Dropped plastic pen lid in coolant tank!

[Jim31]

It's hard to believe how this happened but a sizeable plastic pen lid went into the coolant tank of my civic.
It's floating at the top, but I can't get it out after ages trying.
Have a long drive tomorrow.
How worried should I be? What are the problems this could cause?
All advice appreciated!

 

[johnny2007]

Wet and dry hoover.
Long nose pliers.
2 flat bits of something.
Or...
Get a long screwdriver, put some sealant that sets in water at its tip and jam the plastic cap to it.
Tomorrow morning you'll be able to pull it out.
There's also a gorilla double sided tape that works under water.
Hopefully the last 2 things also work in coolant.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

It could jam the thermostat open, or block the smaller water passages in the head, and cause overheating, and seizure.

Why not remove the larger pipes from the tank, so it cannot go deeper than the tank, then the tank itself, to shake it out? It the work of minutes.

 

[Stivino]

Flexible pick-up tool.

 

[Jim31]

Appreciate the advice, sensed it could be serious. Would it be mad to drive tomorrow if not having the time to try these things?
It's quite a small cap/entry point into the tank and the penlid is lying right under the entry point,floating on the sealant, at 90 degree angle. Trying to get it turned in such a small space seems v difficult.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Well you'll have to try or take your chances ......

 

[mattylad]

Overfilling it with coolant to get it to float to the top, removing it and then emptying some coolant would have been my goto for this.

 

[Burnerman]

If this has the typical Honda fashion of a very small diameter pipe from the main radiator to the expansion bottle then there's no way the pen top can get back into the rad courtesy of the two way cap on the radiator.
Yes, the top needs to be removed but check out what I've said from memory!
John

 

[Jim31]

Ah many thanks. Will have another go myself at getting it out..
It's due a service in a week so hoping mechanic can sort it if I can't and car drives OK in meantime without damage being done

 

[Burnerman]

If you decide to remove the bottle, just make sure the rubber dip pipe is fully submerged in coolant after the work ....it needs to be to allow this system to work and the coolant can't return back to the main radiator if it isn't.
John