ok i was taking the spark plugs out of my dohc zc engine to get a piece of plastic out of the tube that broke off from the spark plug wires. well the piece fell in to the combustion chamber. its pretty tiny but i wanted to know if i tried to start up the engine with that piece in there would i hurt anything? or do i have to take the head off and get it out?

thanks

 

just turn the motor over without the spark pulgs and it should fly out

 

i dont think it would hurt ne thing but it would not hurt to take the head off and replace the head gasket too juss in case bc u never know man bc if u do turn the motor over and it ***** sumthin up that sux

 

a piece of plastic should be soft enough not to hurt anything but i'd personally try to vacuum it out, if you know how big it is try to find a hose thats small enough to fit into the plug hole and big enough to fit the piece into it then tape the hose onto a shop vac or vacuum then suck it out... alot less work than a headgasket job

 

haha i dropped a piece of plastic down an intake by accident at work and just crossed my fingers and it flew out while driving. I used a borescope to make sure there was no damage.

 

thanks for the reply's.. and not saying im an idiot..haha. id rather not do a headgasket job. just thought a piece of plastic would get jammed in a valve or something. i looked down into the tube and i couldnt see it.

 

if its a small peice it will burn off either in the combustion chamber or
it will burn off in the cat, if you have one. i dont know why people say it will come
out the exhaust when it will actually get stuck in the catalyst, like i said if you have one or else it will come out the exhaust.

 

ok just to let you know how big this piece is, id have to say its about 1/2 -1/4 inch square. kinda curved. part of the spark plug wire end that goes down the tube.
so you dont think this will get stuck in a vlave or something? id hate for the valve to get stuck open and hit the piston.

 

I'd try a stick (chopstick, straw, etc.) with double sided sticky tape on the end. .5 x .25 inches is a pretty large chunk.

 

i meant its like 1/4 inch sqaured. and its kinda thin.

 

Exact same thing happened to me and it was ok. I just drove it off. The temperatures of the combustion chamber will burn it off, or it will just get pushed out into your cat then burn.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Bob_760 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">a piece of plastic should be soft enough not to hurt anything but i'd personally try to vacuum it out, if you know how big it is try to find a hose thats small enough to fit into the plug hole and big enough to fit the piece into it then tape the hose onto a shop vac or vacuum then suck it out... alot less work than a headgasket job </TD></TR></TABLE>


<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by UfoTofU &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'd try a stick (chopstick, straw, etc.) with double sided sticky tape on the end. .5 x .25 inches is a pretty large chunk.</TD></TR></TABLE>

driving it out of there is the stupidest idea you could ever act upon, you are correct when you think it might fuc-k up a valve or such. get it out BEFORE you start your car. be smart. not S-M-R-T like the other homer simpsons in here.

 

haha.. well im going to try and get it out before i start the car. im liking the vacuum idea and the stick with double sided tape idea.. the only problem is i cant see the piece in there.

 

Get ta fishin'!

 

my guess is that if it's plastic it won't hurt anything and it won't fly out the exhaust because it will get burned the hell up as soon as you start the car.

 

you guys are forgetting how hot them combustion process is and it will burn off, as a landrover tech i pretty much have seen everything go down there and you should only be worried if you drop something metal. but if in doubt go for it dissasemble the top end while at it new belt and water pump wouldnt hurt.

 

im going to replace the belt and pump but id rather not take the head off.. to much work for just a small piece of plastic.. im goign to try these methods to try and get it out.. im sure something will work but if nothign works i'll just start it up with it in there.