So I’m putting on the front rotary accent (one of my father’s day gifts) and I’m on the ground looking into the lower bumper and I see something. I reach my hand inside all the way up to the radiator and pull out a big *** screwdriver. Man, I couldn’t beleave it. This thing was sitting there with the handle wedged in pretty good. I never heard any rattles so I doubt it was moving. I’ve had my 8 now for about a month and a half (new 05). Don’t know if it belongs to the dealer or came from the factory. Funny though.

Bob

 

Did anything rattle after you removed it?

 

That screwdriver is part of the emergency road-kit option you purchased.

 

LOL. No rattles after I pulled it out. I'll keep an eye on that though.

 

ROTFLMAO, too funny!!! This is the stuff you only see on TV!! :D

 

Can I have it?

I collect old tools that I find.

It would be a nice fathers day gift.

 

probably belongs to a tech at the dealership. i've accidently left tools in customer's cars and it pisses me off. especially if it's a snap-on or matco tool.

 

how big' is it? post a pic... lol

 

FOD. Foreign Object Debris/Damage. In the aircraft biz stuff like that happens all the time. When F-15'S get worked on the pilots take them for a test flight. They fly inverted for a few minutes so that stray washers, screws and junk fall to the canopy where they can scoop them up. Tools get left behind on construction of the C-130 cargo plane periodically. FOD in cars is not as dangerous as FOD in a/c cuz your RX-8 isnt cruisin around at 20K ft waiting for a flashlight to get jammed in the control cables.:o

 

They should have left an air rattle gun, an air compressor, a torque wrench or a sport light weight jack... or something useful. Not a screwdriver

 

It's a Craftman - Made in the USA. Which would be even more ironic if it came from the factory! :p

 

Must be hard flying one of those things upside down to pick up the FOD.. :D

 

My grandmother had a Dodge Coronet in 1974. The car had a rattle in the rear quarter area from the time she bought it. On my sister's 16th birthday, she bought a new car and gave it to my sister. Finally, one day I decided to go find that rattle if it was the last thing I do.

I removed the back seat - lower and upper cushion and hanging behind the seat, banging into the body crossmember with every movement of the car, was a large 1 1/4" nut handing on a piece of wire. Written on the nut, in "sharpie marker" was "**** you".

Incredible ...

 

I know all about that FOD stuff... I have to sit through a 3 hr class once a year so I can get on the flight line... pretty scary shi!t if you ask me!

 

I thought mechanics used higher end stuff than that. All the mechanics I've known thought Craftsman was crap. I never tell them that's what I use. :o

 

You know, I could swear I've heard this story efore, almost like an urban legend type of thing ...

 

Yeah, I also remember hearing some story about a rattle in the rear of a Ford or something and when they took the area apart, they found a Coke bottle behind the sheetmetal... this was in one of the car magazines a copule of years ago I believe.

 

lol

 

I agree it is definitely urban-legend material, however, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

When we took a wall down in my house last year, we tapped into an enclosed "chase" (empty space where pipes and stuff run) for the ductwork from the basement to the second floor. In that chase were easily 3 cases of old beer cans. Only thing we can figure is that when the house was built, kids were coming into the neighborhood and sneaking into empty half-built houses to drink.

On my wife's first Honda Odyssey (she's on #2) we took it in for service one day, and as she was driving home this awful "whap-whap-whap" noise started up - she turned right around and went back to the dealership. Turned out the tech who changed the oil was in the habit of bending a soft-plastic splash guard out of the way to reach the oil filter, and securing with a bungee. He forgot the bungee and it managed to pop loose, wind it's way around the half-shaft driving the left front wheel, and was whipping around hitting ****. Broke the brake line to that wheel, tore the outer CV joint, tore up the fender liner and several other little damage items. $1,400 later ... I'm thinking that guy isn't using that trick any more.

 

I remember a story from some US Army fighter unit during WWII. Seems they were having lots of mechanical problems, including a high number of FODs. It's bad enough having guys in Zero's chasing you around with machine guns blazing, they didn't really need the extra challenge of having the engine or a control surface suddenly stop working!

At any rate, the unit's commander got fed up with losing pilots to sloppy maintenance. He ordered that after any work was done on any plane, the mechanic had to accompany the pilot on a mandatory "test drive". The pilot got a parachute. The mechanic got to figure out how to make the plane work if it died in mid air and the pilot had to bail.

Maintenance improved notably. :D