Wow. Probably one of my most embarrassing and depressing moments of my automotive life.

Was putting my rig back together after draining the tank via fuel pump and as I was putting the fuel pressure regulator one of the banjo washers (copper) fell on in the hole closest to the firewall.

Anybody experienced dropping something in there? I've tried a claw and vacuum. Is my only option to take off fuel rails and intake and see if it can be retrieved from there? Is it even retrievable??

Thanks for any input or help

 

something flexible with a small ball of duct tape on the end.

 

Of course it is retrievable, and you MUST retrieve it!
you either need to keep fishing for it or start taking things apart until you find it.
Like Melrose said, duct tape and a coat hanger, or anything sticky that will come back out with your "fishing pole" and not end up stuck to the inside of the intake. if you have access to a bore scope (maybe a loner or rental from a parts place) it could help.
The vacuum was a good idea, maybe if you duct tape some smaller hose to the vacuum you can snake it down in there and get it.

 

Well I'll be taking things apart til I do in that case.

Any idea as to what it could be sitting on? It wouldn't be directly on the piston would it?

 

The lower intake is fairly flat, not angled down much so it's unlikely that the washer would have made it that far. Also, there is only a 25% chance the intake valve was open which would be necessary for the washer to make it all the way onto the piston. I'd try the tape on a stick for a long time before removing the intake manifold. Getting that all off and sealed back up is a lot of work. Can you see the washer with a mirror?

 

good reason to buy a cheap borescope (and put some tape on it!)

 

Couldn't see it with a mirror or a vacuum it out. I took off the intake and still don't see it where the valve is. The valve was open so it's gotta be on the piston.

This seems like a worse case scenario situation. I suppose the only course of action is to take off the head so I can take it off the piston huh?

 

if you are sure it went in, I would look all around the engine bay and on the floor first, then pull a spark plug and get a bore scope.
If you don't see it anywhere in the intake or cylinder with a bore scope then it didn't go into the intake like you thought.
If it IS in there you don't want it chewed up and ran through any valves, that would be even more costly!
A picture of where you dropped it would be helpful so we can tell what the "hole closest to the firewall" really is.

 

Vacuum with a smaller vacuum/ fuel hose at the end? Maybe you’ll get lucky....damn, that blows dude!! Hope you get it without dismantling required!!

 

You can get a bore scope pretty cheap off Amazon or Ebay that plugs into your phone. I would spend that money before tearing the head off.

 

Yeah, everyone says they're cheap, but no one says where to get 'em! https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32872559409.html (figure 6 weeks shipping, or even more, so if you're in a hurry pay some more and get it locally).

Do you have a compressor? tape up a piece of 1/4" (or so) vacuum hose and shoot air into the suspect cylinder. A crush washer is probably too big to just "blow out" past your vacuum hose, but at least you'll be able to hear it rattling around! Then you know where to go.

If you can confirm the washer is in the cylinder, you can gently turn the crank to move the piston up and down. You might get a better angle to catch it with your sticky chopstick.

FWIW, OEM crush washers are aluminum, not copper. Copper crush washers ARE used on brake lines, possibly because of the much high pressures.

 

not a bad idea to see if you can hear it rattling around, but it won't fit through the spark plug hole and I think the odds of getting it to go back up through either the intake or exhaust valves is astronomical. if it's in the cylinder I'm betting the head would have to come off. if it hasn't made it into the cylinder you may be able to blow it back out of the intake though, plug off the spark plug hole around your air tube, make sure the intake valve for that cylinder is open and give it all the air you can!

 

(I wouldn't rule out the possibility that it fell somewhere, but not into the intake as Ralphthe thinks. The air test I suggested has a good chance of "proving" where it went. Imagine what would go through your mind if you removed the head and saw nothing!)

 

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