Prius #3 was getting the old look-through and I felt an obligation to check the ATF level. Pulled the top plug (to which fluid is supposed to almost reach) and poked around in there with half a zip tie that I found on my garage floor. Poor man's dip stick. It slipped out!
So I got an endoscope and poked that around in there. Yup, there it is!
I tried running the endoscope AND a grabber, but no luck. Grabber was some 14 gauge copper wire with a hook on the end, speared through some duct tape (so I wouldn't lose THAT) wrapped sticky-side out. Stick-um kept picking up a drop of ATF and becoming un-sticky.
So, here's some pics! Seems wedged in there quite nicely, diagonally. The bend in the tip was something I did to be able to dip down and touch fluid.
Trans is drained, no access from drain hole. Zip tie is stranded between full and drain holes.
What say ye? Leave it? Nylon has a specific gravity of 1.15 while ATF is 0.96 so it shouldn't float. There's a strainer on the pump pick-up but there's also a transfer chain and a couple gears that I'd hate to have this get meshed in.
PS, lesson learned, always lanyardize stuff that's going in holes that would be difficult to disassemble. A new zip tie with a loop around the head-end could have accomplished this neatly.
So I got an endoscope and poked that around in there. Yup, there it is!
I tried running the endoscope AND a grabber, but no luck. Grabber was some 14 gauge copper wire with a hook on the end, speared through some duct tape (so I wouldn't lose THAT) wrapped sticky-side out. Stick-um kept picking up a drop of ATF and becoming un-sticky.
So, here's some pics! Seems wedged in there quite nicely, diagonally. The bend in the tip was something I did to be able to dip down and touch fluid.
Trans is drained, no access from drain hole. Zip tie is stranded between full and drain holes.
What say ye? Leave it? Nylon has a specific gravity of 1.15 while ATF is 0.96 so it shouldn't float. There's a strainer on the pump pick-up but there's also a transfer chain and a couple gears that I'd hate to have this get meshed in.
PS, lesson learned, always lanyardize stuff that's going in holes that would be difficult to disassemble. A new zip tie with a loop around the head-end could have accomplished this neatly.