Help! i lost a screw! - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

illuzionx · 09-14-2009, 08:50 PM

While unscrewing the din slot brackets in my car, one of the screws fell through the hole below the din slots!

is there a way where i would be able to recover the screws that were dropped?

is it dangerous to leave the screws there?

Retrospekt · 09-14-2009, 09:04 PM

It fell down into your transmission box thing. It's a pain in the ass to get out, and you don't necessarily need to. There is a lot of open space down there.

illuzionx · 09-14-2009, 09:10 PM

how could i get to it?

i have a gen 3 auto.

i dont really want to drive to buy some new ones.

Retrospekt · 09-14-2009, 09:17 PM

You have to pop out the plastic cover on the gearbox shifter, unscrew the black cover underneath that cover, and possibly unscrew the gear shifter itself to stick your hand in there.

abew330 · 09-14-2009, 09:28 PM

wait where did the screw fall?

inside the car around the stereo / shifter??

or in the engine bay???

din slots? the double din where the stereo goes?

if so, you would have to remove the front half of the center console to get to the screw the dropped..

illuzionx · 09-14-2009, 09:29 PM

ok, whats the easiest way to pop off the cover?

Retrospekt · 09-14-2009, 09:34 PM

Stick a screwdriver in the bottom left and right corners and pop up.

It probably will be easier to find the screw if you remove the whole center panel, but more work.

illuzionx · 09-14-2009, 10:16 PM

well im back from doing that,

too bad i didnt find the screw.

GG to me lol.

***PhatRoyale*** · 09-14-2009, 11:50 PM

Go to a specialty nut and bolt shop and get it matched.

djb2 · 09-15-2009, 12:29 AM

It's far faster to find one in a boneyard.

Or you could try just waiting.
There is a good chance that the screw will magically appear on the floor in a few weeks. That's what happened to the one I dropped when reinstalling the radio.

illuzionx · 09-15-2009, 05:23 AM

hehe well yeah i ended up just buying some bolts to replace them with. pity they didnt have it in a screw/bolt version.

hopefully they fall on the floor, at the shop i took one of the screws out so i can find the right thread and whilst putting the screw back, that one fell through the black hole too! gosh im clumsy today.

atleast i got to fix up some things that were annoying me, i found a way to fix them by popping up the gear stick cover thing.