did i mess that up too?

[chevdawg57]

while replacing my distributor i "accidentally removed my oil pump drive. when i put it back in i think it went into oil pan. is this possible????? please help!!!

[MagicRat]

Yes, it can fall down. Use a flashlight and look down the distributor bore. Hopefully, you can see it. You may be able to still retreive it with a long pick-up tool, either a magnetic type of a 'grabber' type

[Ol'Jim]

If you're not sure whether the slot you can see down that hole is the pump, or the drive shaft, just put a measuring tape down there, and mark the tape depth with your thumb right at the surface of hte manifold. then measure the distributor shaft from the mounting face, to the tip of the drive tang. should be the within 1/2" of the same depth. If the tape goes about 8" deeper than your Dist shaft, then that rod is in the pan.
Unless it is an aftermarket type like a Moroso, which has a steel pump-drive collar/connector, and no plastic sleeve, you're probably going to need to drop the pan, even if you can get it out of there, which isn't usually easy. Or, maybe you'll be ok if it is a newer replacemement OEM type, and the plastic sleeve was fresh enough to not crack into pieces and fall into the pan. Unless you want to take the chance that those pieces won't get through the oil pump pickup, and lock up your pump, or break into smaller pieces, get through the pump and into the bearings... Do you have room to lower the pan an inch or so? It doesn't need to come all the way out of the car, just enough to fish around in there with a magnetic pickup tool. I dropped my Big-Block pan far enough to get the oil pump out, change the pressure relief spring, and put it back in... Really wasn't too bad at all.