I dropped the valve cover bolt into the oil passage to the oil pan.(needless to say FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU) I am not sure if it went all the way to the oil pan how can i figure that out? I went to the junkyard and looked under another f22 and saw that 2 bolts were blocked by the tranny to the oil pan. whats the smartest way to get it out? just pull then engine then the oil pan? 97 f22b2 cd5 Accord

 

Can you get your hands on a videoscope? Maybe stick it down the hole...and see if you can spot it? Then use a magnet and snake it out?

 

Lol I just have to post for the sake of posting. HOW DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING? When you take off the valve cover you set everything aside not in or anywheres near the engine compartment! Especially near an open head of the engine. Same goes for the spark plug seals take them off as soon as you pull the valve cover so they don't go missing. If you look further back in this section someone just a few weeks ago did the same as you so if you check that post out it may help idk but be more careful next time lol.

 

You don't have to pull the engine to remove the oil pan. Just remove the exhaust downpipe and the cross member. If this is an auto remove the torque converter cover, if it's a manual remove the flywheel cover. You can then remove all of the bolts around the oil pan and drop it. This is like a 30-45 minute job. It's not something that should take too long. That said, I'd try a magnet first.

 

I just had this happen to me a couple weeks ago, the EXACT same thing. Anyways, here is what I did:
- if you car is an automatic, remove the torque converter cover (to get this all the way off, you'll have to remove the shift cable cover)
- if your car is a manual, remove the flywheel cover
- remove front to back cross member
- remover L shaped exhaust pipe (unbolt it by the header, and right by the cat conv)
- now you're ready to get at all the oil pan bolts
- take off pan, clean it, take the acorn nut out (assuming it made it in there)
- scrape off old gasket, and put new gasket on
- re-install using reverse order

Like I mentioned I just did this exact thing a couple weeks ago so I can answer whatever questions you have, just PM me if anything

 

If you can stick a pencil magnet straight down the oil drain passage if fell, you may be able to snag it and just pull it back up.
Or, a bit harder, drag the bolt from the outside of the pan with a strong magnet towards the fill plug and pull it out that way, if the head of the bolt will fit through the train plug.