Part dropping off!

1061 Views 6 Replies 6 Participants Last post by darth dino, Oct 18, 2007

howieb4

Discussion Starter · Oct 16, 2007

Help! I think something fell off my car and I don't know what! Well maybe. I took a right turn and drove over a rough patch of road(no bottoming out). But I drove another 100 or so feet and heard a metal clanging sound like a butter knife dropping through metal piping, and then in my rearview mirror I saw a small shiny piece of metal bouncing down the road. As I was watching it a small piece broke off it in another direction. The car was driving fine with no immediate issues so I pulled off at the first safe spot. I looked under the hood and didn't see anything obvious(quite an understatement from a newbie) and then I saw the empty spot where the low tone horn should be.

To my relief I put two and two together and realized the part that fell was my 1/4 drive socket I must have left under the hood when I removed the bad horn part. I closed the hood and drove off. And actually drove about another day and a half(30 or so miles) with absolutely no issues. Then on Sunday to my horror I saw my 1/4 inch drive socket sitting on my work bench. Uh oh!

I looked under the hood again and saw something that didn't look correct. I am not sure what you call it, but when you pull on the throttle lever(next to the choke lever) it pulls on a lever against the firewall that has a spring connected to it. Something just doesn't look right about it. Could the part that fell be something pertaining to this?

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han

· #2 · Oct 16, 2007

that's where the hand trothel cable pulls on the gas padel so you can lock it and run like cruisecontrole or warm the engine up.

and it looks ok too mee the hole seems to be a little bit worn out.

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Andrew

· #3 · Oct 16, 2007

They may originally have had a rubber grommet in there, but this is how they always look nowadays.
Andrew

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alfa soon

· #4 · Oct 16, 2007

As many tools as I used to pick up while cruising around on my scooter, I bet you dropped a screwdriver, or vise-grips or something. Tools are not necessarily yours. While working on a new to me car I've found wrenches 'resting' in the recesses of the engine compartment just waiting for a bump or the like to dislodge them...

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howieb4

Discussion Starter · #5 · Oct 16, 2007

Thanks for the reassuring words, alfa soon! I hope you are correct. My jack just broke so I haven't looked underneath at any of the linkage and such. The car tracks true, brakes hard, shifts through all the gears without notice, heater works, parking brake engages nice and hard. So I am assuming if the part that broke off was related to those, it would be noticeable. I still can picture that part in my rear view mirror bouncing down the road. It had the same look as if you drop a six inch socket extender w/socket and see the socket shoot off in a different direction. Let's hope that's all it was.

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Alfajay

· #6 · Oct 17, 2007

It is also possible that what you heard/saw was a piece of metal that was already lying in the road when you came along. One of your tires could have kicked it up. It may not even have been a car part or tool - pickup trucks deposit junk all over the highways. Perhaps a truck hit that bump you mentioned and a piece of rebar (or whatever) bounced out.

I wouldn't worry about it.

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darth dino

· #7 · Oct 18, 2007

Alfajay said:
I wouldn't worry about it.

chances are it was something you ran over, but i would still have some concerns until you got the car up in the air and had a good look underneath . . .

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Part dropping off!

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