dropped a zip tie in my prius trans

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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.
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Most likely it will not be eroded by transmission fluid. You should be safe for life.

Many motorcycle racers use a zip tie to measure their fuel in the tank for a specific track, and for a specific amount of laps, many have dropped a zip tie and still raced all day with a zip tie in the tank.

I have not droped a zippy, cause I use 2 zippies together, it gives a safety factor to the scientific measuring system. lol, its not that scientific! You will be fine.


If it really bothers you that bad, try a very small vacuum hose line, tape it up to a shop vacuum, use your scope, and suck it!
 
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Ouch! Can you push it down to where it would be accessible from the drain hole? That's almost as bad as the time I dropped a valve into the cylinder while preparing to replace a valve stem seal.
 
It will probably never be a problem. The only thing i can think of, is to rinse the pan out from above with several fills of alcohol and then some how inject gas tank sealer from the drain bolt. It looks like there is a drop off from the drain bolt to the bottom of the pan.

Basically glue it to the bottom of the pan with some gas tank sealer.

Extreme idea, but i don't know what else you can do but just leave it.
 
Auto transmissions have sump filters/screens for a reason.....No harm will come of this. I've found all kinds of things in the pans of transmissions & engines.
 
Looks like we have an epidemic of people dropping stuff in the oil/trans pans/ Stop checking it so often
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Looks like you have some room to maneuver, so I would try putting a dab of grease on that wire. You might be able to at least drag it bit, by bit.
 
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Originally Posted by KneeGrinder
Most likely it will not be eroded by transmission fluid. You should be safe for life.


100% truth
 
Originally Posted by KneeGrinder

If it really bothers you that bad, try a very small vacuum hose line, tape it up to a shop vacuum, use your scope, and suck it!


I did try exactly this, but more from the angle of sucking up that ATF puddle so it'd be dry, so the duct tape would stay sticky.
 
First of don't worry it's probably one of the better things that could have fallen into the transmission. Can you heat up that piece of metal really hot and then stick it in and touch it to the plastic so the metal and plastic melt together? Then wait for it to cool and pull it out.
 
Originally Posted by clinebarger
Auto transmissions have sump filters/screens for a reason.....No harm will come of this. I've found all kinds of things in the pans of transmissions & engines.

Words from an expert are good enough for me. "No harm will come of this." That's all I'd have to hear.
 
Originally Posted by clinebarger
Auto transmissions have sump filters/screens for a reason.....No harm will come of this. I've found all kinds of things in the pans of transmissions & engines.


^This. I have also found all sorts of bits like plastic plugs from the factory in there. Forget it.
 
You could trade it in for a different car like everyone else does if there is a possible problem forthcoming. After reading everyone else's posts it sounds like you should be ok to leave it as is.
 
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