Defroster vent object retrieval

[Dryver]

My feeble attempts at searching came up with nada, so sorry if this has been asked. I keep coins in the trays on top of the dash and a few times I have knocked some over hacksaw ridge and they have disappeared down the central defrost vents. Any (relatively) easy way to get them back out?

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[JeepinJason33]

No easy way without tearing apart the entire dash. I pulled everything out for the speaker and radio upgrade and it still looked like a lot of work to get the ducting out of there.

Can you hear them bouncing around in there?

Depending on how hard you wheel, you could just wait until you roll it...

 

[Deleted User 38384]

My feeble attempts at searching came up with nada, so sorry if this has been asked. I keep coins in the trays on top of the dash and a few times I have knocked some over hacksaw ridge and they have disappeared down the central defrost vents. Any (relatively) easy way to get them back out?

Only experience I've ever had losing anything in those vents is when I drop a screw down there one time for my bullet point center mount thing. I thought I lost it for good but it ended up falling through the back into my passenger footwell.

It may cause possibly more problems, but a decent idea honestly, take take another coin, and drop it down there, and listen to see where it lands. If you know where it is behind the dash, it may give you more opportunities or options for how to get it out.

Also I'm not sure if many US coins are magnetic, but you could always grab a magnet and tie it to a rope and let it go down there. Also too there's those pointers that you can buy at home Depot, they have a magnet on the tip, I use those all the time working in the engine bay when I don't want to drop a screw. They're extremely handy and as long as wherever it's landing isn't snaking through stuff, you might be able to get them out that way.

 

[AFD]

Also I'm not sure if many US coins are magnetic, but you could always grab a magnet and tie it to a rope and let it go down there. Also too there's those pointers that you can buy at home Depot, they have a magnet on the tip, I use those all the time working in the engine bay when I don't want to drop a screw. They're extremely handy and as long as wherever it's landing isn't snaking through stuff, you might be able to get them out that way.

That's a good idea, but I'm pretty sure that most US coins aren't ferrous enough to stick to magnets. Could probably accomplish the same idea with the same/similar telescopic wand with a bit of rolled electrical tape stuck to the end (or maybe a thin dab of Elmer's glue or a similar adhesive).

A small enough grabber pickup wand with a claw might also work if you can actually see where the coinage went..

https://www.amazon.com/Housolution-Magnetic-Four-claw-Bendable-Flexible/dp/B07GX8NLTR/

 

[GtX]

Just forget about them. They're gone. Not worth it.

 

[Dryver]

Thanks for the responses. I'm not worried about the coins per se, but the damage they could do if they got lodged in, say, the fan and burned out the fan motor.

You'd hope that automotive engineers would have enough history of similar events at this point to design in something like a p-trap or a catch basin to prevent such issues, but even if they had, it was probably cost reduced out in the second or third year of the model.

 

[Terrymo]

Probably not worth worrying about but I’m always looking for excuses to buy new tools. You could try a cheap $30 borescope/endoscope from Amazon to see if it’s even retrievable. And I’ll state the obvious…maybe find another spot for change.

 

[U EEDIOT]

Thanks for the responses. I'm not worried about the coins per se, but the damage they could do if they got lodged in, say, the fan and burned out the fan motor.

You'd hope that automotive engineers would have enough history of similar events at this point to design in something like a p-trap or a catch basin to prevent such issues, but even if they had, it was probably cost reduced out in the second or third year of the model.

Impossible for coins to make their way to the blower fan.

 

[Bill_P]

Thanks for the responses. I'm not worried about the coins per se, but the damage they could do if they got lodged in, say, the fan and burned out the fan motor.

You'd hope that automotive engineers would have enough history of similar events at this point to design in something like a p-trap or a catch basin to prevent such issues, but even if they had, it was probably cost reduced out in the second or third year of the model.

They can't even get air to blow evenly across those vents so I doubt they thought of a catch trap. I'd more suspect they designed a funnel to carry anything directly to the fan blades

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