additude

I had a mechanics nightmare yesterday. I dropped an 8mm deep well socket down into the "Bowels" of my engine.

I was changing the distributor caps and rotors on my 97 LS400 and did the left one OK, then started on the right side. It was easier to get the bolts out compared to the left side, but there was not enough room to move the lower plastic cowling far enough out of the way to get to the bolts that hold the cap on. To do any justice I'd have to remove the ribbed belt, so I just sort of man-handleded it and got it out far enough to get a flex shaft nut driver with a short 8mm socket on the lower cap bolt. I got it out.

When I sent to put the new one on, I was able to manhandle it a bit more and could now get my 1/4 drive ratchet with deep well 8mm socket on the lower cap bolt. It was a tight fit but I managed to get it tight.

Cool, went to pull the socket and ratchet out and the socket pulled off the ratchet and dropped, but caught and stayed on the plastic cowling.

I reached for it. It must have been perfectly blanced, I no sooner than touched it and it was gone. Right down a gap in the block that the timing belt goes down into.

I didn't hear a clunk or where it struck anything at all. It was a silent drop.

I did what I could to find it short of taking the front of the engine off and decided to hope for the best. I put the car back together.

When i went to start it, I just turned the engine over a little about 4 or 5 times because I didn't want to fire it up right away hoping that if the socket was in a bad place it might dislodge and fall to a safe place.

After a few short cranks I fired it up. It idles fine. No damage.

I need to take it for a ride. I have a RR crossing that I need to traverse when exiting my housing development. I'm going to hope that this bumpy crossing will either make or break my aprehension.

Wish me luck. "Knock on Wood".

VVT-i

I think you should try to get the socket out before it do any damage to your engine. The 97 LS is interference engine with the dome type piston. If that socket get caught up between the timing belt and break the belt, then you stuck. Good luck and sorry to hear about your bad luck.

BuyERTS

I'd try to find one of those tools with a magnet at the end of a bendable rod (I'm sure someone here will know the name of this tool) and try to fish the socket out from wherever it's at.

O. L. T.

iTrader: (17)

EXACTLY. that is why they make mechanics magnets. you should have done it before you moved anything in the engine, but maybe you can still get lucky. They sell them at autozone and are only a couple bucks.

additude

Well,

I looked around for one of the magnetic grippers and all I could find was the claw grippers. No help there. I used to have a nice magnetic one. I couldn't find it.

I felt fairly comfortable that I was OK because I didn't have any immediate problems. It's a small round socket so if it does fall any further it's chances of getting bounced and not grabbed by any moving parts is a reasonable risk I was willing to take.

Just to make sure I drove the car fairly hard, over bumps, RR track crossings, etc. and didn't have a problem. I just finished a 900 mile trip to the Outer Banks and back Sunday/Monday and didn't have a problem.

I guess I'll still drive with my fingers crossed and when I have the timing belts changed I'll ask for my 8mm socket back

kbconv

I hate when that happens. I backed off my rotor install for that reason.

Anyway, you may be able to work it out with a magnet from the outside. Radio Shack used to have magnets a little bigger than a 9 volt battery. I used one to "scoot" a bolt that fell on the splashpan.

Just use a strong magnet and start at the bottom and work it up if you feel lucky. You may need tiny hands or epoxy it onto a stick.


BTW, how the heck do you replace the passenger side rotor and cap? I'm gonna get a Lexus repair manual for my 93LS to see if their are any tricks. It looked like getting the PS pump and belt out of the way may help.

Good luck!

additude

It's kinda tough, but once you have the cowling cover loose in front of the cap you can pull it far enough forward to get the 8mm socket onto the cap bolts. You can also get an angle with a box end wrench.

It's tight, but doable.