Dropped striking lever bushing into transmission

[WokeUpDead]

Crap, I dropped the striking lever bushing into my transmission, 1995 SE. I think it's all plastic, but I can't recall, can someone tell me? Will it drain out through the plug hole? Will it sit at the bottom without getting caught up? Can it damage the tranny, or will it simply get ground up if the gears catch it? Help!

[Adam]

The worst that can happen is it gets stuck in the filter. Unless of course your filter has holes, then you're pretty screwed. I don't know what it is but if it's magnetic it could be stuck to the magnetic disc attached to the bottom of the pan. Transmission gasket/filter set is cheap at the parts store though, I'd recommend dropping the pan and finding it.

[WokeUpDead]

Thanks Adam, but I think you're talking about the engine? I dropped something into my manual transmission. The bushing is all or mostly plastic, white, and it connects the bottom of the shifter to the striking lever. It's about 1.5 cm in diameter, 1 cm tall (.6 in by .4 inch).

 

I couldn't get the tranny drain plug undone, soaking it in Moovit, will try again tomorrow. How hard is it to disconnect transfer case from tranny, and will that give me access to the area right below the shifter?

[Adam]

I was assuming auto since you didn't specify and most Pathfinders are auto... And because I don't know what this thing you dropped in is haha

[WokeUpDead]

Another thought before I calm myself down and go to sleep: is the transmission drain plug at the front of the compartment with all the oil? So if I jack up the rear of the car and let the tranny oil drain, will loose stuff inside the transmission end up near the drain plug or will it float a few inches by it?

[Slartibartfast]

If you could get it to the front, is it small enough to fit the drain hole? From what I've heard, the transfer case is a PITA, mostly because it's heavy. Any chance you could fish it out with a wire?

 

Too bad you can't pull it out, turn it over, and shake it until the offending bushing came out!

[pathybuilder]

How hard is it to disconnect transfer case from tranny, and will that give me access to the area right below the shifter?

 

This would give you access to the area below the shifter. Although not too hard to remove, (one person can do it) it would be better if you could fish it out. If you do decide to remove the transfer case, you'll obviously have to remove your drive shafts, all the wiring connectors that connect to the T-case, and your shift lever. You may be able to slide the T-case out on in input shaft far enough to get the bushing out without dropping the case on the ground.

[WokeUpDead]

Did some more research, looks like it won't drain out, the adapter plate between the drain hole and the save below the shifter will stop it.

 

I'll drain the transmission to get a better look and hope I can fish it out; if not then I'll remove the t-case.

 

 

[andreus009]

Uh...based on my experience, the the t-case disconnect isn't terrible but it is awkward to drop due to its weight distribution. Its even more awkward to get back in place for the same reason and cause you have to align things properly to get it back together.

 

Also, not sure about the access when you get it off either. Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of reason to look in detail at the tranny cause I was focused on working on the t-case at the time.

[msavides]

Damn that sucks.

 

I stop and think about all the times I took my shifter off and I never gave it a thought that that that piece would come off and fall into the transmission.

 

I will have to remember to be extra careful if I ever have to take it apart again.

 

I wish you luck. suck that that little piece is making you have to go through all that just to get it out.

[pathybuilder]

With a buddy you could try holding a shop vac to the shifter hole, while the other one uses an air compressor to blow some compressed air into the oil drain. If you can get the bushing moving around with the air, there's a chance that the shop vac will suck it out.

[Precise1]

Borrow, rent or buy something like this that is illuminated and has the front hook/magnet attachments.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Whistler-WHIWIC2409C-Wireless-Inspection-Device/dp/B004FICUWO

 

B

[WokeUpDead]

Allright, fished it out. To answer a couple of my own questions:

• It does not have any metal on it, but it's made of hard nylon and would likely do some damage if caught in gears.
  
• It would not drain out, it's too big to pass through the small hole at the bottom of the adaptor plate in the middle of the transmission.
  

I got it out the same way as it fell in, through the shifter hole at the top. I tried other methods on the way though, I think I might start a new topic on "how to recover small items dropped into the transmission" later.

[Leo94]

Borrow, rent or buy something like this that is illuminated and has the front hook/magnet attachments.

 

http://www.amazon.co...e/dp/B004FICUWO

 

B

That paired with a magnetic pickup tool(not in this case) or a pickup claw comes in VERY handy. Trust me i know...

[Slartibartfast]

Good to hear you got it. And yeah, I imagine you're a bushing-fishing expert by this point!

[WokeUpDead]

Here's the summary of advice I have for anyone else who drops something into the transmission and does not want to take down the entire tranny to take it out.

 

The transmission is made roughly of three different compartments:

• Rear compartment below the shifter that you can see when you take the shifter out
  
• Middle compartment right behind the adapter plate
  
• Front compartment in front of the adapter plate where the drain plug is
  

The front and middle compartments are separated by the adapter plate, which has only a small hole in the middle at the bottom to let the oil through, making unlikely that something will pass through it to get to the drain plug

 

The rear and middle compartments are separated by a "half wall" that spans the bottom half of the transmission, with a couple of small windows at the bottom to let oil through.

 

If you drop the bushing into the transmission like I did, it will almost certainly stay in the rear compartment: it's too big to pass through the two holes at the bottom of the half-wall, and if you drain the oil slowly it is extremely unlikely to pass over the top of the half-wall; I don't think it floats in oil anyway. Your best bet then is to:

• drain the oil in the transmission
  
• remove as many of the parts around the shifter as possible:
  
  • The two springs at the side, held in by large (27mm if I remember correctly) bolts at the side of the top of the transmission. Careful, inside the left spring there is a small ball bearing, which can easily fall into the transmission! You can remove it with a small magnet from the top, it will be apparent when you take off the top cover of the shifter assembly.
    
  • The shifter guide; it's the thing that guides your stick through the gears. It's held on by a couple of 10 mm bolts, it's tricky but not too hard to angle and slide out from under the striking lever
    
  • One more switch at the top, left side; forgot what it does.
    
  • I wouldn't try to remove the striking lever itself, it's not in the way much and you need to punch something out to do it, something that could fall into the tranny too
    

  [*]Next, find yourself a very bright but small light that will let you easily see down into the bottom of the transmission

  [*]Take a coat hanger wire, and start stirring the bottom of the rear compartment until you catch a glimpse of the white nylon bushing

  [*]Try to hook onto the bushing with your coat hanger and pull it up along the wall of the transmission; the best spot to pull it out of is through the rear-left corner of the compartment, it has the biggest gap to the bottom

If on the other hand you dropped a screw, or nut, or bolt, or anything else that's small and magnetic, then DON'T drain the oil, this will prevent it from flowing forward with the draining oil towards the adaptor plate. Instead, find a small, powerful magnet, and attach it very solidly to a coat hanger wire; weld it or at least J-B weld it to the wire. Bend the wire a bit and go fishing through the top of the transmission, similar to the way described in the bullet points above. You should be able to snag the object with your magnet and pull it up.

 

If you have no luck and suspect that the part somehow made its way to the middle compartment (unlikely, but possible), then you can split the transmittion right behind the adaptor plate (about a dozen 14mm bolts that are not on too tight), separate the two transmission parts by about 1.5 cm (that's as far as the striking plate and other components will let you go), and stick your iPhone camera through that small gap to see if you can spot the bolt on-screen, at the bottom of the transmission.

 

Good luck.