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For the past several weekends I've been working on replacing the head gasket on my A4. I've finally reached the point where I can imagine actually turning the key and seeing if she'll start, but what happened today makes me think a higher power is looking out for me.
I was putting the temperature gauge lead back on the sensor, and the little nut slipped out of my fingers and fell down below the starter. After a few choice words, I reached down in there to see if I could feel the nut, and instead my fingers hit what felt like a piece of plastic. Of course, it slipped further down between the starter and the block, out of reach.
I got my face down there with the flashlight and could see a largish piece of black plastic, so I stuck a screwdriver into the space and pushed it back up to where I could get my hands on it. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be the plastic circular magnet that goes over the distributor shaft as part of the electronic ignition:
If I hadn't dropped that little nut down between the starter and the block, I would NEVER have found that little magnetic ring. I would have cranked that engine over till doomsday and it wouldn't have started, and Lord only knows how long it would have taken me to work my way to realizing the thing was missing.
The only way I can figure it got down there is that when I took the distributor cap off to remove the head, I covered it with a plastic bag to keep dirt out. Later, when I had the head off, I hand-cranked the engine to check on the valve gap settings. While doing that, the plastic bag wrapped around the rotor, and I had to pull the rotor off to get the back off. When I pulled the rotor off the ring must have come off with it, and I didn't notice it falling down beside the starter.
Rare good karma for me. I hope it's a good omen!
I was putting the temperature gauge lead back on the sensor, and the little nut slipped out of my fingers and fell down below the starter. After a few choice words, I reached down in there to see if I could feel the nut, and instead my fingers hit what felt like a piece of plastic. Of course, it slipped further down between the starter and the block, out of reach.
I got my face down there with the flashlight and could see a largish piece of black plastic, so I stuck a screwdriver into the space and pushed it back up to where I could get my hands on it. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be the plastic circular magnet that goes over the distributor shaft as part of the electronic ignition:
If I hadn't dropped that little nut down between the starter and the block, I would NEVER have found that little magnetic ring. I would have cranked that engine over till doomsday and it wouldn't have started, and Lord only knows how long it would have taken me to work my way to realizing the thing was missing.
The only way I can figure it got down there is that when I took the distributor cap off to remove the head, I covered it with a plastic bag to keep dirt out. Later, when I had the head off, I hand-cranked the engine to check on the valve gap settings. While doing that, the plastic bag wrapped around the rotor, and I had to pull the rotor off to get the back off. When I pulled the rotor off the ring must have come off with it, and I didn't notice it falling down beside the starter.
Rare good karma for me. I hope it's a good omen!
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