Alien in Transmission!

[gerviswaddell]

Hey folks,

I think I win the Idiot of the month award for this one: Yesterday I was changing the Trans Oil in my Turtle and accidentally dropped the cap to the oil bottle (plastic squeezable type with the little conical 'nipple' type cap/spout thing on it) INSIDE the transmission...I was soooo pissed, anyhow I have tried many things to get that sucker out, including a vacuum with pvc Hose on it, An all seeing fiber optic eye on a stick (police spy type thing) and some 'grabber' tools (with extendable claws on the ends) all to no avail...I consulted a mechanic friend (cousin) and he advised that I just run it and chew up the plastic (ABS I think, and a small cap, only an inch and a half long, and quite thin walled)

So my question is this: Do I leave it in there or continue trying to get it out?

I was also thinking of running the car and 'chewing it up' draining the oil and filtering it a couple of times, repeating until no bits are seen...

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Dave.

[IHblarp]

I'm afraid that i don't have too much helpful advice other than possibly drain the whole transmission if you think there is a chance it will get flushed out with the fluid. The biggest down side I can see with doing this is that it might not come out and may move somewhere that you cannon see/reach??? which would be a true bummer for trying to get it out.

I can say this though, I would probably go through just about any means to get it out before i decided to run it and risk tearing up my trans (if your trans is in good shape). I'd maybe even go as far as dropping the whole trans, but maybe that's a little overkill??

[Petros]

That is a tough one. You have to pull the trans apart, split the case open, to get inside I think, after you remove it. It may not drain out with the oil since it could get hung up between the gear cluster and the side wall. What if you drain the oil and with both fill and drain plugs removed shoot compressed air into the drain hole. That might force it out the inlet hole (or at least put it where you can grab it with needle nose pliers). If you unbolt the rear cross member and let it drop the rear end of the trans it will give you a few more inches of room to work with and it only takes few minutes to do.

I think it is made of polyethylene, not ABS. Polyethylene is pretty soft, one step up from wax. It likely would not harm anything even shredded up, but I would hate to have the shreds get caught somewhere that would keep lube from getting to where is should be getting. I do not think that could happen, but the trans was not designed to have shredded plastic in it either. If I could not get it out without pulling the trans, I think I would risk driving with it, but only after I made every reasonable effort to get it out.

Good luck.

[splatterdog]

The last two post sum it up.

As far as the chow it up method, clogging of the transmission oil pump would be my biggest concern.

[takza]

Gotta watch that kind of thing. I vote on the let it get chewed up method...then drain and refill.

If I remember correctly...when I was running metal soup due to a bearing failure...there was clean oil in the trans extension when drained.

Just be happy that you didn't get your finger stuck in the hole.....

[ARCHINSTL]

Not with a ten-foot pole...
Tom M.

[Darkelf]

Look at it like this... Nothing inside your trans is soft enough to get damaged by an unfortunate grinding of that small piece of plastic. The odds are astronomically higher that a missed shift will chip a gear tooth and take out a synchro. I have split toyota trannys apart to rebuild before, you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

[Petros]

does the manual tranny have an oil pump? I do not think it does, all lubricaiton is by splash. Every manual tranny I have been inside uses splash lube, not pump. Unless the Tercel 4wd tranny is different, I do not think there is an oil pump for the sheaded plastic to plug. Auto trans use a pump, but I have not heard of a manul trans using an oil pump.

Splatterdog, do you know if the T4wd manul trans uses an oil pump? Or did you just make that up?

[takza]

The manuals say there is one in the tailstock I guess to keep the front oiled on an upslope?

[splatterdog]

It's for real. According to the parts explosion in the FSM. Luckily I have never seen the inside of my tranny's, except what I drained out of the 84. Usually only transfer cases get a lube pump. Our trans could be the only manual to have one. Maybe it's also transfer case related. I wonder if the 2wd has one?

I wish the manual had a lube circuit diagram indicating where the pressure goes.

At any rate, I'm sure you don't want to plug it.

[IHblarp]

It seems to me that a bunch of little plastic particles stuck in bearings would not be a good thing either. I guess I look at a bunch of small plastic fragments acting kinda like dirt in there, which might not be the case.

either way, good luck!!

[ARCHINSTL]

Look at page MT-19 in the FSM for the oil pump in the parts diagram. There is further reference in the tear-down.
I hate to use the words "parts explosion" when it come to referring to a trans...
NOTE to Goldie: "splatterdog wrote it, Sweetie, and not Daddy."
Tom M.