Dont leave tools in the engine bay

[dutchbuffalo]

After changing my intake last week I forgot to take out a couple tools and after sitting in stop and go traffic for an hour I shut my car off and when I tried starting it again it wouldn't idle and it would just die. So I popped the hood and it was extremely hot under there and sitting right next to the battery where I left them where my tools which nearly burned my hand when I tried to pick them up. About 30 mins later the car must of cooled down enough to start and I havent had a problem since. Does anyone know why the engine may of overheated from a couple screwdrivers and a pair of pliers that were sitting on the flat metal part of the engine bay next to the battery?

 

[bova80]

that shouldn't have had an affect at all. i left a small screw driver in between my coils on top of the engine for a day or 2 and didn't have any adverse affects.

 

[Sleezer1533]

haha. I left a rag and a pair of safety goggles under the hood once, doh!

 

[8.5MS3]

i left one of the boost tubes loose and a ratchet under the cowl. first time i went into boost i nearly had a heart attack....loud pop followed by metal rattling around from the ratchet....H-O-L-Y S-H-I-T

i needed a new pair of shorts

 

[batou079]

typically it shouldnt cause any real problems unless tools actually FELL into moving parts.

the fact that you were in stop & go traffic for an hour, and THAT was enough to cause you to overheat means you may have other issues to investigate. No CEL codes were thrown eh?

 

[bova80]

have you checked your coolant level?

 

[Wagonbacker9]

if it crossed the terminals, the tool would be hot from the short circuit...that would also cause the battery to be very warm... other than that... dunno.

 

[Sleezer1533]

If it crossed the terminals, there would have been much more devastation than the tools getting hot, more like a small explosion under the hood lol

 

[Wagonbacker9]

it all depends... if it got solid contact right away, no sparks. but yeah, if that in fact happened he's lucky the battery didn't self destruct taking the whole car with it.

 

[dutchbuffalo]

yeah, the tools were extremely hot and they here touching the tie down bar for the battery but not the terminals when I opened the hood. when it died the cel and battery light were on but once it started they went away and nothing has come on since so I really dont know what the problem was because I sit in the traffic like that every once in awhile when I cross the border and never had an issue before. And I forgot to mention to top it off this happened at the customs booth at the detroit/windsor tunnel, good times !!

 

[Wagonbacker9]

any time my car is not running with the key in the on position the batt and CEL are on..

 

[dutchbuffalo]

good point.

 

[Rush]

I've left tools under the hood more times than I'd like to admit ..

My dad wins the trophy for the craziest thing left under the hood of my MSP, though. He called me up one night after we'd spent the day working on it, and asked me if I'd seen his glasses anywhere. Turns out that he'd left them sitting in the engine bay somewhere .. and they'd fallen down through the bay and had somehow managed to get hooked over my BOV. They prolly hung there, about four inches from the pavement, for a solid hour while I drove home, LOL.

 

[Wagonbacker9]

I used to work at a Valvoline Instant Oil Change store... and to do the airbox on an older chrysler van, we used a 10mm socket on a speed wrench, and a 7mm nut driver. One day one drove into the shop... I popped the hood, and low and behold, there were both tools ready, waiting to be used. And no, we weren't missing ours.

 

[OJ Bartley]

Maybe the tools were blocking some air flow? I always cringe when I find something I've left under the hood, or forgotten to reattach properly.

 

[dutchbuffalo]

the tools were definitely not blocking air flow at all and my coolant levels are good, I'm baffled at this point.

 

[Drover]

Best one i seen left there was my buddy left his blackberry for a winter month under the hood of his mazda 3 and it actually work after

 

[SeR_Cyclops]

Wow, That takes the cake right there.....

 

[RhoadBlock]

SMH. I too am guilty of that. I've left pliers, sockets, screwdrivers, rachets, rags, my phone, nuts/bolts...all kinds of s*** right near my strut towers. And driven for days with them there too. No adverse damage other than embarassment tho.

However, the transmission shop I had install my clutch/flywheel managed to do the same on my drivers side strut tower...but whatever it was left a big ass dent from the inside of the engine bay.