Engine speed sensor screw fell inside opening.

[soulfire jay]

TLDR: 2015 Jetta SEL engine speed sensor (AKA Crankshaft position sensor) screw fell into crankshaft opening. Is it the flywheel teeth I'm seeing or is it a crankshaft gear? How do I get it out?


Greetings everyone from Goshen Indiana. I need some help here. A simple four minute job has, unfortunately, turned into a monster (I think?).

While changing the crankshaft position sensor, the one screw happened to fall down into the gear. The screw is supposed to stay attached to the sensor by a small lip on the screw, but because the 2015 jetta has some age to it, things were stuck and I had other pull pretty hard. It's just my luck that this impossible feat was achieved by me. After laying on the ground literally crying for a minute or two, I am desperate for help and I'm broke at the moment so I can't take the car in to a mechanic and will need to fix this myself.

I'm confident in my ability to fix vehicles as I have assembled many parts in my middle aged life (35).

Here is a short clip on YouTube that I uploaded to show you where it was. The screw fell to the bottom right of the opening shown.

https://youtube.com/shorts/laRPnUPTqeY?si=zD5xNokl22QvY3Cz

Any tips or info would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[braddies]

...middle aged life (35).

Any tips or info would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

35 sounds way to early to be considered "middle aged"

 

[soulfire jay]

35 sounds way to early to be considered "middle aged"

yes. Here's some things I've done over the years: Replaced clutch in rx7, brakes, rotors, calipers, hubs, struts, spark plugs, intake manifold gaskets, tire rods, valve cover gaskets (easy), transmission gear replacement... to name a few.

For this particular car, I thought I'd reach out on this forum to see if anyone has dealt with this situation before since VW seems to be an exceptionally complicated vehicle to me. I used the search and found nothing, hence the reason I'm here. Cheers you middle-aged person! Or are you?...

 

[braddies]

To you post, idk your motor but maybe a magnet-on-a-stick might be able to grab it.. hopefully one of the knowledgeable folks around here will chime in

 

[soulfire jay]

I'm hoping to be able to remove the starter and reach down in there to pull it out. Perhaps manually turn the engine with socket, and find it at the opening?

A flexible cable with magnetic has been ordered on Amazon for a few bucks and I'm hoping that will be helpful - and hopefully not need to take the transmission out...