I was topping up the gearbox oil on my Felica 1.6 petrol and the speedo gear fell in the gearbox. Any remedy, apart from gearbox removal and strip?

This is not the first time I have topped up the gearbox oil on this car, but it is the first time I have been this stupid.

Edited 27 August, 201213 yr by DampandDust

if you undo drain plug, can you use a magnet on the bell housing to locate it and drag to the drain hole?

only if you have a plastic magnet lol.

if you are lucky you may be able to see it still thru the hole and maybe hook it up with a bit of wire.

if not then it will jam up the linkage inside once the diff has smashed it into smaller bits lol and you will be unable to get 2nd and 4th gear usually.

ah, oops. can you just undo the end off the gearbox and scoop it out that way?

happened to me several yrs ago.

i just ran it for a few miles and let the gears chew it up,-then drained oil and refilled with fresh!

the later speedo drive was revised so that it could not drop into g/box.

Having handled it, am not sure it is plastic? Pretty sure it is metal - are you sure it is plastic?

I hope this doesn't deter my low level amateur mechanics - testosterone levels pretty low currently..lol.

Seems like if it sits in straight, it seats fine in the gear below - I wasn't even aware that it could cant to one side...d'oh.

It slipped from view.

the earlier ones had a metal shaft but they didn't fall out of the speedo drive unit, the later ones are all nylon and sometimes stay in the gearbox when you take the drive off.

just drive it you may be lucky and it just gets munched up and drains out with the oil. it won't cause any physical damage to anything but may just stop the selector working fully.

only if you have a plastic magnet lol.

True. So true and funny

Some models have an aluminum gear, so I add "only if you have a plastic or aluminum magnet".

ah, oops. can you just undo the end off the gearbox and scoop it out that way?

"the end of the gearbox"?? What is that? Strike 2?

Edited 27 August, 201213 yr by adurer