Removing ballpoint pen from defroster vent.

[Dan in NZ]

Since I've had the car (1 year), I've had a ballpoint pen sitting in the defroster vent. It's annoying because it slides from side to side on corners, and sometimes rattles. Any brilliant ideas on getting it out? The vent is so close to the steeply raked windscreen that it's almost impossibe to get things out!

[632 Regal]

C'mon Dan! put on that thinking cap...let me see what I can think of here. how bout a straw, a bent coat hanger, one of them clampy deals to get parts that fall where they shouldnt? what about air pressure as in air gun? as a last resort you could try flipping the car over, that should dislodge the pen.

Have a great weekend!

[mike wong]

It's a 24" long, flexible tube that has a 4 prong, spring loaded controlled clamp. Great for picking up dropped screws in narrow places.

send me your email for a photo....

mike (in California)
mywong23@yahoo.com

[Elekta]

you picked the wrong day to quit smoking weed. :D

[winfred]

"looks like i picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue"



you picked the wrong day to quit smoking weed. :D

[632 Regal]

remove the windshield, reach in get the pen than lay the windshield back down...thats what i'd try first if I was you.

[Warren N.CA]

self-adhesive mounting tape fastened to end. Grab the pen with the adhesive, then pull it out.


QUOTE=Dan in NZ]Since I've had the car (1 year), I've had a ballpoint pen sitting in the defroster vent. It's annoying because it slides from side to side on corners, and sometimes rattles. Any brilliant ideas on getting it out? The vent is so close to the steeply raked windscreen that it's almost impossibe to get things out![/QUOTE]

[Jr ///M5]

Gee Dan, everybody knows you just turn the car upside down and shake.....=)

[632 Regal]

might even get fries with that

[George M]

out laughing. Who hasn't dropped something down the defroster vent of a car or two along the way? I was tricking out a light sensor in my recent '01 Aurora and dropped a clip down my defroster vent...gone...never to be seen again :p
Lastly, I couldn't help but recall the scene with the late Chris Farley and David Spade in Tommie Boy..when all that $hit rolled into the defroster vent of that Mopar which was the beginning of the end...that movie was hilarious.
Good Luck,
George

[ryan roopnarine]

if its movement is periodic, ie, it moves from side to side without falling down some other oriface, may i suggest a method that has worked OK for me. i carry the metal and magnetic grabbers that people upthread mention in my toolbox in my trunk, and would suggest trying those first. if you can't get one of those, take a length of moderately large diameter vacuum hose, longer in length than the dash so that it can't fall down the hole like the pen :D hook it up to a shopvac or other substantial source of suction by reducing with duct tape, et cetera. stick it in there, and put a decent length inward until you achieve contact. repeat the contact process until you can acquire it visually, and use a stick with a blob of tape to finish things up and pull the pen out. perhaps this will be helpful to you in some way.

[ryan roopnarine]

come to think of it......you could just put some adhesive on a piece of long vacuum hose, and insert/remove until it sticks.

[John D]

Or just spray some adhesive in the vent and go around a corner to make it stick - No more rattle! But probably won't get any more fries either...... Actually just try the coathanger with some good tape reversed.

[Dan in NZ]

I quite like the idea of spraying the vent full of adhesive to stop it rattling...

What almost worked: another ballpoint pen, with a big blob of blu-tac (sticky clay stuff for putting up posters etc). Theory was to push the blob betwen the two pens and draw the vent one out... However, the angle of pen #2 was too acute to stick down the vent. Will re-attempt tomorrow with a bent coathanger and said blu-tac...

[George M]

a twist on Ryan's suggestion....take a moderately powerful vacuum....probably could use a good portable vac and attach a small diameter plastic hose to the end...fashion an attachment with duct tape to the vacuum hose. Insert the small diameter long hose down the defroster vent. Believer this method would be more effective than using either a super magnetic which will tend to stick to adjacent metal and/or have better pick up capability than gumbo on a stick or coat hanger.
Good Luck,
George

[1992 BMW 535i]

How about taking a straw with some gum on the end and pulling it out that way?

[1992 BMW 535i]

Gee Dan, everybody knows you just turn the car upside down and shake.....=)

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

[1992 BMW 535i]

I could lend you my high-school sweetheart, man I bet she could.....get that thing out of there. Talk about suction! Phew!

[George M]

I thought Don Gale was my evil twin separated at birth....maybe we were tripletts.
:-)
George

[1992 BMW 535i]

Hahahaha! Which one is Don?

Marc

[George M]

Marc,
Don is quite a guy...he has a valuable website which is an excellent reference on this board. He just completed a manual trans conversion on his '92 735i.
George

[1992 BMW 535i]

Trans conversion? *shuddering* God, how long did that take him? When I tried to do that with my friend's Mach 1 (yuck!), it took freaking forever! Cut the holes in the floorboard, damn!

[George M]

Don's a talented wrench and the conversion is straight forward provided you know what you are doing :-)...as the E-32 was imported in 5 speed form in limited nos. to the US and a bit more prevalent in Europe. The E-34 and E-32 cars in many cases are identical and virtually all the manual conversion parts are interchangeable.
George
Marc...here is Don's website. If you haven't done so, considering safety wiring the banjo bolts on your big six. I did this recently.

http://www.nmia.com/~dgnrg/page_2.htm

[1992 BMW 535i]

I'm going to do it. I'll get a hold of him on Friday, will be doing the installation of the Supersprint exhaust, might as well do both...

[George M]

the way to go Marc...takes the guess work out of wondering if your banjo bolts are working loose....which they tend to do even with loctite without safety wire.
George