Bolt fell in defroster vent

I accidentally dropped a small bolt on the dash and by luck it fell into the defroster vent. It made it down to where the the ducts interconnect because when I change the vent selection i can hear the bolt rattle. Unfortunately it sounds like its right behind the radio. I'm going to look for a service manual page, but has anyone else done something similar or know how to get to it?

 

They make a flexible magnet pickup tool.. just feed it in and see if it picks up the bolt.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.52975

Much easier then taking a bunch of stuff out.

 

I'd agree with this or trying a magnet on a string.

 

That tool looks like it might do the trick. I tried using a magnet I had laying around, but it just barely didn't fit into the vent.

 

I have used a rare earth magnet and a flat washer. Tie a string to the flat washer and get it close to the rare earth magnet. Watch your fingers as the magnet will almost jump to the washer, then drop it into the dict work and the bolt should be picked up by the magnet. I also use this method for stud finding at work. Seems to latch onto the drywall screws constantly.

 

I found an old magnet from a hard drive and broke it to size, but no luck. I tried removing the passenger foot ducting and see if i could snake something in there, but that didn't work. I'm now trying to remove the dash, but one of the two screws above the gauge panel won't come out and just spins in place. If anyone knows how to remove the black area around the vents next to the radio, that may also help.

 

I got the radio and front vent assembly off, and was able to throw my magnet on a string down the vents into the main a/c ducting... but no bolt.

I started removing the gauge cluster surround to remove the dash when I realized you also need to remove the center console and I said fuck it and put it all back together. The bolt doesn't seem to cause any problems and there seems to be no binding when changing air mode, so I'll live with it.

fyi, I broke one of the two push-screws holding the gauge cluster surround. Anyone know of a replacement?

 

i broke both of mine and had no problem with out them so i wouldnt worry