Had my Crankshaft Position Sensor go bad on me while out and about and had to go home, get tools, come back, and attempt the job. While I was doing so I was rushing and dropped the bolt, couldn't find it anywhere on the ground, and assume I dropped it into the transmission. The place the jeep was at wouldn't let me work on it any more in their parking lot, so I had it towed home so I could get the job done.

I get it home, remove the flex plate cover, and there is nothing there (rather deflating). Any ideas where else to check? I really don't want to drop the transmission to go looking, but I don't know what else to do at this point.

Any advise is appreciated. Thanks

 

Disconnect the battery...
Place large socket on front of the crank shaft and rotate the engine slowly. Clockwise as you face it from the front.
You can remove the spark plugs to make it easier to turn over.
If that didn't move the bolt, it may not be in there.
If you really want to be sure, then the next step is to pull the transmission.

 

There is not a lot of room to drop a bolt through the small gap where the sensor mounts and its way up front so if you did it would probably drop easily into the bell housing. More than likely its in some place greasy im the tunnel area. If you pull the big plate at the bottom of the bell housing you could get a pretty good look in there but I would bet money it slid down the back side of the bell housing on the outside

 

I've dropped one in the bell housing. Do what BruceB has posted. If it falls, there is enough room to sneak a small extendable magnet under the flexplate and remove the bolt, but not uniformly, you have to find the widest spot in the gap to remove it.

 

@BruceB

That did it. We're back up and running now. I appreciate the advice.

BB

 

a couple of tips which I have learned the hard way

* always cover any open timing chest etc, by stuffing with rags...I have had a spanner bounce down an engine and drop down the front timing cover

* always place an old white bedsheet underside while working on vehicle on grass, dirt, gravel, when you inevitable drop a fastener, you will be able to find it, which is 1000x better than NOT being able to find the ****ing thing

 

I did this too! 4.0/AX15. Ended up buying a cheap snake camera and finding the bolt without having to drop the tranny - the magnet got it out. I think that was the single greatest moment of relief I have ever experienced working on a vehicle.

In a hilarious twist of fate, I later ended up buying some cabling to run some lighting, and when I cut and stripped one particular section of it, I noticed that the wiring was completely different - because I had mistakenly cut and stripped my snake camera wire instead, which looked and felt just like the other stuff I'd bought. RIP