No tool left behind

I have a bit of a bad habit of setting tools down when I am done with them and cleaning up "later". This is bad enough for organization, but worse when I set the tool in the car. After replacing a header, I left a ratchet + 14mm socket on the front lower crossmember and it fell out at a railroad crossing on the way to work the next morning, 5 miles from home. I heard the racket and circled back to retrieve it.

Once upon a time my 10mm wrench lived for about 8 months behind an Integra headlight. It has also had short stints atop the internal fender of my wife's Vibe and her old Accord as well, from when I finished the job until the next time I opened the hood. In fact most of my wrenches have lived for a day to a month in this location in one car or another. Like I said, it is a problem.

I have been missing the 3/8 drive 12mm socket from my color coded harbor freight set for quite a while now. I assumed it was long gone. Then last night I discovered that this little guy spent approximately 2.5 years, 18,000 miles and about 400 autocross runs stuck to one of the little nuts that locates the big diff mount on a Miata. I used it to take the mount off, the nut came right out, and the socket is back at home in my toolbox.

I can't be the only one who does this. What tools have you unknowingly brought along for a ride? Anything that hung on longer than my 12mm socket and lived to tell the tale?

My first job out of high school was at an independent Volvo shop. We had a customer come in with a bad starter and I changed it. They mentioned that they were selling it and asked us to check it over. After they left I realized my 13mm wrench was still on the new starter. Several months later the new owner brought their car in to be checked out and sure enough my wrench was still sitting there.

That's impressive!

It took me an embarrassingly long time to discover that my front end clunking noise was a screwdriver sitting the the (rather convenient for tool storage) tray at the base of my Miata's windshield.

Most of my tools have done stints in various locations like that, but I can't think of a single one that I've found still stuck on a nut.

My solution to this problem was to buy higher quality, more expensive tools and organize them efficiently. I can look in a drawer and instantly know something is missing and then go looking for it. With a 50 cent HF socket I was content to let it go, with an expensive socket or wrench you can be damn sure I am going to look for it.

I haven't misplaced a tool in 5 years.

I once drove almost a mile with a lug key on one of my Samurai's lug nuts. Amazed it didn't come off.

I also drove with sockets resting on the shock tops or in the crease at the edge of the engine bay of my Corolla a couple times.

cmcgregor wrote: That's impressive! It took me an embarrassingly long time to discover that my front end clunking noise was a screwdriver sitting the the (rather convenient for tool storage) tray at the base of my Miata's windshield. Most of my tools have done stints in various locations like that, but I can't think of a single one that I've found still stuck on a nut.

I've also left tools there. I once had a long 3/8" extension fall out of the front fender of my Miata while I was out on course at an autocross. It wasn't mine, so somebody else must have done the same thing.

My Jeep once did a 350 mile ride on a trailer with a small screwdriver resting on top of the trans bellhousing. I knew it was there, but I couldn't reach it with anything to get it out. It was still there after the trip, so I enlisted a long-armed friend to reach in with a long flatblade and knock it onto the ground for retrieval.

NickD wrote:

cmcgregor wrote: That's impressive! It took me an embarrassingly long time to discover that my front end clunking noise was a screwdriver sitting the the (rather convenient for tool storage) tray at the base of my Miata's windshield. Most of my tools have done stints in various locations like that, but I can't think of a single one that I've found still stuck on a nut.

I've also left tools there. I once had a long 3/8" extension fall out of the front fender of my Miata while I was out on course at an autocross. It wasn't mine, so somebody else must have done the same thing.

I found my new to me impact extension in the front fender of a Miata I was taking apart.

Shortly after getting my first car, an 86 Monte Carlo, it needed a timing chain. I had a short piece of pipe to loosen the balancer bolt that I set down against the radiator and forgot. I put everything together and took a quick test drive. The pipe rolled back into the fan which punched it through the radiator and condenser. I've been very careful since.

I once drove my 510 about 200 miles, and had the pliers I left on the front strut fall down, handle first, into the steering column ujoint. Luckily, it happened turning into my girlfriends driveway. Could have been very, very bad.

I sold my wifes old daily s10 with a 10mm socket in the cowl. It lasted atleast 3 years of winter abuse after i lost it changing the wiper motor. Guy i sold it too brought me it back when he had too change the heater core and found it.

I had a screwdriver line on my skid plate for a number of years. Its rusty now, but back in my tool box. I have had an extension on the cowl and a socket on the fender lip, but those were not there all that long.

I want to thank one of you guys for leaving the long handled, swivel head Snap On 3/8" ratchet in the derelict MG Midget that I built into my racecar.

Came in handy, though I had to get a (free) rebuild kit from Snap On to fix the ratchet.

I once drove my Dart 30 miles with the radiator cap sitting on the inner fender. The guy I drove to asked something about the engine, I popped the hood, and realized the radiator cap was still where I left it after checking a coolant leak...

A co-worker of mine was getting ready to change his oil and while gathering his tools, he could not find his filter wrench. Turns out that it was still on the oil filter on the engine from the last oil change!

A colleague asked me to check over some work he'd had a slightly shady Jeep dealer perform on his Liberty. I opened the hood and there atop some splash shield at the top of the firewall was a long, Snap-on 1/4" wobble extension. "You want this?" - "nope"

Does scavenging tools you see fall out of cars in front of you count? I have done that more than twice.

I'm usually pretty good about putting tools away at the end of a wrenching session. Even if I plan to continue the next day - too many times when the "next day" turned into "many weeks or months" later...

One amusing instance was when I was adjusting the valves on the ex's 1800ES, using a large 1/2" dr socket on the crank nut to rotate the engine. After I was done, I got in and started the engine, totally forgetting about the wrench. The starter dutifully turned the engine over and after the wrench hit the ground spun the nut out of the crank. For better or worse, the engine doesn't start easily, so I stopped cranking when I heard the crank pulley fall to the garage floor.

dean1484 wrote: Does scavenging tools you see fall out of cars in front of you count? I have done that more than twice.

I once saw a nice 3/8" ratchet with a deep socket on it sitting near the median at an intersection. I banged an immediate illegal u-ey at the end of the divider and went back, but I got back to the left turn lane just in time to see a guy on a Harley stop and pick it up.

I adjusted the idle on the 4Runner in the dark with a cheap-o Harbor Freight slotted screwdriver I kept in the center console.

Few weeks later, I go to grab it and it's gone. Whatever, it's an HF screwdriver/prybar. In between uses, there was this nasty, plastic burning smell common from the engine. Figured it was an errant zip-tie or something, because after those stinky 2 weeks, the smell went away.

In the spring I do an oil change and I see something shinny down by the exhaust manifold. It was the shaft of the missing screwdriver and the mummified remains of the plastic handle that cooked for those 2 weeks.

Found many tools over the years in new to me used cars. My coolest story is about glasses though. I take my glasses off to work on my cars, did something under the hood of my Eclipse and closed the hood finished etc. Later could not find my glasses, looked under the hood, didn't see them, so grabbed my spare pair and figured I would run into them sooner or later. Never did. About a year or so later, I do a brake pad replace on Eclipse, pull the wheel off and there are my glasses hanging on a brake hose, lens scratched from crud flyin up in the well and hitting them, still amazed they didn't fall off.. These days I try to remember and set my glasses on the roof of the car, bit more obvious

I left a bleeder wrench on the front brake bleeder of a van once. Test drive started out fine, then when i made a turn the wrench hit the frame and opened the bleeder. Immediate loss of brakes. At same shop when we would replace an engine we would back the car into the bay so we had more room for the engine crane. Since there aren't any work benches at the back of the bay we would back the shop truck up to it and use the tailgate as a workbench. The shop helper took off down the road in said shop truck with my brand new 3/8" makita cordless impact on the tailgate. It didn't make it back from the parts run.

Two good stories.

1- as a 15 yo I changed the sway bar end links on my dad's car. He drove for months before mentioning to me the clunk came back. I looked underneath to find my vise grip still dutifully preventing the nut from spinning.

2- less than a week ago I took some wheels and tires to have them mounted and balanced. Brought a pair of gloves with me. Unloaded the tires and set the gloves on the back bumper of the truck. Drove away. About a mile down the road I realized what I did but I was in a rush so I kept going. They were still there when I got to my next destination, just sitting on the bumper!

Basil Exposition wrote: I want to thank one of you guys for leaving the long handled, swivel head Snap On 3/8" ratchet in the derelict MG Midget that I built into my racecar. Came in handy, though I had to get a (free) rebuild kit from Snap On to fix the ratchet.

I have that exact same ratchet, also free(though I don't remember what vehicle I found it in) and also in need of a rebuild. Glad to know there's a free kit for it.

Does taking a 6-mile drive with the family cat under the hood sitting on the fender ledge of a 60's dodge truck count?