Recently had to fit a new speedo cable as the previous one which came with the car ( a month or so ago when I bought it ) and unknown to me had not been fitted into the gearbox properly . Only found out when the speedo stopped working after a few weeks of ownership.The cable must have just been pushed into place I suppose as not only was there no gasket, but no sign of a bolt either and it had just slipped upwards and out of location , then allowing gearbox oil to be slurped out everywhere in the local vicinity.
On inspection the red toothed gear was slightly chipped and so whilst changing that thought it would be a good idea to fit a complete new cable and red plastic gear.
Had a mega struggle trying to get the gearbox end of the cable back in so took the car to my local garage who fitted everything back in ( easy when you have a ramp I guess )
However, on driving the car away, the speedo needle was "vibrating" and not moving smoothly around the dial. This got progressively worse until yesterday , the drive failed and I was left with a dead speedo needle and mileometer. I disconnected the speedo cable at the back of the instrument and then ran the car observing the end of the cable....no sign of rotation. Decided to remove the whole cable and when trying to extract the cable from the gearbox....with extreme resistance, it suddenly came free , but left the red plastic gear still inside the box, resting lightly inside, but very inaccessible. Attempts to hook it out failed and I'm guessing it has now sunk to the bottom of the gearbox.
So here is the question /plea for help !!! Any ideas how to retrieve that red plastic gear from the bottom of the gearbox, without removing the gearbox and splitting it open?
Thanks.