It's coincidental that plastic needle bearing cages are mentioned here.
Yesterday I was looking over the dismantled transmission from my old 86
Syncro. The new owner drove the last hundred miles of a trip w/ a slipping
clutch (due to a broken pivot pin in the clutch pedal). The net result of the
constant clutch slipping during that last 100 miles was a hot flywheel which
overheated transaxle. The plastic needle bearing cages literally melted. The
bearings were remained semifunctional. Timely servicing of the transaxle
avoided what would have been an eventual catastrophic transaxle failure.

Ben T
SF