refresh951

I am thinking magnet, any ideas. I did a search and could not find anything except don't be an idiot and drop anything in that hole. Lots of stuff like cover hole with tape which obviously I did not do.

Tom M'Guinn

Hmmm... sorry about that. You can try a magnet, but unless it's near the top, the magnet will just stick to the flywheel -- unless you had a really strong one that might attrack it from outside the bellhousing? There is a hole at the bottom as well, and some people have been lucky turning the crank by hand (wrench on crank bolt, no starter) and turning the motor until the socket drops out or becomes visible or retrievable from below. Compressed air in the top might help it find it's way out too -- maybe. Or maybe one of those little cameras on a stick would allow you to locate it and come up with a plan for pulling it out? Everyone seems to get out whatever the dropped in there eventually -- so have patience and stay off the starter in the meantime. Sorry though...

Oh, and pulling the starter motor out might give you a better chance at getting it from below. The more places it can fall out, the better....

max_boost951

Pull the starter.

refresh951

Will do, Thanks!

hansman

Yank the starter out Then CAREFULLY turn the crank by hand.
Listen closely it will be there. It may also fall out the lower inspection hole.
This exact thing happened to me on my 86.
I wouldn't go through the top...........

Mighty Shilling

Happened to me while I was finishing up a clutch job... Out came everything again only to find out the offending bolt just vanished into thin air. don't know how it did, but the damn thing was gone.

Grandpa#3

Don't forget to pull the plugs so you can turn the crank by hand. They have flexible long handled magnets.

Cheers,
Larry

jerome951

Same thing happened to me, but mine got wedged in the side of the pressure plate and wouldn't lift out with a magnet.
Like others suggested, turn it to the starter port and retrieve from there. You may need an assistant to either turn the engine or watch the hole. I have long arms so was able to crank the engine from underneath while watching the hole.

porrsha

Put flexible boreoscope or endoscope in to ID where it is. Then put a flexible grasper through under direct vision to grab it. The do it everyday of the week in the OR for foreign objects that kids ingest or inhale.

refresh951

Thanks for the suggestions, hopefully I will get it out tonight.

Van

The first time I did a clutch on a 944 I dropped a 10mm socket down the inspection hole (after tightening down the ref sensors - at the end of the job - I was pulling the wrench up and must have bumped against a wire, which pulled the socket off...) Oh, and this was the middle of the night after working on it for 12 hours straight...

Anyhow, a friend who was helping me could feel the socket, and he managed to stick his pinkie into the socket (hard!) and pull it out. His finger was hex shaped for quite some time afterward!

I had that car for 5 years - now he owns it!

jerome951

That's why I now only use good locking extensions when going deep into the engine bay..

When my socket fell off (before I bought locking extensions), I heard it clink around a bit before coming to a rest but I wasn't sure where it went. I spent literally 4 hours looking for that darned thing around the AOS, turbo, and every nook and cranny I could stick a magnet or inspection mirror into. Finally assumed it went into the clutch hole though I couldn't see it initially.

MooreBoost

happened to me on my brothers na. socket got wedged between ring gear and housing. putting the car in 5th gear and rocking it back and fourth made it come out the starter hole

refresh951

Got it! Used a flexible magnet as shown below. It was $10 at Harbor Freight. I think this worked for me as I have an aluminum flywheel.

Thanks for all the help. I am thankful I got it with the magnet from the top as I pulled the starter I cannot see how my socket could have come through that way.