Emergency! Dropped nut :(

[Rising]

Okay so I'm trying to change my valve cover gasket to the new one piece design and I pulled into the advance auto parking lot to get it swapped over. I was screwing one of the nuts onto a stud with the valve cover off to break the stud loose... And I dropped a nut into the cam galley (idk is that what its called)?

Does anyone have a picture of a head with the cam out? Could it have dropped into a valve? It was on the far right towards the timing belt (is that the number one cyl) where else could it have gone... I'm freaking out. I'm stranded here and Im afraid I'm going to have to rebuild my engine...



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[bbob203]

I did this exact thing one time you just have to fish for it the spring hopefully prevented it from getting to a place requiring the head to be removed to get it out.

[TylerDurden]

sliced IDI head



TDI, but similar:

[TylerDurden]

I'd try a flexi magnetic retrieval tool.

[Rising]

Wow crisis averted. Finally found it! Sorry for the drama. All I could think about was that nut working its way into a valve spring and wrecking stuff.

Anyone got any tips for getting these studs out?

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[bbob203]

Stud remover it works like an easy out except its female and the harder you turn the tighter it grips.

[CRSMP5]

lock 2 nuts together... unscrew....

[ORCoaster]

CRS  Seems that is the method that got him into the jam, pun intended, in the first place. 

How many hours do we spend fishing for nuts?  Sometimes those 8 mm ones disappear in the dark of the engine bay.  Never to be seen again.

[TylerDurden]

It took me about a decade to get in the habit of keeping retrieval tools handy on any engine repair job.

This topic tells me, I should put one in my trunk-kit of essential field repair tools.

[745 turbogreasel]

I work on enough imports I keep one in my door pocket.

[theman53]

Worse would be to drop it in the oil return like lord verminaard did. It went to the oil pan and the crank sent it out of the front of the block. He was lucky enough that a pipe plug filled the hole.

[Rising]

Yikes that sounds pretty bad. I was having a panic attack about just such a thing happening after fishing for about a half hour. I figured if it came to it that next step would be dropping the oil pan and checking there. I almost jumped for joy when i finally slid the nut out where I could see it with some random pokes of a zip tie.

Where might one buy said stud remover? I've got three stubborn ones that need pulled...nut method seems risky and ineffective...

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[fatmobile]

You don't keep the old studs so just take them off with vice grips.
 If they are turning hard you will need to smack them on the end with a hammer to loosen them up, you do not want to break one.

 Nooow, I don't use the shoulderless studs that come with the rubber gasket.
 Many people have had problems with the nut hitting the bald spot before the valve cover is tightened down. The G60 valve cover the rubber valve cover gasket was used on is thicker.
 I get allen head set screws fully threaded, no bald spot and use blue lock tite to set them in.

[Rising]

You don't keep the old studs so just take them off with vice grips.
 If they are turning hard you will need to smack them on the end with a hammer to loosen them up, you do not want to break one.

 Nooow, I don't use the shoulderless studs that come with the rubber gasket.
 Many people have had problems with the nut hitting the bald spot before the valve cover is tightened down. The G60 valve cover the rubber valve cover gasket was used on is thicker.
 I get allen head set screws fully threaded, no bald spot and use blue lock tite to set them in.

Well I was scared to use vice grips because then I'm in the land of no return... But I'll give it a go. Smack with ball peen and vice grip em out. Roger.

The set screw idea is pretty brilliant. Could you find those local or online ? And do you remember how long they have to be. Seems like 20mm is the longest I can find..

Edit: how about these: http://m.homedepot.com/p/M6-1-0-x-45-mm-Alloy-Metric-Socket-Set-Screw-2-Bag-10868/203540352/

Only worry is I don't know what grade they are and I'm scared to snap one off....
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[R.O.R-2.0]

You don't keep the old studs so just take them off with vice grips.
 If they are turning hard you will need to smack them on the end with a hammer to loosen them up, you do not want to break one.

 Nooow, I don't use the shoulderless studs that come with the rubber gasket.
 Many people have had problems with the nut hitting the bald spot before the valve cover is tightened down. The G60 valve cover the rubber valve cover gasket was used on is thicker.
 I get allen head set screws fully threaded, no bald spot and use blue lock tite to set them in.

i use oil pan bolts with the allen head, AND 10mm head...