Since Ive been changing out the plugs and doing alot of general maintenence on my truck, Ive dropped a few things down on the inside underneath the intake manifold where my hands cant get. Things such as nuts, a 9/16" deep socket and some plier/scissor combination tool have gotten out of my hands. I can seem to get the plier/scissor tool out because its down below the intake maifold and wedged down under something towards the rear of the engine. I tried a wire hanger to get down in there and try to pull it out but I cant get to it. I guess my question is...Is it hurting anything or do I need to take off the intake manifold along with everything else and try to get it out? I guess Im just being lazy and dont want to take it apart again if its not going to hurt anything for a while...

 

i did the same thing when i was cleaning my throttle body...go to lowes and they have small magnets on extendable wands that fit down there and u should be able to get all the tools out...thats how i did it...it takes time its like fishing pretty much...hope that helps...

 

Try a magnet. One with the extension and swivel on the end. It shouldn't hurt anything if you have to end up leaving it there. I have found everything from spare nuts and bolts to rodent nests and once a large lizard under the intakes.The lizard was about 10 inchs long and completely dried out almost like petrified. Must of crawled under there to keep warm. Many times dealership mechanics working on the engines will drop a socket, wrench, etc. under the manifold and will not retrieve it. Good luck

 

My friend had a 97 and dropped a ratchet with extension and socket attached behind the engine. He went underneath and thought he could reach over the transmission to retrieve them with no luck.

When he sold the truck they were still stuck somewhere underneath with no harm.

 

i had an old truck that i had done the same thing to. right before i sold it i took of the intake manifold to get a few things out.....


like hitting the lottery. you NEVER know what you will find

 

I have an 8mm socket, some nuts and bolts, and who knows what else down there. I cant hold on to anything worth a cr@p and it seems like EVERYTHING gets sucked down that hole.

No problems here.
I tried to fish around down there with one of those magnet things, but didnt find anything.

 

HI!... You want to get any tool you drop under the intake manifold out ASAP. The KNOCK sensor is located under the intake manifold. The tools will vibrate and chatter in the valley and throw the knock sensor into a fit. Last year when I was getting data logging done on the dyno we couldn't figure out why the PCM kept pulling timing out above 5000RPM. Found out I had a broken heim joint on my engine plates. It was vibrating up against the front cover and the knock sensor was picking it up and pulling timing. We fixed the hiem joint and it still pulled timing out but only 4 degrees compared to the 7 it was doing before. We then fished out a 1/4", 4" long extension and 7mm socket that I had dropped under the intake manifold about 4 months before. After pulling it out we re dynoed and the PCM didn't pull any timing and I was able to add more until it finally pulled 1 degree and left it there. Just fixing those two thing I gained over 35RWH.P and 30FT/LBS of TQ.

 

Wow...with neals gains and his average run I must have a whole craftsman tool-set in there! lol I wish I had that power...but I just cleaned mine out and it took some time but I got a few ratchet heads outa there (mustang brand's that were cracked) so I just tossed them...maybe I will gain some HP
~Phil

 

Haha, thats quite interesting.
So could you actually see that stuff down in there, or did you have to take the manifold off? Ive tried looking down there with a flashlight, and just sticking a magnet on a stick thing down there and just running it around trying to pick up anything, and came up empty handed.

 

Haha, I didnt think I would get this many replies. I thought some people would just make fun of me for being lazy and not getting the tools out. Sounds like Im not the only one that has dropped things down past the intake.

My plier tool is wedged down under something inside that little valley. I dont think there is anything else in there but I'm sure I'll be suprised. I guess I'll just have to take everything apart sometime when I get some free time and get them out. Im sure itll give me an excuse to clean things out on my engine too... Thanks for all the replies. JW what everyone else thought...

 

Neal is sort of right. When it comes to Dyno testing there are certain phenomena that take place that will not be duplicated in the vehicle. Running at sustained high RPM is one of them. How many people will drive their truck at sustained 5000 rpm? I have witnessed the same type of condition brought on by other means during Dyno testing.The problem is that in a vehicle it has been proven that the knock sensor is just about useless. Knock sensors are designed for a very narrow range of frequency that most likely not be duplicated at lower rpm by a foreign object. I don't believe that under normal driving conditions 1000 -2500 rpm there will be any negative effects brought on from a socket or wrench lying in the valley. Just my thoughts.

 

I agree somewhat with if your just driving around at normal speeds and what not, but when your racing or out playing around and have it nailed, then your going to be up around that area and losing power. And if your racing you want all that power.
Youd need to raise the rev limiter to get to 5k RPMs anyway, I dont think the factory rev limiter is that high. Anyone know what it is really? Mine seems to kick in at 4700 RPM, but I dont know how accurate the stock tach is up that high.


Anywho, just throwing my 2 cents in for talkings sake

 

HI!... Well I ring my built 5.4 to 6800RPM's so it was VERY worthwhile for me to get the knock sensor tuned in right. I totally disagree on the knock sensor being useless though. I bet it has saved my engine on many occasions. But I'm also running 31-32 degrees total timing on a built N/A engine. The LIGHTNING's knock sensor is there but is not active through the PCM, due to the noise of the supercharger messing with it.

The reason why you have a hard time fishing tools out of the lower valley is due to the structural ribbing thats there.