Chris87TA350

Yeah, I feel like an idiot. I dropped my socket into the heater vent in the center of the dash while attempting to remove the bolts so I could get the dashpad off and wire up my new headlights. I had a spare socket and took off the 'pad, but there's still no access to where the socket went. I started removing more of the dash and am now swimming in little bolts and the last one I removed dropped the right speaker down a bit, so I'm concerned. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

scauffiel

You're boned.

Stop what you're doing.

Write off the socket.

Replace dash.

Hope you can save yourself.

Steve

Chris87TA350

Aw, man, you gotta be kidding me! There's no way to get it out!? Won't it cause some harm down there (if not just rattle and drive me nuts!)? Also, one of the previous owners was a hack, so there may be more stuff down there... There must be a way!

jawzforlife1

rope with a magnet.

scauffiel

...and if you're lucky that won't get hung up and end up stuck too. Unless you're willing to take the entire dash apart to get to the ducting I seriously wouldn't even bother.

Seriously.

Steve

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

or you could get a telescoping magnet; looks like a pen that extends with a magnet.....if you haven't driven the car you should be able to get it out.

if you have driven the car then i suggest extenging it down the vent and driving around until it either attracts to the magnet or comes out.

good luck.

Jim

but whatever you do keep the magnet away from the ecm/computer

Chris87TA350

Thanks for the replies, guys. I too was thinking about the rope with a magnet idea. If I'd ever seen that extension magnet before, I'd of tried that, but honestly, I've never heard of it before.

Anyways, no I haven't driven the car (dash was all over the interior with wires everywhere today... finally got it mostly back together!), so it should be a piece of cake. I'll go to the hardware store tomorrow or wednesday to get a magnet...

Meanwhile I have to drive the old diesel Mercedes (parents' POS). Brings back high school memories... poor ol' rustbucket.

Oh, BTW the switch went on okay. Not quite as flush as I expected (a little recessed in the dash; doesn't look OEM installed) and I hadda use a longer screw and I chose one slightly too long so it poked through in front. Yes, that's twice I feel like an idiot in one day. A "Performance Suspension" badge'll cover that right up tho, I hope!

Thanks again, everyone! :hail:

Blackened

Yeah! Sure! You wouldn't want to damage the flux capacitor in it or anything like that! Heeellooo ? WHAT in the ECM could be affected by a small magnetic field like that ? Think about a "compact" stereo with huge magnets from the speakers right next to the circuit board, much like you will find in the ECM. Does that stop the stereo from working ?....

onebinky

iTrader: (1)

yeah, the reason you want to keep magnets away from computers is because they have a hard drive that can be easily damaged by it. In the ECM there is no HD

Matt

Jim

true, sorry

Chris87TA350

Right, good point about the magnetic hard drive and etched (therefore immune to magnets) ECM, but thanks for the warning anyways; I'd rather be misinformed, but safe than sorry. Anyways, I was at school all day today (and hardware store was closed when I got home, dang it!) so I'll try to get it out tomorrow. Once again, thanks for the friendly advice!
~Chris