rdw72777

So after an epic journey to get the EGR tube off, today seemed so full of promise. Finallt get the rusted bolts to come off. Clean the EGR tube. Put the EGR tube back on. So the rest is cake right?

Put the IACV back on, then go to put the 4th connector that mounts in front of one of the IACV bolts back on the IACV. Narrow space, socket won't fit nor a normal sized wrench. So I go in with a small wrench, it falls out of my hand, and f*** I cant find the thing. Finally spot it, it has bounced (of course) towards the back of the manifold area where its infinitely hardly to get to than if it had fallen more towards the driver side. Try and reach in with a magnet and try to pull it to abnd empty spot where it will fall to the ground, but the magent taps it out of sight...

So now I have a fun new dilemma. I can take the entire f***ing car apart and find this wrench, sell it, or drive it and hope it falls out the bottom and doresn't ever kick back up intot he engine. Great options, huh. I've tried shaking the car (I'm decent size so I can get it wobbling)and the frigging wrench just will not drop out.

This has to be the worst designed car for maintenance ever. You can get a socket in half the places you need to undo bolts, and then most times only frigging tiny tools fit anywhere.

I'm off to church to pray for guidance. But I'd like some orger's guidance as well. Hopefully the combination will prove frutiful.

JNCoRacer

iTrader: (6)

The wrench shouldnt do any damage where its fallen. Its not going to bounce up into your motor. You can try again with the magnetic tool, or just leave it and it'll eventually find its way out.
Also, I've always been able to get to those bolts with a 3/8 ratchet and 12mm deep socket.

FallenOne

iTrader: (17)

haha, oh buddy; you seem to have a predicament.. why not just drive the car up and down a hill a couple times.. or idk.. a driveway?

scmaxima

so im not the only one >.>

shadyonedeath

iTrader: (10)

user error. not your cars fault.

dont rush things.

ColombianMax

iTrader: (7)

I've been able to cram and pull all sorts of **** from my car but then again I have a 95 which has less clutter in the engine bay vs 96+ 4th gens... Maybe you shouldn't officially hate the car but rather having butterfingers

B_Eaze

iTrader: (3)

that happened to me too (clumsy as hell) but I got it with a slow steady hand and a magnet tool. drive it, if u live anywhere that the road suck, it should be easy to get it out

hornepirate

iTrader: (23)

Ive dropped so many tools in my bay that i forget about...i want installing my cai last summer and found a screw driver....when i changed my drive axle i found a wrench on top of my transmission...

itll be fine

rdw72777

Really, dropping the wrench is user error. Thanks for the input. I thought my Max engine reached up and gobbled the wrenhc away from me. Just kidding. Not really butterfingers either, just only a small wrench would do where I was working, stuff happens, we all drop stuff at times. (and I realize ColumbianMax is poking me at my darkest hour haha) And no, a 3/8 socket and 12mm will not work in an EGR clean and replace lol. I'd love to see you get an EGR guide tube off with a 12 mm head on a 3/8 socket and not a wrench. :-)

Not everyone is perfect guys. I was looking for advice on the wrench issue, not on what I should have done beforehand. On the plus side, I was leaning towards most posts, driving it and letting the chips fall where they may. I figured gravity would be my friend and that anywhere it goes is liekly to be down. I can always buy another mini 10mm wrench for these situations...and tie it around my wrist lol.

Hopefully it'll work out and the wrench will drop out with a few hard start and stops. Unfortunately I live in the city so I can't really access to much bumpy terrain of the top of my head since most streets are flat by deisgn. But I'll keep you posted.

On the plus side, the re-assembly should finish up tomorrow, and the Phillies don't have to pitch Jamie Moyer again for 5 days...hooray.

S1cTech

Just take off the mani if ur that worried about it. It really isn't as hard as it looks. It is a tasking job perse but look at it this way. You can clean while ur doing it. So its like an award of sorts. Clean the intake runners too. While ur at it. :P

ColombianMax

iTrader: (7)

lol I was just kidding dude... I've lost countless **** in engine bays before and not just mine. I try to stick to bright colored tools now

Snypa

iTrader: (35)

If your gonna sell anything, sell yourself. Continue driving the car or perhaps park on a hill and see if it will slide out somewhat.

95maxse3000

ill give you $50 for it haha jk man.

rdw72777

Who'd pay anything for me. Maybe somebody in the old Plymouth Neons forums lol.

SrgScott

iTrader: (2)

I don't know why you think it's not possible. I can honestly say I have NEVER used a wrench on my EGR guide tube, or my friends 4th gens either. I always use a 3/8 ratchet and 12mm socket with absolutely no problems. I'll take photos if you want

I have left sockets and bolts and wrenches all in my engine bay too though. Don't worry about it too much. Hehe.

95maxse3000

hahah. i meant the car

acercomp71

very true- maximas are nothing but pain to do practically anything in the engine bay, except maybe camshaft sensor. I am pretty sure, this refers to any v-6 out there, too many things, too little room- as of tool you dropped, just forget about it, it will rattle a bit and eventually will slip out. YOU do NOT want that tool anywhere near drivebelts (can get caught by pulley and hell knows) or cooling fans (will most likely damage the fan or radiator)

ATTappman

I dropped one of the bolts on the UIM bracket down onto the suspension somewhere, and couldn't see it. So I went on to finish the job, and about ten minutes later dropped the hose clamp on the PCV hose down into the engine. Can't see it either.

Next morning, I jacked up the car, got under it, and immediately found the bolt sitting on the control arm. No sign of the hose clamp. Went to put the bolt back on, and dropped the dang thing again. I heard something fall out on the floor of the garage. Whaddaya know, it was the hose clamp! The bolt was sitting on the control arm, again. Somehow, it took the same path as the hose clamp and knocked it loose.

So, get some cheap wrenches are start dropping them in the same place, maybe you'll knock the original one loose. Kidding, of course.

rdw72777

If I get that wrench out I can assure you it won't be going back into the engine again unless I paint it fluorescent yellow or tie a string around it and to the wiper arm when I use it so I can pull it out if I drop it again.

HandsonMaxima.

iTrader: (2)

i keep actually a screw driver, wire clippers and a 12mm wrench under the hood of my car, most of it unintentional i find and just leave because its convenient as hell when messing around with things.
what you need to worry about is when you find your PS cap on top of your pulley system.

rdw72777

I rememebr in my old Neon one time I was working on something, went back in afew months later to do soemthing and found I left the owners manual in the engine...folded to the page of the project I had worked on previously. Brilliant!

garyhigh

Hang in there Bro.

dan1el

I accidentally emptied a bag of little wrenches in my engine bay the first time I did the upper oil pan gasket. They all came out when I drove back and forth a couple times.

shadetreemech77

I was trying to figure out why the wipers would sometimes momentarily stick on my 96 Escort one time when I found my favorite 10" 3/8 drive extension stowed away next to the wiper motor. I'd wondered where it had been for several months and was pissed someone likely stole it.

It's kinda like what my Dad says. If you're working on a car and don't bleed, it won't work right.

plugeye

i feel your pain. just about everything i've ever worked on under the hood is like this on my 99. i found out early when i had to replace a battery cable, wtf its a battery cable! i wouldnt steal a maxima, who needs 6 cylinders in a car anyway?
on the other hand, i just cleaned the egr tube & it wasnt as bad as i thought. i only removed a few connectors & hoses to get to it. and the best part is it cleared the code & now the car is stickered & legal at least for the next 12 months. best of luck to you.

ampire

iTrader: (12)

Drop the clutch up a hill and see if the wheelhop will shake the thing loose?

rdw72777

Since I botched the whole MAF/TB/IACV/EGR cleaning (TB seems stcuk open and a vacuum leak), the car doesn't even run, but when it does I think speeding and coming to a screaching halt will get it out. If it doesn't I'm not that worried any more. My wrench sounds much smaller than some of the things other people have dropped in and lived with.

I should stick to computers and spreadsheets, those I know lol.

shadetreemech77

It figures I had to work on the car yesterday. I lost an 8mm socket and a screw for the airbox for my troubles. I haven't a clue where they went! I searched the ground, the top of the transaxle, and the plastic sheild to no avail. I guess my Max was hungry!

rdw72777

Well if its going to eat wrecnhes then I say feed it 87 octane...show it who's boss :-)

(Of course down the road it will show you again that its the boss with performance related problems ...sigh)

dtortor1

iTrader: (1)

i lost a 3/8 extension, 1/4 adapter and a 12mm socket doing the clean up job. boy was i nervous the first time i cranked it up. no issues yet, guess i'll just replace em.

I did mean to buy a magnet before i started but this went somewhere i could not see...

rdw72777

I'm looking for fluorescent yellow tools from now on. Regular stainless steel can apparently hide to easily in the bay lol...

96i30azn

There's only one nut that you absolutely need an open ended wrench for. I don't know about you but it was definitely worth switching tools for other bolts/nuts and this is from a guy who doesn't even own a toolbox.

If you can get a racket where I couldn't even get a box end of a spanner in, THAT I have to see.

rdw72777

Unless he removed the tube right next to this bolt, then I agree 100% with 96i30azn.

philly96maxima

..hacked the tip off the bolt in 5 minutes,,worked great.

shadetreemech77

Well, i had the intake manifold off and back on again yesterday inside of about 4 hours. I had to replace the knock sensor and i simply couldn't get to it any other way.

Somehow I managed to get it back together again without losing any tools or having left over fasteners. the only bad thing to happen was when my valve cover PCV tube broke. But I mended it with some good ole duct tape, so all is good.

Having never taken this intake manifold apart, I found it crazy easy compared to the 3 liter in my Villager/Quest. Anyone else think it was suprisingly easy?