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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Can't believe my bad luck

Managed to sort the carbs and the water leak and car started fine. Then today, tried to start and the starter motor made a very horrible noise. Looked under the car and could see the bendix spring sticking out so pulled the starter to find that the bendix spring and other bits had come adrift! Anyway, whilst jiggling the various parts out the bendix spring itself disappeared and I can't find it!! Tried a magnet to no avail. So, where has it gone, and could it cause damage if I fit another starter motor? Any suggestions for retrieving it?
1275 engine in an IOW frog
aj robinson

It sounds like you will have to pull the engine. Leaving all of those bits in there could do some serious damage. If the gear or spring get caught up by the flywheel they could come out through the bell house with some rather surprising velocity. I know it isn't what you want to hear but the alternative is much more costly and potentially dangerous.
Martin Washington

could treat yourself to one of these and have a proper look round
http://www.lidl.co.uk/en/our-offers-2491.htm?action=showDetail&id=24110#
mark 1500 on the road Preston Lancs

could it be in the starter cap that is mounted to the bell housing?
mog

Mark, that Lidl offer is seriously good value and easier than pulling the engine out...
AJ this may sound very silly but the Bendix couldn't have fallen away from the car could it?
Jeremy Tickle

i once lost an 1/2 inch socket when fitting a starter could not find it. 10 months later while driving along somthing started wizzing round in my bell housing, dont know where it had been lodged all that time.
mark 1500 on the road Preston Lancs

Mark that's a great spot on the LIDL offer.

AJ is there any chance you can tape-bodge a bit of flexi hose onto a vacuum cleaner pipe and have a root around? Never know what you might come up with. Just a thought that might be worth a try. Doubt the magnet would help with all that iron around it, sadly. I fear that Martin is right :-(
RS Hughes

Considering its in the ( bell housing )

Maybe drill a good size hole in the bottom of the bell housing and just add a rubber plug/bundge to the hole after you retrived the spring

Prop
Prop and the Blackhole Midget

Hello everyone and thanks for all the advice.
It's definitely in there somewhere; not in the starter cap because that has split, which is how I noticed the bendix spring at a funny angle.
Will try the tape bodge/flexi pipe trick as a last resort.
I can open the Lidl link but it says 'error/' What was the device in question please?
I like Prop's idea but I have a Toyota 5 speed with special plate and am reluctant to mess about with it.
Once again, many thanks.
I can feel my wallet getting lighter.....
aj robinson

I use a flexible scope for this kind of bad luck, I bought one at Litle.. An USB flexible scope is the same price.

Flip
Flip Brühl

As the bendix spring came adrift there must be other bits in there too, or their mortal remains.
Top hat washer and circlip, 1 and 2 in the image, and maybe No.3 (whatever it's called) as well.

Wot a bugger :-(

RS Hughes

AJ
Sounds like you have a proper problem! Have you tried the magnet probe yet? I think you might find it able to pick up at least some of the parts. Fortunately, it looks like all the parts were steel so a magnet should pick them up.
Someone mentioned a a link but I came up with an error msg too. I think what it was meant to show was a fiberoptics viewer (bore scope). That would be a super idea. Maybe you have a buddy or know of a shop that would allow you to borrow one. Even if you are able to account for all the parts you need to rotate the engine so you can look at the ring gear. If yo heard bad noises when running the engine you may have chipped a ring gear or broken loose a clutch piece.
I would not run the motor until you have thoroughly checked out the associated parts.
I have 5 spd in my 72....gotta love it!
LNI Ice

I feel for you.
As you say the Lidl link no longer works. Maybe they are out of stock. But I assume this is something similar but it comes with a magnetic probe.
Good luck, Graham

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/flexible-snake-scope-camera-n41gw


Graham V

Thanks everyone. There are bound to be more bits than the bendix spring in there so I'm going to pull the engine/gearbox and make sure. At least then I can check the ring gear and clutch and anything else before something else goes wrong!
aj robinson

I had a similar issues with my 1275 when the bendix spring failed leaving bits in the bellhousing.
I managed to remove them by progressively loosening the bellhousing to engine bolts, jacking the front of the engine to tilt the engine and prying the engine forwards so a gap appeared. I could then extract the bits and rebuilt the spring to ensure I had all of it then closed it all back up again.
It depends partly how much room you've got, but it saved a complete engine out job.
Its worth turning the engine over by hand to encourage gravity to drop any bits to the bottom of the bellhousing.
Good luck
G Waite

Thanks for the info, I might try that before pulling the engine completely. However it looks as though the starter has punctured a hole in the bellhousing where the starter motor sits, and this is an aluminium Toyota casting, so will probably need to have the whole thing out anyway.
Wife not happy............!!
aj robinson

This thread was discussed between 17/06/2015 and 19/06/2015

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