Taking off the DV and reinstalling it for the spring switch.

Upon reinstalling it i dropped the 3rd screw into the black hole of an engine bay. The one closest to the transmission and the ground. The other two are snug and tight.

Safe to drive or no?
Think the parts department has a spare screw i snag tomorrow?

 

They like to fall and get caught on the bracket that has the O2 sensor plug. I don't know how good it will be to drive on it, but I have tightened 2 up and just let the car idle. Some times the shaking will make it drop. You can also check the fan shroud, had stuff fall in there too.

 

Thanks for the quick reply.
I've checked the fan shroud and haven't found anything. I also hit the bottom part of the bumper to see if i could hear it rattle or bounce up and down and haven't heard anything.

I took a glance at the 02 bracket and didn't see anything, but I'll look again.

I'll go start it up and see if anything falls out.

I do know it fell forward in the engine bay, not towards the rear. So i'm pretty positive it's up near the radiator somewhere or on the engine block.

 

Well no go on the engine start shaking it loose.
I think my minion got hungry and ate it.

Wonder if the parts department could replace this pretty easily? I don't know how common those allen bolts are on the car?

I also drive 70 miles round trip each day. Do you think the heat will make it loose without the 3rd bolt?

 

Ok well I just drove it around the neighborhood a few times, to get it heated up and it still seems air tight and didn't come loose.

I just hope it can handle a round trip on the highway at speed of 70MPH.

I'll call the parts department tomorrow and see if they can scrounge one of those bolts up i suppose.

if anyone has any input before i go into work tomorrow on driving it let me know. I might be able to get a family member to lend me their car for the day if yall think it's a bad idea.

 

not sure if you own/tried one of those telescoping magnet wands ever, but those are a must have in any garage! one time i was changing the cam shaft on another car i owned -- no, not a bmw or maserati, or else i'd tell you so -- and dropped a bolt down the opening where the chain ran. i obviously could not drive it then. the magnetic wand was a savior. it kinda sucked that it kept sticking to everything metal from the cam gears down to the bottom of the chain, but was able to fish it out eventually.

 

Also, I think that bolt may be generic enough to even find at a decent h/w store that sells metric allen holts, if Mini doesn't stock it that is.

 

They do have the bolts at Home Depot, but they're kinda black and not the exact length. I had the same problem, dropped one of those things, and could never find it (heard it finally fall out when getting onto a highway ramp...)

The bolt that will work is an M6 1.5pitch 15mm length. I drove with one for several days without an issue. An exhaustive research found that the OEM bolts are 16mm thread length, and something like a 1.33 thread pitch Even though I couldn't see or feel a difference between the OEM and the Home Depot one other than the finish and the 1mm.

I ultimately decided to order an OEM bolt through PenskeParts, just to eliminate any question at a service (if ever) about an odd looking bolt. So since shipped was the same for one or several, I bought 4 just in case I dropped the bastard again, or twice....something like 80 cents apiece.

If you really need or want an OEM one, let me know and I'll drop one in an envelope for you.

 

I drove it to work this morning without a problem.

ya i do have one of those, but I had no idea where the bolt even went. So that wouldn't me much if i didn't know the general area.

Thanks for the input.
I just got off the phone with the parts department and he said they are a m6x16 bolt and do cost 9 bucks a piece from the dealer. He recommend i save 8 bucks and just go to a hardware store because they didn't even have them on hand anyways.

I'll send you a pm 10Zero.

 

9 bucks? For a bolt? Geez, that's why I bought extras when I ordered some from PenskeParts. I was way off what I thought they cost, but still not close to that dealer...I just looked and they're $2.05 each. So when I ordered, $8.20 for four of them, and $9.00 to ship! And I had them inside 4 days...