Superczar

OK. So while replacing my PCV valve and grommet I encountered a bit of a snafu. I dropped to PCV valve I was putting in. Worst part of it was instead of hearing the reassuring plinko sound of it hitting a few things and then the cement floor I just heard a *clunk*. Thinking it landed on something I backed the car out of the garage and tried to... shake it loose. No dice.

So I opened the hood and looked in, and wouldn't you know it, 1 in a million shot. Underneath the engine where the PCV valve is there is some sort of metal... pan? It has two holes in it and the PCV valve is sitting in one of those, all shiny and new looking right back up at me. Here's the problem... I can't, for the life of me, get it out. Get ready to laugh - here's what I've tried:

I have one of those big telescoping magnet tools, good to 4lbs. After a lot of trying (it kept grabbing the engine block) I finally got it in. One of two things happened:
- It either magnetized the piece TO the bottom of this area
or
- The tray is magnetized.

So after that the attempts got a little more esoteric.
- Grill (scissor) tongs
- Cut up plastic hanger
- Metal hanger
- Salad tongs

I can usually snake my way to the point where I can make contact with the valve but can't seem to move it. A quick two block trip has revealed it hasn't moved at all.

Questions:

Is there a magnet underneath of some sort? Is this part of the engine bay designed to catch things that are dropped?
How do I get this out? It's a tight fit so my hand won't squeeze in, I can't get enough leverage to budge it with everything else as it seems, well... stuck. Even my magnet extractor won't work.

OR

Do I even need to worry? I'm getting an oil change in like a week up at our Toyota dealership. I'm assuming they might have something that can grab it?

AzHotLS

iTrader: (1)

Do you think you could get it with a Flexible Pick Up Tool?

Superczar

Going to reply here, too - thanks to everybody on both sites (here and LOC) that answered.

It looks like when it fell in the manifold the manifold was still hot and whatever impurities were in the metal that made the valve... it melted. It's a part of the exhaust manifold exterior now. My solution, now, is to ignore it and pretend it never happened and when/if someone sees it and asks I'll say it's a "enhanced pollution control manifold".

I'm going to double check with Lexus of Colorado but I'm pretty sure they'll agree with me.

Or try to sell me a new manifold.

1HRDLXS

if its not melted can you post a pic of where its at? maybe if i see it i could reccomend something better ok?

Superczar

Sorry it took so long to follow up but I figure everyone would want closure on both blogs. The part was way down and there was no good way to get a camera down there. Unless you know... the camera wanted to join in.

I drove it up to a really cool local garage (great, great guys) and they got out a breaker bar or really long screw driver of somesort and removed it in two minutes. Didn't even charge. So that concludes the story of my 1 in a million shot. And there was some sort of melting/bonding going on.

Insult to injury: I was sold the wrong PCV valve. I got a new one from Napa and have been enjoying a slight bump in gas mileage ever since (id say about .2 to .25 MPG).

Motil10108

glad everything worked out for you.