General cracked starter motor in gearbox

[gmastra100]

After a starter motor failure, I decided to remove the old one and fit a new one.
Trouble is that the dome of the old motor is missing, most probably lying at the bottom of the gear box.
Is it safe to put the new motor on and drive it ?
Am thinking if it cannot then I will put the car on ebay.
Its a shame as the car passed its MOT in Sept with no advisories. But my daughter does not want the car any more.
Oh well lets hope that 2016 brings better joy.
Happy New Year all.

 

[arc]

It won't be in the gearbox, just at the bottom of the bell housing. If you loosen the bolts that hold the engine to the gearbox, you should be able to get it out. I wouldn't want to drive it with that rattling about as it could catch on the ring gear and flick up into the clutch

 

[gmastra100]

Thank you for confirming not to drive the car.
If I listen the gearbox bolts , do I also need to remove clutch cables , sensors etc ?
And is there a chance that the gearbox will fall ?
I don't have much space as am wirking on the drive and have limited space under the car .
I read that the seicento gear box has possible issues , so am wondering if it is a fault?
Is tens kind of failure common ?
Thanks

 

[varesecrazy]

Thank you for confirming not to drive the car.
If I listen the gearbox bolts , do I also need to remove clutch cables , sensors etc ?
And is there a chance that the gearbox will fall ?
I don't have much space as am wirking on the drive and have limited space under the car .
I read that the seicento gear box has possible issues , so am wondering if it is a fault?
Is tens kind of failure common ?
Thanks

hi,
you'll only SLACKEN the bolts - create a "window", so around 1" / 30MM gap

sensors / wiring should be fine,

:idea:an alternative is to remove the starter ( again..) and use a lenght of wire to "FISH" in the bottom of the bell-housing,
there should be NOTHING LOOSE in there by design , so if you cant find anything loose in the bottom,
I'd guess the starter never had a cover, and you'll be safe.

let us know what you find..,
Charlie

 

[Duncan]

The complete nosecone of a starter is quite a big thing to have loose in a gearbox. You would have had some issues with it by now. Unless its just a piece of the nosecone that is missing? Some starters don't have one so unless yours has obvious signs of where the nosecone has broken off then I would suspect it never had one.

 

[gmastra100]

Hi,
I will try opening the gearbox to see if I can get at anything,
The motor did have a nose cone as I remember it when I changed te motor the first time. That's why I think there maybe a gearbox issue.
I had not tried the fishing tip, but I had trid to get any lose bits with a magnet on the end of a wire, but no luck.
As my daughter has a new car now , I will try opening the gearbox, if no good then I will scrap her as a non runner.

 

[deviator]

with a magnet on the end of a wire, but no luck.

Did you check it wasn't alloy? IE try and stick the magnet to the same metal on the starter.

 

[arc]

Just to be clear, you're not opening the gearbox. You are separating the engine and gearbox slightly.