Dropped a nut into the valve train oil drain hole...

[davesmystery]

So I'm adjusting my valves and got a little too happy with loosening the 10mm nut that holds the eccentric (it was damn near welded on) and accidentally dropped it into the valve drain hole conveniently located directly beneath the nut (and much swearing ensued). There's not really a good diagram of where this thing travels to, does it travel through the head straight down to the oil sump or does it make some pit stops along the way? It was the exhaust valve on cylinder #2 if it makes any difference. I'm going to try to fish it out with an inspection camera and a magnet, but it would be nice to know where the drain leads. Thanks in advance!

[MR 325]

If it fell in to the oil drain hole it's most likely in the oil pan now.

[davesmystery]

So after about an hour or so of rooting around with the inspection camera I figured that it was as good a time as any to do an oil change and see what's down there. Sure enough when I started moving a magnet around the oil pan it caught on to something and I was able to use a magnet to get it to the drain hole. It's definitely my 10mm nut but unfortunately it's just slightly too large, so I guess for now I'll either get a magnetic drain plug or put a piece of harddrive magnet against the back of the oil pan to keep it in place until I can drop the oil pan.

[jeffnhiscars]

I think a decent industrial magnet on the pan will hold it forever and even if it doesn't i can't imagine it getting sucked in to your oil pump. Now whether or not a crank throw could smack it through your block or not would be interesting to find out.

If you absolutely have to retrieve it, come up with a good reason to do some intake work, not that these cars ever have a vacuum leak, and pull your intake manifold...then fetch that puppy through the bitch tube drain hole.

Or remove your pan. Up to you :)

[davesmystery]

I would totally be interested in finding out... if it were someone else's car. :D

I didn't even think about the intake route, I'll keep that in mind as I've been contemplating painting my intake and valve cover after reading a bunch of build threads (including yours).

But also I might just wind up dropping the oil pan because the next major thing is swapping the steering rack and also the PO silicone snotted the crap out of the oil pan and it looks horrible.

[dahows]

Any chance you could fish it out through the oil level sender mount?

[Ether-D]

It wont hurt a thing in there. It'll just sit at the bottom of the pan. There is a screen over the oil pickup. Forget about it.

[griffincox]

Yah, I personally would not worry. For it to float off the bottom of the pan through the thick oil and make its way up to the pump pickup would be nearly impossible, and even if it did it would just get caught by the screen. When you turn the engine off it will fall back down. I am super anal about things like this and I would not worry.

[davesmystery]

dahows - Ah, another thing I hadn't thought of, going to investigate that one sometime this week. Thanks for the tip.

Ether-D and Griffincox - should I fail at getting it out it will definitely stay there until I do drop the oil pan. Thanks for the reassurance, especially from a fellow anal car person lol. :D