Driveshaft fell apart inside gearbox...

[Bluebeard]

I removed a driveshaft today from a 2001 172 (ph2)

Upon inspection, one of the three roller bearings on the end wasn't there. Looking at the other two showed me that the rollers are on top of about 20 tiny pin bearings.

All of this is obviously in the gearbox.

The car is proper low mileage and the last time it was driven (silverstone, about 6 months ago) there were no issues all day. It was loaded onto the trailer and has been parked up ever since. People even commented on how sweet the gearbox was!

So some how, these bits must have come off while its been parked up as surely there would have been a load of noise with all those bearings rattling around inside the box??!

What are my chances of flushing these bits out??!! (please say good! lol)

Any hekp GREATLY appreciated.

 

[Tony Hunter]

Have you tried one of those magnet things to see if the bits are just laid there,if not your fooked son.

 

[Bluebeard]

I was hoping to fill the box with about a litre of duck oil and just shake it around....

No?

 

[Tony Hunter]

Can you not see them at all in the drive casing?

 

[Bluebeard]

Nope. They are right inside I think. We've had magnets in there and all sorts.

 

[Tony Hunter]

What about the caps

 

[Fred@BTM]

there's a magnet inside the box anyway, but that will have to come apart

 

[Bluebeard]

Caps?

 

[Tony Hunter]

That hold the roller bearings in.

 

[Bluebeard]

You mean the three big round bearings?

 

[Tony Hunter]

Yes

 

[Bluebeard]

We got that out.

 

[SkidMarx]

I had that happen on my old clio 16v, Changed the oil and ran it. Never caused a problem!

 

[Dan519]

seen it a number of times. Hit and miss if you get away with it or not, usually get a lot of the rollers come out in the oil

 

[ozclio03]

that sucks big time

 

[Sam@NP]

Risk it for a chocolate biscuit?

 

[Dave..]

Nay good. I hate gearboxes.

 

[leeds_182]

I really wish I knew what any of this meant.

 

[Sam@NP]

I really wish I knew what any of this meant.

Lots of ball bearing rolling round in is gearbox.

 

[Dave..]

I really wish I knew what any of this meant.

No you don't.

One of my most frustrating moments, realising I'd bolted the TDC sensor inside the bell housing to my box.

 

[Bluebeard]

I still can't understand how all of that metal is in the gearbox, loose and rattling around and there is not one single crunch or grind.

 

[leeds_182]

Lots of ball bearing rolling round in is gearbox.

Oh dear.

 

[Scrooge]

Happened on my dci box, I kept running old oil through it until I had all the bearings, took f**king ages.

 

[Rob]

Happened to a friend, put three litres through about four times (using a sieve on the re-pour) and then just ran it.

Chance it IMO

 

[Djw John]

It won't have happened when being used, it'll have been when you've removed it and since you've not run it since that's why there's no noise. Flush it a good few times and count how many you recover on each flush imo

 

[Fred@BTM]

Lots of ball bearing rolling round in is gearbox.

needle roller bearings 'hactually yoof!

 

[Sam@NP]

I was waiting for you to pipe up.

 

[jesus]

Oh look, your Clio breaks too!

 

[The Fatty]

It won't have happened when being used, it'll have been when you've removed it and since you've not run it since that's why there's no noise. Flush it a good few times and count how many you recover on each flush imo

-1 on this; there is very little room for the bearing to escape but the roller shafts can come out and enter the gearbox with ease. I think there is a magnet already inside the gearbox to catch small bits of metal, but im not sure it would be strong enougth for all of the rollers. Your bet bet would be to flush it a few times (just use the same oil over and over) making sure you poke someting in the drain plug hole every so oftern to help the rollers come out. Finally, replace the drain plug with a magnetic type (or stick a stong magnet onto the outside of the drainplug) and fill her up. I would then suggest manually turning over the gearbox a few times to get this moving in there, then remove the drainplug and see if anyting else has come out. Then repeat, but this time use the engine to tuen over the gearbox and for the final time see if anything else come out. When done, keep the magent in place until your next oil change just incase ther is a bit left in there.

 

[jorded94]

This exact problem has just happened while my car was in the garage :/ they said they have flushed the gearbox and still havent been able to discover the mission roller bearing, did you manage to get yours out eventually?