Washer in the Intake

[Poor-sche Lover]

As you can tell from the title, I've just made a huge mistake. As I was dissasembling the top of my engine to clean it up, I accidentally dropped a small washer down one of the cylinders. And just my luck, the intake valve is open, so it's sitting somewhere in the combustion chamber. Don't ask me how I did it. It was a stupid mistake.

Anyway, I assume this means I will have to remove the cam housing (is that the right term?) to get to it? Does that mean I'm going to have to disassemble the chain housing and re-set the timing and all that stuff that I have NO idea how to do? Please help me make sense of my ineptitude.

[JerryL]

Have you turned over the motor?? You may be able to fish a magnet down into intake and get it out most material there is aluminum.
Dont know what intake FI / carbs??
Worked for me years ago on a 58 616 motor. used fishing line on a small magnet (drilled a hole in it) to let it flow down into the head.
It may not have went into the Cylinder,
Good luck

Regards

[Poor-sche Lover]

No, I haven't turned the motor at all. It's an '88, so it's FI. It'd have to be a VERY thin magnet. I thought about doing that, but I'm not sure where to find a magnet that's small enough to get where I need it to get.

[beamonk]

Is it small enough to get through the spark plig jole? Fish it out there

[frank edwards]

hi alan,if it is a steel washer then that will help,you to retrieve it with a magnet ,patience and perseverance and a few choice words will help, mine was an aluminum one so i used bailin wire with the intake full open,i bent the end about i eighth inch from the end and filed the end to a point, used a mag light and mechs mirror,you can just see down the spark plug hole with the mirror and you can shine the light through the hole too,tedious job ,good luck frank,

[kodioneill]

If you can borrow or purchase a bore scope then you can see where it is and fish it out with a hook or magnet.

[Ned, NYNA11]

Sears carries a small magnet on a rod, would go through the plug hole.

[73rustbucket]

If all else fails with the magnet. Try compressed air in the spark plug hole and blow it out one of the valves.

[dad911]

or tape a smaller hose to a shop vac, and try to suck it out?

[euro911sc]

Turn the engine upside down... if it is out If not, take your exhaust off and try from there. You can do this!

Good luck!

Michael

[KTL]

I agree the magnet is the first approach. Your local tool source should have a telescoping magnet tool. It's like the antenna on your radio/cd player/boom box with a small magnet on the end of the antenna.

Crapsman Telescoping Magnet Tool

[dipso]

I broke an injector in half one time and the bottom part slid in. I used a magnet on one of those flexible rods to get it out.
Pulled a spark plug and I went at it from both angles. Through the injector and through the plug hole.
It took a couple of evenings ,but I got it.

Beats the alternative. Good luck.

You would want to look at an engine diagram but I would imagine you could get at it from one of those angles.

[Number1_dog]

I did the same thing last year, one of the washers from the intake runners fell into a cylinder. I purchased a borescope on e-bay (great tool) and found the cylinder it was in, used a piece of wire hanger to hook it, since it was an aluminum washer, through the spark-plug hole only to discover the washer was too large to get out.

Yes, you will have to remove the cam housing and the head that the washer is in if it will not fit through the spark-plug hole, unless you can turn the engine on its side and see if you can get it to slide back out through an opened valve.

It was at that point that I decided to do a top end and put in Max Moritz 98mm P&Cs and go to a 964 cam grind.

Good luck

dog

[Poor-sche Lover]

Okay, fellas. Thanks for all the suggestions. I ended up having to use a combination of many. I had a magnetic pickup tool, but its magnet was too big to fit through the spark plug hole. Strike I. So, then, I tried a piece of wire hanger that I put a hook on. Well, I couldn't snag it at all. Strike II. After about 30 minutes of thinking, I realized that I have a couple of tiny neodymium (I think) magnets from an old science project. Hah!!! So, I attached one of the magnets to the hanger and stuck in through the spark plug hole. It snapped the washer right up. However, it turns out that the intake valve is also magnetic. It also held fast to the intake valve itself. To top it off, the washer is too big to fit though the spark plug hole. Strike III.

Anyway, after a VERY frustrating hour or so, I decided to slowly turn the engine to open up the valve as far as it would go. I eventually got the washer held in place with one magnet while I came in from the top with the hanger, and fished it out. Then, I had to use the second magnet to pull the first magnet off the valve. Remind me never to do that again

[Zeke]

Fantastic!

[kodioneill]

don't you just love it. Just think it could have dropped in there without you knowing.

[Poor-sche Lover]

Yeah, in my 914, I dropped a ball bearing check valve from the carburetor down one of the intake tubes without knowing it. It made a hell of a noise while it was beating the crap out of that piston.

[KNS]

A round of drinks to your end of the bar...!!