I was installing a grounding kit on my 5.5 gen a few days ago and was working on the very last ground, which was the timing chain cover to chassis. I already had one end of the wire attached to the chassis, and was about to attach the other end to the timing chain cover with a 10mm bolt, when I dropped the bolt into the belt/pulley area. It didn't hit the floor or fall onto a heat shield, so I searched with a flashlight the best I could for an hour and finally gave up. I assumed it would probably fall out if I drove around a little. After I drove the car for about 10 minutes, I started hearing a rubbing noise every time I touched the gas. Whenever I just coasted with my foot off the pedal, no noise at all. After coming to a stop, I noticed a clicking sound when beginning to accelerate, it also goes away as soon as I let off the gas. So basically from a complete stop, I hear a clicking sound that clicks faster the faster I'm going. It eventually turns into a rubbing noise once I hit about 25mph. I know it's kind of a shot in the dark, but would anyone have a guess where exactly this bolt could be, based on my symptoms? I'm getting pretty frustrated with this noise.

 

Check the bely / pulley area. Also remove the splash shields for better access.

 

That's kind of my problem...I know the general area where the bolt probably is, but I don't know a good way to access it. I already got under the car and can see the belts and pulleys...but it's hard to even get my arm up there, let alone see where I'm reaching.

 

I think I mentioned this to you before. you might be better off getting a magnetic wand and the combing the area. Most of the time when I do stuff like that I wind up just stumbling upon it with the wand.

 

that was gonna be my suggestion... i HATE when that happens! thats like the scariest feeling in the world when you drop a bolt down in the engine bay, and it's usually the time where i yell out an obscenity

 

Yeah if I got a penny for every time I said F*ck!! when I made the same mistake I would be a millionaire by now!

 

Yea I think I'm going to go buy a magnetic wand today...hopefully it will do the trick.
I definitely yelled many many obscenities. The fact that it was the very last bolt I had to put on added to my pissed-off-edness.

 

lol.. me too! i'm so clumsy with bolts and tools, i gotta be EXTRA careful.. i feel like a retarded person when i'm doin that stuff

 

I lost a damn bolt in the engine bay today.

 

F*CK!!!

 

lol

Heres what I need if someone has it.

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=563481

 

Alright well I went and bought a magnetic wand thing from Autozone yesterday. I fished around in the area for a while and as expected, I didn't find the bolt. So I put the car on ramps and got under and it removed the heat shield so I could see the pulleys better...saw nothing. The thing I am wondering...if the car is only making the clicking/rubbing noise when the car is warmed up for about 5 minutes, in gear, and the gas pedal is pressed...would that be the pulleys/belts? This causes a problem because I can't actually tell where the noise is coming from while the car is in park, I can only hear it when it's moving. Does anybody have a clue if maybe these symptoms are being caused by the bolt falling somewhere else? Please, I'm desperate and don't want to pay a garage or dealership for them to most likely not fix the problem.

 

that whole magnet thing only works when the bolt is loose sitting somewhere. If it's causing the rubbing/clicking, it must be stuck in something and of course a magnet isn't going to get it out lol...

 

Thank you for pointing out the obvious.

 

you're the one who went and bought a magnet to ry and find it after it's already stuck somewhere... I figured you didn't consider the obvious.

 

good point... maybe i'm dumb, but i didn't think that was obvious.. i would have tried to fish it out, not knowing that it is already stuck somewhere.. i hope you find your bolt OP

 

I figured it was worth a try for like $5. I knew it was stuck somewhere, but I was hoping maybe I would get lucky and the magnet would dislodge it . Telling me that a magnet isn't going to work after I already tried it is pointing out the obvious...but thanks anyways I guess. I don't know what to do now...

 

It's probably sitting either on the a/c compressor or on your lower control arms! Get out the LED flashlight and mirror!