A sock = engine oil cap

[Sindawe]

Un-frelling-believable

++++++++++++++++++++
if all you are going to do is flame me, just leave the thread and thats that. I ****ed up badly the other night. The oil light came on, i got oil, put it in and accidently dropped the oil cap down below the engine. heres where i ****ed up- i temporarily plugged the uncapped oil hole with a sock and the sock got sucked into it after about 5 mins of driving. its wrapped around the cam shaft-im pretty sure thats what it is... and i need some advice on how to get it out without shelling a shitload of money out to bmw to take it in there. should i unbolt the top piece there and cut it out and then flush the whole thing with some stuff at kragen or just try to cut it out piece by piece through the hole with a sharp razor and take the pieces out with needle nose pliers and then flush it?

please any advice or help on this crap move i made would really really really help me out.

thanks to anyone who replies

Source: http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=311931

[esheato]

And the best part....some guy towards the bottom of the first page posted his misfortune on every car forum around....bwahahhahaha!

[buy guns]

haha poor guy, this is going to be another one of those things that gets posted on every car forum on the internet.

[Guest]

I am not sure how the BMW is made.

One of my old mentors now passed was mechanic. He was one in the Army before he got out and open his own shop in civilian life.

So when a lady customer of his came in, upset, as hubby was at 2 week Summer drill...well seems the service station attendent checked the oil  he added some. So many miles later the light comes on. She raises hood and sees the oil cap missing , this a  Chevy Small block. She stuffed a Burp cloth in the hole.  I mean she is a new mom, baby and hubby is away for 2 weeks.  

Mechanic calmed her down, told her this is not the first time he has seen this. Shared one time  was some ranking officer  in the Army lost a oil cap and shoved a rag in the hole.

Mechanic asks me get into the car, He takes a small snake like used in a drain, tiny one with a corkscrew end. He snakes, I let engine run and shut off as he yells to me 'start, shut down, start".

Him working the snake, the engine running...cloth came out. Gas station found the oil cap, top off oil and good to go.

Now engines may differ, might work, worth a try. Mechanic did it, said he had before.

If you get what you feel is "most" out, still uncomfortable. AutoRx is supposed to be safe engine cleaner.
http://www.auto-rx.com/

Stuff happens. No snickers or grins from me.  Life is just that way at times, Murphy don't help either.

Best of luck. Engines and Car stuff is NOT inexpensive. Hence the reason I do not make fun of stuff like this.
Let us know what you learn, we all learn from stuff like this.

Regards,

Steve

[280plus]

Assumimg it's an overhead cam, is there anyway you can pull the valve cover?

[Stickjockey]

I think they've got the right idea over on the other thread. Remove valve cover, remove sock, replace valve cover, torque to spec.

I hate it when Murphy screws with my car.

[...has left the building.]

In a way, I feel bad for rich kids who have all those resources but aren't taught anything in life.

[USP45usp]

Why is it that people think that you have to plug up the holes (gas, oil, etc..)?  I mean, unless you're on a boat and you forgot to put in the drain plug before going out, you really don't need to plug them up.  

If it were me, I would have tried to find the cap first (I have dropped the cap behind the engine before and didn't move until I found it and put it back on) and if I couldn't have, just bought a case of oil so I could get home.

The best that I've ever seen is when people shove rags into their gas tubes on the car... can we all say "car bomb" in the making :eek:

Wayne

[mfree]

USP45usp,

I found out the hard way that on some modern cars (particularly my Daewoo), you better have that oil cap on when the engine's running, 'cause the camshafts will fling it, hot, out AT you through the open port.

"ok, crank it... SHUT IT OFF! SHUT IT OFF! Ptuu *wipes face*"

EDIT:

Oh, and the old rag-in-the-fuel-tank trick exists for a reason. Old cars don't have antisplash baffling, you go around a hard corner with the tank full and cap off and you could lose a fair bit of fuel, not to mention anything getting *in*.

[USP45usp]

mfree,

Oh.  Heck, I learn something new every day .

Wayne

*forgot to sign

[garrettwc]

sindawe, I'm not sure on the internals of the BMW engine, but you could have damaged the engine. I know that's not what you wanted to hear, but think about it. A car engine has pretty precise mechanical tolerances. If something the thickness of a sock got in there you could have warped the cam, or a pushrod, valve spring, any number of things.

You can go the cheap route and take the valve cover off (unbolt the top piece there) and cut the sock out. But unless you know how to check it out, you won't be able to verify if the engine has suffered any damage. That could lead to a blown engine, which will cost you a lot more than what you will pay now.

[Sindawe]

garrettwc: Twas not *I* that got the sock wrapped about a cam shaft on a BMW.  I just happend to find the original reference on a Nissan forum site.

I'm crazy, not stupid.

[280plus]

oh well duh...

Had me fooled. But I'm glad it wasn't YOU!!