Yes, a nightmare come true. I believe I dropped a shim down the cam chain compartment tonight. I was so damn close to getting into to valve retainer when it shot from my greasy fingers. After an hour of searching the ground and the top of the head, I figured it could have only gone down the way of the cam chain. I removed the timing rotor cover but couldn't see anything.

What should my next steps be?

I know this is going to require a lot of time and energy and I'm not looking forward to it but I need to minimize my risks of destroying my motor.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

compressor + blow gun + hope

Worst comes to worst, you won't do anything but blow some gunk out the engine.

 

magnet on a stick?

 

Go to Advance Auto or AutoZone and buy a Magnetic Tool Pick Up for 10 bucks. It saved me countless times.

 

Where exactly am I sticking this magnet? If it fell down into the bottom end, isn't my only option just to empty the oil and drop the pan?

 

Remove the engine cover where you see the cam chain and the thing that looks like a sprocket in this picture:

You should find the shim in there

 

That was one of the first things that I did. It wasn't there. Either it didn't actually fall down there or it fell down and managed to roll into those little holes into the bottom end.

I don't think it's a good idea to just assume that it didn't make it into the engine somewhere and try running it.

 

Yeah I wouldn't risk it. Like I recommended though, try one of those tool pick up magnets. They look like this:



They're flexible so you can just guide it through tight spaces and most even come with a small light at the tip. Couldn't hurt to try.