1983 245DL Wagon

Has been leaking fluid from the speedo gear, Finally got around to dealing with it.
Just assumed it it would be an easy O-Ring replacement...

Hex head bolt was seized, ended up stripping it, Got it out with vice grips.
THEN the freaking plastic speedo gear FELL INTO THE TRANNY/TAILSHAFT.

Now what???

Am I going to have to drop the tranny valve body to find it, or where the heck did it drop into?

Need this vehicle for work tomorrow and would rather not bugger the tranny running it with this inside it.

Help!

 

Hm, tough call! At least it's plastic, so it is unlikely to cause damage to the tranny, yet stranger things have happened... I'd drive it if I had to...

 

Dont feel comfortable leaving it, But really dont want to remove a bunch of stuff unless I actually know where it fell.

Kind of freaking out.

 

finally found some useful stuff here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/21651943/Volvo-Aw71-Manual

Looks like the only thing that might be affected if it was left inside would be the governor.
Doesnt seem like it should have been able to drop into an weird places. so I'm baffled as to why I'm not being able to fish it out.