Newbie here. Today I was attaching the leads for my winter battery charger and i've stupidly undone the bolt for the positive terminal and dropped it somewhere in the compartment below. I have a spare bolt so i'm not concerned with the part being missing but I am concerned with it rolling around causing damage in the compartment or getting into the drains. Where has it likely dropped? I can't see it anywhere!

 

Get a telescoping magnet like this and stick it in all the hiding places the nut might be...
... saves a lot of time and bother for butter-fingered DIYers.

 

most likely will do no harm. If you're really worried, you can try a magnet, but bit annoying on metal surface. Worst case, remove battery, remove the tray and go find the bolt.

 

Did the same thing and bought one of those high powered LED lights and a telescopic magnet and was able to locate and noodle it out.

 

Crap, just did the same thing just now when hardwiring my charger. Can't find the bolt for the life of me, but since it's not the engine bay I'm assuming/hoping nothing serious will come of it?

 

IIRC, there is a drain under the battery tray - you really don’t want it to clog. It’s a fairly trivial matter to pull the battery and the tray, and while you’re in there, you can make sure there is no debris in the drain.

 

The likelihood of that bolt finding its way into a drain AND blocking the drain is extremely low. I understand the concern over the FOD (Foreign Object Damage) and it's a good one but where you dropped it is simply not a concern in my opinion. Look for it but don't worry if you can't find it.

 

Not everyone lives in Tucson. We get leaves and similar crud and we get rain. Clogged drains are not good.

 

Bought a cheap endoscope on Amazon and found it! Need to order a flexible magnet to see if I can fish it out.

 

Tada!

 

Good work. You'll sleep better tonight.

 

I just dropped a nut today also. What's the likelihood of destroying something in that compartment because of a loose nut?

 

There's a drain under the battery. I'd give odds that the nut is sitting on top of the drain - not a good thing. You may have to yank the battery to get at it, or maybe the magnet on a wand trick will work for you. Better to find it now, than to find it's clogged the drain later!