TE4

Odd, the Amazon link points to a dead Walmart link. Try again maybe?


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Pardon me. Search in Amazon.com for V8 Tools 3826 Mighty Worm 26" Flexible Magnetic Pickup Tool.

It's also there in ebay:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/39181514701...7073c1e88d1249

Look what I found.
 

Hah, since it’s too rainy to do any serious work I took 3 flashlights, two grabbers, two mirrors on a stick and two magnets on a stick and committed to poking around to find mylost stuff and got lucky.

Not only did I find my 11mm deep well but found my other 11mm and a bonus 6mm socket that I have a feeling isn’t mine.

Success. But started raining again.....

I lost a couple sockets and my ALTERNATOR NUT on the foam egg crate on top of the stiffening plate. They were there for months.

When I was replacing my exhaust manifold, I dropped one of the 12 copper (coated) manifold nuts into the abyss (despite using a nut-grip deep socket) - took me an hour to find the little fecker… It had hit the back of the plastic cover for the reinforcing plate nut access at the front right and bounced 90Deg. to the rear, shooting into the narrow gap between the reinforcing plate and the foam sound insulation (egg-crate). I found it tucked into the gap between the foam and the alloy plate.

I swear it was grinning at me when I found it. :nanana:

Grr... :rolleyes:

Haha been there done that. In fact, I found my lost 10mm socket about 8 months after I lost it in the engine bay of my E53. It was gleaming, just sitting there on top of one of the frame bars. I laughed so hard, I thought for sure the car ate it up or ejected it on the highway somewhere.

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And yet my wife's oil cap managed to miss everything and fall through to the ground!


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