You’re either going to have to go to the dealer or a junk yard to get this bolt , or find the one you lost.
Tester
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Good find. I do see the bolt listed on Amazon and eBay. I guess the quality can be questionable though.
C’mon.
It’s a bolt. 
Tester
2 Likes
My Corolla’s air filter configuration is similar. I think it was designed that way to maximally increase the odds of my fingers getting pinched. … lol … Not easy at all to get bottom top and filter correctly aligned so it closes completely. Filter looks like post 9 above, orange part goes on top b/c the rubber-like orange part makes the air tight seal. Suggest next time you do this sort of job make a sketch or take photos of the configuration before removing the old one.
When I do this job, it takes several adjustments to finally get everything aligned. Just take your time wiggle this, wiggle that, eventually it will line up and you’ll be able to get the clips on.
There’s no bolts involved on mine, just to replace the filter element. Hold down method is just the clips on all four corners. The bolts hold the bottom part of the air-cleaner box to the chassis. That part doesn’t need to be unbolted & removed from the chassis just to replace the filter element, at least on my Corolla.
As far as worrying about the missing bolt, imo the main worry is the missing bolt gets sucked towards the throttle body. Make sure it hasn’t gone in that direction, may have to remove the top part of the air box and hoses right up to the throttle valve for a visual inspection. Bolt might now be lodged up against this side of the throttle valve, and you definitely don’t want it to get sucked into engine when you step on the gas and open the throttle valve fully.
On mine the lower part of the box is held to the chassis w/four bolts. 3 would be good enough I think, not something I’d worry about other than eventually buying another bolt and installing it next time you change the filter. I usually remove the entire airbox ass’y & hoses right up to the throttle body whenever I’m working in the engine compartment b/c it makes for a roomier experience and easy to do. As soon as that’s all removed I always use a rubber band to hold some sort of cover over the throttle intake area to avoid stuff going in there.
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You left some great advice here. Thanks.
I do wish I took a picture of what the air filter cover looked like before I messed with it.
I tried over and over again to align the cover in the best way I could, but the filter is still slightly exposed on the right side. Its not as bad as the pictures I posted here though.
The tabs are connected and everything else does look right.
Seeing that small bit of the filter edge is normal.
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Redneck it. Use a small visegrips pliers to hold side missing bolt.
Then you’ll always have pliers under hood for future work.
You do remember the old GM Distributor Rotors with a square and a Round Peg, they too “could only fit one way…”
