While fiddling about with the hard to reach bolts on the RH cam cover, I managed to drop and lose a 10mm socket. God only knows where it went because I don't.

I spent an hour with a torch and one of those magnets on a bendy stick, but no luck.

Anyone lost something down there and found it again?

 

Keep looking! Next time tape the socket to the extension to avoid losing it.
Good luck on finding it.

 

I've lost a couple of them. Even with a lift they stay lost.

 

Your actually lucky. I know one poor guy who lost the top of his oil filler down underneath the engine somewhere.

Now thats bad enough but he did then admit to one VERY stupid mistake. He actually put a sock, yes you read that right, over the hole to stop anything going in. At this point I guess your ahead of me. The sock got sucked in. Wrapped around various engine parts. Needed a rebuild.

One lives and learns.

 

Thanks for the replies - sockets, ujoints and extension bars all taped together now (and all socks removed for safety). Jaguar went to a lot of trouble and expense to keep the weight of that engine down - I suppose I will just have to live with having increased it by a few grammes.

 

Last year, after removing the intake manifold to replace the tunnel hoses I found a 10mm socket lodged next to the thermostat housing. Could there be a black hole transferring tools from yours to mine?

 

It's possible the supercharger is so powerful that it has created a localised black hole. That would certainly explain where the hell it has gone.

 

it was the snap on tool fairy... they need the business.

 

I lost a small dog down there once, but he found his way out a couple of days later......

 

Don't give up! as long it's magnetic you have a good chance of finding it; dropped a bolt from the ECM cover last week, found it, took an hour!
Yesterday dropped tire valve cover between the dual wheels of our M/H! they are brass but found it and got it with my long flexible pickup tool!
It's a combination of gravity and old age (80).............

Just keep trying, Adrian.

 

I dropped n EGR bolt once and after many hours of head scratching finally found it under the bracket on top of the transmission that holds the main wiring harness.

It was lodged between the bracket and the bell housing.

 

Well I finally found it. This is the procedure I followed which might help others in the future. As well as a flashlight and magnet on a stick, I bought a new set of sockets today to replace the missing socket along with a few spares for the next time I lose one.

I then went to my garage to try the new sockets out, at which point I immediately saw the missing socket lying exactly where I thought I lost it down the side of the engine. Simple.

Still looking for Mrplow's dog though.

 

A few years ago I pulled the motor out of my 4x4 Ford Ranger over the Xmas break to replace the oil pan which had rusted through due to the NE Winters (can't get to it with the motor in). Turned out to be a hell of a job, with almost every bolt frozen solid. I discovered how useful a left handed carbide drill bit is...

I finally got the truck back together back in early January just as a heavy snow storm started. Putting the tools away, I couldn't find my 13mm socket anywhere.

It was the wife's birthday that night, so we headed out for dinner through the blizzard - 15 miles though the snow in the truck without time for a test drive. I was just hoping that I'd got everything together properly, or we were going to have a very cold night together. Made it there and back with no problems (5" snow once we got back), and breathed a sigh of relief (and gained some kudos)

Three months later I was heading down our street on one of those perfectly sunny March mornings. The snow banks at the side of the road (where the plow piles it) were melting, with the water running down the sides of the street in torrents. I saw something lying in the middle of the first intersection (about 400yds from the house), and jumped out the the truck to see what it was.

There was my 13mm socket......

-Steve