Leaving tools in the engine bay and driving off

[KnobMuffin]

How many tools do you think you have lost by forgetting them in the engine bay and driving off?? I think I have lost 2 screw drivers so far. Its always funny when you open the bonnet to find a stash of tools, lol.

[Reaper]

Yeah - the more you work on the things, eventually you'll do it.

As an aside, I was once driving my Mazda RX-5 and heard a bang from the RH rear, shortly followed by being overtaken by a small piece of steel. Whilst I was kind of alarmed I was also proud of myself as I thought it looked like a brake pad and gently pressed the brake pedal. Of course it went straight to the floor. I slotted it into neutral and rolled to a stop. Fortunately I had enough tools in the boot so I walked to the K-Mart down the road, bought a set of rear brake pads and changed them there and then on the side of the road. Couldn't for the life of me work out how it managed to come out of the caliper though - even metal on metal it should have stayed captured.

Ahhh..... memories of youth............

Reaper

[social]

I was working on a mates vn with him adjusting the ngine bay this n thats...we packed up his gear and cudnt understand why there was 2 sockets missing...search everywhere...but nothing...8motnhs later we were workin on it again and he said he cud hear ting tings here and there, got up n close to the engine and down near the engine mounts what do we find...2 greasy dirty sockets sitting next to eachother...

[greenfoam]

I had a good shifter ping off the floor of my VP once after doing up the link pins and left it on the link bar to stop it turning went to drive home, a minute later TING TUNK DONG

Never did find it

[6 shooter]

When i had my jappa crappa levin i lost a spanner somwhere in the engine bay and couldnt find it. i think it got stuck in a wiring loom or something and also my old man left his watch under my mazdas bonnet on the shock tower we found it in there when we came back to luckily enough
O well i try not to lose my expensive tools though

[Chirpstr]

I left a good ringy on the lower control arm. About 3 weeks later I was doing something else and it was still there! Wedged in. Lucky lol.
I also left a 10 mm from disconnecting the battery too. I always check things, not once, but twice after I've finished working on my car now. Have never forgotten things since.

[mischa]

I know someone that keeps spare bolts in the strut tops Ive left my fair share in the engine to, mostly screw drivers. But i havent lost any, found them all

i forgot to screw my rear lip on properly? (firgure the rest out) dose that count? lol

[Morton]

In addition to screws, bolts, and tools, I've driven off with my Haynes manual still under the bonnet, on the airbox It was toasty warm when I got home after the test-drive ^_^

[Joey_21]

lost bout 3 socket heads so far god knows what else either haha

[VNSV38]

my mate and i did a good one the other day.
after dropping the screw for my contact breaker point for my dizzy into the depths of my engine bay on the triumph, we spent 30 mins looking for it (it was sitting on some comfy looking thing down near the gearbox) we the proceeded to drive off and leave a breaker bar thingo on my intake manifold, right next to the throttle linkage, which then jumped into the throttle linkage when we went for a drive and jammed the throttle open. i thought id broken something and was really worried til i opened the bonnet and saw what it was.
then 100m down the road my brake booster carked it (a $300 repair)... not such a great day.
****ing british leyland.

[commsirac]

Think the worse thing here is to be working on a car over a period of days and forgotten one left bits and pieces over the engine bay. I dont think Ive lost any tools, but have been fortunate to lift the bonnet some time later and find stuff that I forgot to take out. Ive also found lots of stuff in cars that mechanics must have dropped in there and forgotten to take out.

Now, I scan every inch, especially around the edges of the bonnet opening before packing up.

[-Michael-]

Just the usual for me.. Spanner, shifter, pliers and screwdrivers as well as misc sockets

[greenacc]

Luckily they all seem to sit wherever they have been left, and are still there next time i open the bonnet. I left a good glass battery hyrdrometer sitting on an angine once at Tafe. You know what happened when i shut the bonnet ..... SMASH, woops

[VN_Luke]

I used to have a Torana with a black bonnet - and the bit between the windscreen and bonnet was permanently down (i.e. separate to the whole bonnet arrangement), so I used to keep my phone/house cordless there

Definately lost at least one of each when getting excited and taking off down the street for a test run

[VT-565]

I've seen someone drop their bonnet with a big screwdriver still sitting on the manifold. Put a few nice bulges in the bonnet.

[Haydz]

Hey mischa thats me.. never know when you will need some spare screws or bolts..


should keep a couple spare air boxes too.

[stocky]

yeah i do it all the time. when i swapped the k frame and engine mounts in my vr, i drove it around for a month or so, then went to work in the engine bay again and found a 14mm socket from a month ago

[pow3rslave]

when i got an oil pressure gauge put in at autobarn (n00b move #1) they left a MASSIVE 30 cm long screwdriver on my strut tower.

the most i've done is left washers and bolts on tp of my grill, they slide down under where the plastic doubles over and i don't see them until i hear them hit the road.

[alex2_s]

i dropped a spark plug down into below the engine in the worst possible crevice to get out... couldn't get it out until buying a new one and driving it up onto car ramps to get in underneath... that was fun (and blacker than black hands).

[STEALTHY™]

Not a tool, but i closed my bonnet while the grill was sitting on the strut. smashed a clip off it

Does that count?

[TVR-190]

also not a tool, but after working on the engine i had unclipped the power to the radiator, then forgot to plug it back in, was driving with temp gauge over red for about 15 mins before i noticed.

also after taking out headlight and front indicator i forgot to screw the indicator back in, got home few days later and noticed whole indicator was hanging out of the front of the car.

[LightningVP]

Few weeks ago I changed all brake pads, put wheels back on, drove out the driveway and around the block to make sure of no problems...

Went to go re tighten wheel nuts (was told to always tighten them after you go for a drive) and realised the lock nut was still on one of the wheels....luckily it didn't fall off :| wouldn't have been able to take me wheels off XD

[excalibur]

i have lost screwdrivers sockets and spanners never to be found again just lucky i dont buy expensive tools

[savage1987]

Never lost a tool yet, I always check pretty meticulously... however I have lost a bolt from the top of the throttle plate in the VN .. dropped it in the twilight and heard it bounce off the header.. not really sure where it is now. Not on the floor I know that much

Luckily there's 3 of them holding the thing on so no great drama, now it's only 2

[Tom_1569]

A mate came round the other night, and we lifted the bonnet of the VT to work out whats causing the miss-fire. He then pulls out a pair of multi-grips. He goes you must have left them there the other day. No I didnt even use them the other day, caus they have been missing for months, even accused my brother of taking them and made him search his car for them.
They must have been the from the service before hand, so multi-grips have been sitting between the airbox and radiator for over 11,000 K's lol. Good to have my multi-grips back.