Oh Shit. I dropped a red felt pen into my car heater. Now what?

[Vinnie Virginslayer]

OK this is what happened. I drive a 1996 Ford Taurus, and as a salesman that needs pens handy in my car, I keep them lodged in the heater/ac vents. As I was grabbing for my Bic red felt pen, it fell into the heater!

Grabbing my flashlight, I could still see the top tip of it with the pocket clip visible (the cap end). I scraped my knuckles off as I reached in between the vent fins to grab the tip (comletely destroying the vent in the process and leaving a gaping hole in it's stead) . . until it dropped down into the heating vent!!!!

Here are my three concerns:

1. It could melt, catch fire, and incinerate my car. (BUT . . . the vents are plastic too.)

2. It could explode, and the fumes from the ink could engulf my car, causing me to hallucinate while I drive.
(No problem. Every morning I take one ginseng and a No-Doz with two St. John's Wort capsules. Hallucinations are an everyday part of my life each and every morning.)

3. The pen could eventually work it's way into the heating block and clog up something. (A real concern, though, so far, no problems.)

Any car experts out there? I really am hoping not to make this into a $500 repair job!

[ScoobyTX]

Three options:
1. Sell the car. Tonight, if possible. Do not do any more visible damage trying to get the pen out. That will only reduce the resale value.
2. Take the car to a mechanic who will charge you ~$100 (about a two hour job to take the dash apart, retrieve the pen, plus a bunch of dust, hair, gunk, etc. that has collected down at the low point, and put it back together).
3. Don't worry about it (I assume this was one of the high vents or defogger vent, not one down by the floor). You may occassionally hear a rattle when you hit bumps (pen hitting side of duct). The pen shouldn't make it past all of the twists, turns, and dampers all the way to the heater core.

I would stick with #3. You may have to do #2, if the pen lodges in the dampers & makes it impossible to switch between high vents, low vents & defogger vent. In that case, you wouldn't be able to do #1 (at least not with a big discount).

[Chas.E]

I had the dash pulled off my early model Taurus because the heater coil blew and radiator coolant steam was emitted inside the car. It cost more like $400 to get the dash off and get inside the heater. This was just one of many features of my car that required so many expensive repairs, it bankrupted me and I still haven't recovered financially. I should have sued under the lemon law.
Anyway, it's not likely that your pen will work its way into any place that it will do this sort of damage, but it might block up the vent a little. If it is a problem, it will be relatively obvious, like the heater doesn't blow at all.

[ScoobyTX]

Originally posted by Chas.E
It cost more like $400 to get the dash off and get inside the heater.

Yeah... but wasn't that for the heater core & everything? I'm just talking about labor to dismantle the dash and put it back together. (Oh yeah, don't forget to grab the pen while everything is apart).

[Philster]

Buy a new pen.

[AskNott]

Sears sells a handy little snaky tool made just for jobs like this. It's a flexy coiled wire tube, and when you push a button on one end, three spring steel fingers spread out from the other end. Release the button, and the fingers grab the unreachable object for easy retrieval. You won't have to pull the dash off at all.