Found a part from my car in the driveway
 

After I parked my car, I found a black, dirt encrusted warm part on the driveway that was on the path I had just taken. I have the part number, it's a part for the engine I suppose, since it begins with 617. The whole part number is 617 014 04 33. What is this part and its function? Is it safe to drive without it?
-Joe

I ran a bunch of searches on that part number and got nothing....
what does it look like, what's it made of, etc.
And are you sure the part no. is right?

Here's some photos of it.

HTOWN--
It looks like the inspection cover on the bell housing-

Its the inspection plate for accessing the torque converter/flywheel. A new one at the dealer is cheap.

Thanks ya'll. One thing on the list for tommorow, "Purchase ONE bell housing inspection cover." Is it ok to drive around without it?
-Joe

short term
 

yes, long term no. it keeps dirt out of that area. are you sure it wont go back in?

That's the reason it fell out. There are little chunks of it missing.

I never had one on my car, guess I'll place that in my next parts order. Thanks for making me aware of it.

I thought that only happens to British cars. :D

Ditto, I too will get one with my next order.

The Fiat 500 I used to have dopped parts along the road on a weekly basis....seriously...sometimes I found them...sometimes I didn't...

My Triumph I use to own never dropped any. I tend to get rid of cars that start to leave a trail of parts.

Anyone know where I can get a bumper sticker for my Healey that says, "The parts falling off this car are of the finest British craftsmanship" ?

Just kidding. I'm not losing any parts at present, but that wasn't the case when I first had it about 15 years ago. I had a boat trailer once that I used to keep a net behind to catch all the parts that vibrated loose. I finally got everything lock-nutted, cottered and lock-tited down and the parts loss stopped.....

Cheers,
Wes

It's always convenient when parts fall off in your driveway so that you know what to go buy. It saves walking back up the road to see what you have to purchase to get it going again. :D

Good luck,

I went to the dealer today. They didn't have the part in stock, but they should have it in tommorow.
-Joe