How Do I Solve This Problem?

R

RustyZ4

Veteran
 Maidstone, Kent
Hi All

Need a bit of help here,

On changing my cracked red stop light in the boot for a nice new clear one, one of the large spring washers dropped as I was putting it on, sods law, it dropped in between the pressed metal of the boot lid, followed by a limited amount of words, most of which began with F, so now it is rattiling around in there, and for the life of me short of taking the boot off and turning it to all sorts of angles till it drops out, I cant work out how to get it out, evertime I open and shut the boot I hear it, :cry: luckily it makes no noise when im driving.also I had a spare washer so the lights in OK.

Anyone please, got any ideas???
 
I changed mine last week and almost did the same thing.

Isn't there some kind of tool with a magnet on the end that would work for this.
 
How 'bout something like this?
http://hand-tools.hardwarestore.com/67-414-pick-up-tools.aspx
297812_front500.jpg
 
Can you squeeze something in there that will stop the washer from rattling if the hole is that small? Some gel type substance I meant.
 
What about a running a strong magnet over the inside/outside of the boot and trying to drag it back towards the opening?
 
pvr said:
Can you squeeze something in there that will stop the washer from rattling if the hole is that small? Some gel type substance I meant.
Click to expand...

Screwdriver with telescopic magnet (like old car aerial) migh work, otherwise PVR's idea silicone followed by a spirited drive maybe worth a shot.
 
Ha ha - that's funny. I say that only because it's part of a basic set of rules about where items go if you drop them and I#ve spent a fair amount of my life finding bits inside cars under boxes int he garage, etc.

Problem with this is you probably can's see it so any phusical clay will be difficult and any magnet will stick on steel boot frame (I think it's steel??)

Frankly I'd do as per PVR and spray some rust proof aerosol in and stick the little critter down
 
Thanks for the help guys, I like the idea of spraying something in there to seal it, just have to do a bit of homework as to what will be best,

Please nobody suggest expandable foam :D
 
RustyZ4 said:
Thanks for the help guys, I like the idea of spraying something in there to seal it, just have to do a bit of homework as to what will be best,

Please nobody suggest expandable foam :D
Click to expand...


Halfords do a clear rust prevention spray (Waxoyl) that gels, so it would serve a dual purpose
 
I had the same problem :headbang:
I could hear it for a few days, moving every time the boot was closed.
A guy I work with has some small rare earth magnets that I tried skimming over the inner boot surface to see if I could attract the nut along the surface and to a hole. It didn't work though. Whilst trying this the nut stopped moving when the boot opened/closed so it seems to have wedged itself in somewhere, hasn't been a problem since.
The magnets did stick to the boot (I actually left them there a while to see if they would pickup the nut) so it's steel and one of those reaching tools would be very tricky to use.
 
Okay... here's another one...

Take two thin and flexible strips of metal, a pair of thin metal rulers would probably be ideal.
Bend the top edges ever so slightly, to form something like a beak when the strips are placed back-to-back.
Put some sticky slow drying glue or resin between the strips, just behind that beak.
Poke this contraption at the lost object and hope that it gets stuck in the beak.
It should be thin and flexible enough to reach tight spaces.
 
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