Paper towel chunks in my exhaust. How much of an issue is this?

In the middle of doing the sh*tty 02 (front, bank 1 pre cat) sensor replacement.
Not good.
I have two balls of paper towels that fell into the exhaust at the O2 sensor hole.
I got a mirrored light up there to see into the opening and they are not to be seen, which means they've slid down deeper towards the resonator / cat whatever that next thing is.

SO what do I do??
Can I just figure 600+ degrees will light that up and "problem solved"??
Will that clog up the exhaust / cat and damage the cat?

I don't know how to solve this issue.
As per this sh*t job, the gasket was rotted onto the surface flange of the exhaust and has taken hours to scrape off. That's why I put balls of paper towels in the hole to prevent all the rotted metal and dust to go straight into the exhaust although I'm sure debris / dust went in there anyway.

I cannot get the mating surface perfectly smooth and clean after using screwdrivers, wire brushes, a chisel like tool etc... and 2+ hours scraping. It's pretty good although not perfect.
I just gotta go with it at this point.

I am also plopping in a one digit different Toyota stock O2 sensor, which may or may not be a direct fit for the Denso part number. They look identical. Have same 4 wire blue white and 2 black wires oriented the same. Wire lengths the same, sensor looks same etc...

 

Hey, sorry for all the issues. I know it's tighter than a dicks hat, but can you possibly take a shop vac with a small wand extension and use to extract??
Good luck

 

Shop vac. Is a good idea.
But I'd just run it.
Try a file to flatten the flange.

 

Great ideas guys!
I will try that next. Head been spinning with this repair and work and didn't think of vacuum somehow.
I have new rear shocks and a new(er) rear bed on so far on this project. All is back together, just holding on getting the replacement O2 sensor back in.

 

one thing I find works good sometimes is wrap duct tape around a metal coat hanger sticky side out and use it to grab stuff out of reach inside things.

might be more tricky with exhaust with all the soot but I would still give it a try.

that stuff needs to come out for sure

 

Isn't going to hurt a thing. It'll either burn or rot. It's not a whole roll is it?
I've seen a fresh engine build blow gas soaked cotton rags out of the headers that had been left in cylinder bores.

 

A couple paper towels will not hurt

 

Start the motor and drive it. Done

 

Why are you using a part with a different part number? The air/fuel sensor (bank 1 O2) should be Denso #

$137 234-9001 Upstream Air Fuel Ratio Oxygen Sensor with 10.6” 4-Wire Harness, for Auto Trans Equipped Vehicles

234-9001 for automatic or -9003 for manual transmission. I wouldn't use anything else, your ECU will not like it.

 

Compressed air into the exhaust pipe might blow it back toward the O2 hole. Put something there to catch it. If you don't have an air compressor maybe the exhaust from a shop vac would work. In either case you'd have to get a fairly tight fit to the exhaust pipe to get good airflow backwards.

 

According to Denso website it uses a

$137 234-9001 Upstream Air Fuel Ratio Oxygen Sensor with 10.6” 4-Wire Harness, for Auto Trans Equipped Vehicles

234-9001 for manual -9002 for auto

 

http://densoautoparts.com/find-my-part/vehicle-selection

 

I believe he has a 4cyl.

 

Wow. That worked. It took awhile and many tries. Had no small tubing so made one out of 12/3 electrical wire - I pulled wire out and duct taped it to small vac attachment. An hour later had those little sh*ts out.
Popped in a different Toy part number O2 sensor from 'some Tacoma' of unknown miles, engine size, year etc...
AND CEL went away immediately on startup!
Drove that as fast as I could thru a blizzard to my inspector and just got it done before they left for the night.
Yay! Truck passed and is legal!! Happy dance.

(Yes, I have the 4 cyl 2.7L AT 4x4 Taco)

 

It wasn't a lot of paper in there, maybe 1/4 part of a paper towel sheet cut into two pieces. Still, I was worried about it (not knowing what it might do / not do).
I got a redonk. deal on Toy Taco parts from a guy 100 miles away around Thanksgiving. $260 for a complete bed in really good shape, a random Tacoma 02 sensor I spotted in an exhaust part (there were 3 laying around), and a complete working gas tank and pump and valves with it. The gas tank is a rusty mess too, but I didn't have the time to swap it this time around.

Anyway, that's why I wound up with this somewhat random O2 sensor. Looks exactly the same, just has a one digit Toyota part difference. AND Denso is printed on both, but no proper part # for Denso so I don't know if they are the 9001 or 9002...

Just tried it out as I had it on hand, and for today at least... it worked! CEL immediately was off on startup and stayed off r/t to inspector 80 miles (in that Blizzard).

And in full disclosure - this isn't my truck. It was given for free to my cousin (by his Aunt and Uncle trying to help him out), and I am getting it on the road for him after I drove it back from Vermont in November. It was barely driven for at least 2 years and was neglected.
It's sort of a mission of mercy. Kid has no money, can barely hold a job due to mental issues and... well... there's a lot more hard / bad / challenging things with his situation, so I'm doing everything I can to help him.

 

Glad you made it safe. What is the Toyota part number?

 

The one that came out of the truck and I am certain is original factory is part # Toyota 89467-35050 / Denso 0141 is also written on it which means nothing.
The truck only has 80K on it, and the nuts were rotted to almost nothing but globs so I am sure it was never replaced. The rear one probably was once not that long ago. We have the full dealer service records folder with the truck for past 10+ years.

 

What about the one you put in?

 

One I installed had on it part # "Toyota 89467-35030"

 

http://partsfactory.camelbacktoyota.com/oe-toyota/8946735030