I was working to install my new Merrick air intake rings and grilles. While loosening a Torx screw on the driver's side air intake catcher with my TT10 1/4" + 3/8" drive bit, I dropped the bit into the engine bay. I had removed it from my ratchet drive so as to loosen the Torx screw by turning the bit with my fingers. That proved a failure as I dropped it! I probed around the bottom of the radiator fan shroud and found nothing. I extended the magnetic probe into the metal pan that is located right under the drive belt pulleys. Hard to reach everywhere below while standing above the engine bay. It's hard to say if the bit dropped onto the top of the front engine splash shield. Maybe I should lift the car with my jacks and tripods and remove the shield as if I was changing the oil and filter. Do I have to worry about damaging my 345 Hemi engine if I never find the drill bit? Could it just roll off into the street while driving?
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RaymondRT
I never approach using tools in the engine bay with the thought that I “might” drop something, I’m pretty sure I will. When it happens, it becomes a mission to retrieve them. It’s like doing penance in a way. There are very few times that I’ve had to give up and sign it off. I guess I’m not one of those “just buy another one” kind of people. Whenever something falls, I immediately hope to hear it hit the ground.
It probably has some benefit in that regard. I think it is primarily a guard to keep the elements out of the underside of the engine. You can be assured if it didn’t have a function, it wouldn’t be there. In other words, they wouldn’t add any unnecessary accessories to a build if they didn’t have to.
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