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Help! I dropped a socket into my engine!
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SGKent Premium Member
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 11:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

busdaddy wrote:
MOX wrote:
the socket won't do anything. the fins dissipate heat, more surface area for heat to escape. yes fresh air traveling past will help cool, but a socket siting on them won't cause you any problems.

I agree if it's on the cylinders, but if it's sitting on the oil cooler it'll wear through and eventually cause a leak.

Interesting theory on the clogged fins WT, sounds plausible but I still prefer a clean cooling system.


one of the 2L engines we had as a core suffered this fate and a spun rod bearing as a result.
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maximan1
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 12:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Fullerton'71 wrote:
That picture freaks me out. Now I am going to have nightmares of all the things I have probably dropped in my engine. Sad


I'm pretty sure you have not dropped anything down the engine. We cleaned it all out, remember?
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Wildthings
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 2:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Get the strongest magnetic pickup tool you can find and then slide the handle into a piece of PVC pipe so that the whole thing is ridged. This will give you more control over the magnet and you should be able to wiggle the socket a bit more than before and force it to make its way out.

What ever you do don't go cutting the tin to get at the socket. I have seen this done before and it wrecks the cooling system. As others said it is really not that necessary to remove the socket. It will not hurt all that much, but if you haven't been in there to see how much crap is clogging the fins and especially the oil cooler how might be a good time to remove the tin and take a peek.j

I have seen engines with multiple spark plugs dropped down beneath the tin on each side. It really doesn't seem to hurt much, just slowly wears at the fins, but not enough to affect cooling.
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busdaddy
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 2:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wildthings wrote:
I have seen engines with multiple spark plugs dropped down beneath the tin on each side.

I've got a box full of spark plug sockets harvested from type 4's, usually in the vicinity of #2 cylinder. Never have saved the extra plugs (except the brand new ones Wink ), likely a bucket O' those too.
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 3:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Coffee still kicking in. I read the thread title and thought it said sand Laughing OP is lucky it was just me misreading. The motor I put in, I found sand in the carburettor. A decent amount Sad gee i wonder why the engine can be a bit grumpy.
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TomWesty
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 4:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

coathanger with hook on end.
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 4:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

TomWesty wrote:
coathanger with hook on end.


gotta find where it went first. A small mirror or a digital inspection camera. Awesome tool.
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chris roop
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 6:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I used a combination of the flexible pickup tool and the flexible magnet on a stick both mentioned above. With the magnet on a stick, sometimes you have to just cast in there then pull out hoping that you have hooked the big one. Sometimes you have to use one tool to locate and position before using the second tool to do the final extraction.
One of my extensions has a locking function; it won't come off until you push the button. The plan is to see if there are tools that will lock onto the spark plug socket with the extension so that this doesn't occur in the future. Of course, I had lost both the socket and the plug down the rabbit hole.
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TomWesty
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 26, 2011 11:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

SGKent wrote:
TomWesty wrote:
coathanger with hook on end.


gotta find where it went first. A small mirror or a digital inspection camera. Awesome tool.

Unless gravity has changed how it works recently, you know where it went. Coathangers are cheap and fishing is fun and relaxing! I just can't afford one of those cool cameras yet so I tend to make use of what's available. I have an inspection mirror, but by the time i get a light lined up with it and it lined up with the lost part and my bifocals lined up with it..... well I can usually feel it and fish it out without looking by then.
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Dr. Fantasmo
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 05, 2011 7:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just lost a spark plug into the number 2 tin yesterday...tried for close to 45 minutes to fish it out before deciding it must like it's new home and getting on with my life.

I'll retrieve it when the motor comes out in the winter.
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 05, 2011 11:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Regarding rogue spark plugs, I found this recently:

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 05, 2011 12:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

esechter wrote:
Regarding rogue spark plugs, I found this recently:

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


That is what the one we bought look like too except the oil cooler leaked as a result and the engine destroyed the crank and a rod. The case was junk. I saved a few parts and the flywheel. Not a really big fan of leaving lost parts in an engine. They can live there forever or destroy a vacation. A small pocket mirror and light will usually find big items like a socket as they can't get far.
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