Dropped a nut...into the engine

[foreda]

Boroscope

Maybe you could rent a boroscope??

[Shacknasty]

I have used a surgical laparoscope to have a peek inside a motor. It is surprisingly difficult to maintain a sterile field with combustion by-products and 50wt oil everywhere.

[MaximPhil]

Thanks for the feed back guys. I wish I had a lift to make this easier to work on. I'll keep working on it with the magnet latter tonight, dang job keeps getting in the way of fixing the bike. I'll keep you posted when and how I find it.

Thanks again.

Hi Tcoop,
Have you put a picture of this nut on a milk carton yet
Milk carton and cookies beside the motor overnight and see what happens.....
Oh sorry wrong time of year
Serously though i like your positive attitude.
Phil

[b.walker5]

I like James's photo idea. Understanding what it looks like in there will go a long way toward understanding where it could be. There's drawings and diagrams in the manuals but photos are way better.

Freds right, no water, under any circumstanses, unless you want to strip everything afterwards. Magnets, inverting and good old fishing with a bent clothes hanger are about the only easy options. From there it gets progressively more difficult. Removing the pan and side covers would be my next step, after fishing.

Good Luck.

[Ken Talbot]

I have take the Oil filter off, nothing in there but oil filter and oil.

You need to remove the oil pan, not the filter. The pan opens up the whole bottom of the engine so you can get your hand inside. It is part #11 here:

[jetmechmarty]

Inverting the bike is a PITA because of all the stuff you have to remove first. It's easy for two people to flip the bike, but there's a lot of potential for damage.

[tcoop]

I put an APB and a bolo out on the nut. The milk carton was going to be next.

I went out to the bike tonight, reached my hand up through my hand up through the open cavity (and no it was not very exciting!) All I felt was a thin layer of oil. Then I grabbed my telescoping magnet up in there...well it latched on to the crank and just about every gear in there. I pulled it out not expecting anything and there it is...



I can now put it all back together. Now I am getting excited!

Thanks everyone for keeping my spirits up.

[DGXSER]

WooHooo!!!! Beats the bloody heck out of spraying oil kerosene Diesel water or air through it all. Nice work!!! Now shove some rags in that cam chain tunnel before you even bring that nut back near the engine!!!

[James England]

Ha! You got the culprit. Well persisted

[natemoen]

Glad ya got her!

[Redshirt]

Congrats!
Every squirrel gets its nut eventually.

[fredintoon]

Congrats!
Every squirrel gets its nut eventually.

Hi Redshirt,
naturalists claim that squirrels don't remember where they hid their nuts, instead, they know where to look for nuts and search until they find one.
So; is the found nut the same one that was lost?
Or one that the PO lost and left there?

[tcoop]

I am some whjat woried about that. There was a washer in there that I didn't drop.

[mack]

After

After I lost a washer into my engine last year, I've started using surgical gloves with one of those long thin fridge magnets down the middle finger. If something slips, the magnet catches it before it can drop out of sight.

[natemoen]

That is a clever idea!