I had a rubber tip from a Titan air pressure gun drop into my cylinder while I was tapping a spark plug thread. The tip is about 2 centimeters long and one wide. It is rubber and not metal.
(Titan Blow Gun 19475 | O'Reilly Auto Parts (oreillyauto.com))

Do I need to take the block off or can I leave it in the cylinder and let the combustion take care of it?

I'm concerned that it might get wedged in a valve as it closes. Will the valve cut it and move on?

Any experience would be greatly appreciated.

 

Well that isn't good. That for sure needs to be removed before starting the car.

 

Might take a few tries but...


I'm sure you could find something similar locally in most locales, too.

 

Hi zcargo, a few tries of what?

 

To use the tool, or similar, in the link specified, to reach down into the cylinder bore through the spark plug hole to "fish" out the lost rubber tip from your blowgun. It might even help to manually turn the engine over with a socket on the crank bolt to slowly raise or lower the piston within the bore to get it at just the right height for fishing. Of course, being careful when the piston reaches near the top so as not to squish/damage what you are potentially trying to avoid doing by leaving it in there. Since it is not metal, therefore non-ferrous (magnetic), you will have to physically grab it with the claw tool to remove it. This may take a few tries since you won't be able to see it at the same time you are fishing for it.

I, personally, would not leave it to chance and leave it in there.

 

If it's not a very heavy item, maybe stick a shop vac on opening and see if it sucks it up

 

I've tried to use a shop vac with no success. I tried a grabber and it cannot fit in the cylinder as the sheath at the end of the grabber is too long. This prevents the fingers from extending from the grabber sheath.

I cut the tip from the other attachment in the pack in half. There is no metal support. It is only rubber. There is no metal to use a magnet on.

 

Something sticky .. maybe? A long wire hook? I assume the rubber isn't soft enough to stab it with something sharp or serrated.
Just don't drop more things in, obviously. You know this.
A tricky situation for sure. I'm at little bit of a loss.

 

Just a thought, but buy a length of 1/4" flexible tube. Slide some of it into a crevice tool attachment and plug up the rest of the crevice opening (or leave a little open). That length of 1/4" tube will fit down the hole and provide enough suction to lift it out.

 

This has been quite a pickle. As you all know, the spark plug holes are facing away from you when you attempt to grab the tip. Even it the holes were facing forward this would be a difficult task. At the end of the day, I am going to lift the block off and get the rubber tip out. I have the pages of a Honda service manual to use.

Anyone have any advice or experience at this one?

 

@Alco RS-1 has the trick. Shop vac tips, a bit of hose is a clever idea. Rotate the crank pulley to position the piston at different heights - the lowest position will likely give you the best access to suck the tip up. Buying a shop vac and tips, and a borescope would be cheaper than DIYing the cylinder head.

 

Yikes! I had a similar experience after trying to use wooden dowel down a spark plug hole to check cylinder position: it got wedged and broke, leaving a piece inside the cylinder. I have an i-DSI dual-spark engine, and I think the angled spark plug holes make this technique a bad idea. After trying a few methods (poking it with a needle on a rod, and trying to do similar with a guitar string) I was able to fish it out using a vacuum cleaner adapted down to a length of hose and heatshrink tubing. Opening the second spark plug hole helped get more airflow through the cylinder, which I guess won't be an option for you. Heatshrink tubing has thin walls which should give better airflow within the confined space.

I would be very wary of rotating the engine as you could easily wedge it in there, and you don't want to have to crank it backwards (everybody says that would be a Bad Thing to do). Personally I think you should try to avoid taking the head off if possible, and spend some time and effort on simpler, safer methods first. Good luck!

 

We tried to get the rubber tip out with a hose and shop vac with no luck. We tried to stab it with no luck. In the end we put the engine back together and after a valve adjustment. We started the engine and listened for any issue. None were experienced. We drove the Fit for 20 minutes and the engine ran better than it ever has (valve job was overdue - recent used car purchase). We wanted to see if there was anything remaining in the cylinder or if any damage was caused. None of the tip was remaining and no residue was present. No scoring was noticed. BUT, thIs issue was initially caused by a spark plug that was frozen in the head. When I removed it, it took all of the threads out. I used a Time-Sert to retap and replace the threads. It worked perfectly (followed directions provided), except that when we removed the spark plug to check on the cylinder, the Time-Sert sleave came out too. Very frustrating. We applied Permatex high temp red threadlock and reinserted the sleave and the spark plug. We are waiting 24 hours for the Permatex to cure and will drive the Fit again tomorrow.

Thank you all for your imput! What a frustrating day.

 

Well done And I'm really glad to hear it's running better!

Hmm. Maybe I'll try throwing an air gun tip into a cylinder - get an extra 1-2hp.

 

I needed a little levity.