After around an hour of driving (mixed city/hwy) my transmission gets very hard to shift into gears, and shifting into 1st or reserve from a dead stop. If I'm driving in a city area with more traffic lights & stops (which equals more shifting) it takes less then an hour of driving for the transmission to act up & doesn't want to shift. Then I have to go into clutchless shifting mode (but still using the clutch!!) and pull it out of gear when the tranny gets 'unloaded' and hold it into the next gear till it wants to go in (when something gets hot the clutch doesn't want to disenage?). What really annoys me is that I don't believe this is the transmission itself causing these problem, I believe its something in the manual transmission system. Something like maybe the clutch is starting to go bad (however it grabs & holds gets just fine) or maybe old brake fluid in the slave that doesn't work right when it gets hot? Or maybe something like the presser-plate being warped or a be a throwout/pilot bearing that is either receiving heat from either the transmission or engine and causing it to f**k up when its hot.

A little background information that'll help:
-Clutch has been replaced two years ago with new brake fluid.
-Yesterday I replaced the transmission fluid and problems still happen. However now with the new fluid it shifts silky smooth when cold, and its always been easy to shift when the truck is cold. Now when I mean cold, I'm not talkng about the outside temp, talking about transmission temp.


I keep thinking that maybe at 185k miles on the transmission that its just at its end of life. However it shifts great & fast until the transmission gets hot.

I know I've pointed out a lot of things that might be causing it, but really need someone who really knows their stuff about cars and manuals to help me pin point the problem.

replace the slave cylinder when you put the clutch in it?

Its been replaced, I believe it was around 5years ago.

slave may be going out again...either that or the master cylinder

However wouldn't that cause it to be hard to shift even when its cold? Or are they known for acting up when they get warm/ after a little but of driving?

its really a crabshoot with the slave...sometimes they are fine sometimes they arent

Okay, however does this problem seem to be something wrong with something from the manual tranny system, or could the cause be the tranny? I want to rule out the tranny first before anything else.

i dont think its the trans itself....nothing in there but syncros and gears

Okay thanks. Welcoming other members who might have any input on which parts is bad.

Okay thanks again for the help. I'll be checking the fluid & the tranny tomorrow to see if that grime I saw was brake fluid. I'm pretty sure it was, I thought to myself when I saw it "hmm it kinda looks a little golden" but just assumed it came from the road & was too busy avoiding spilling atf fluid to think about it too much.

Edit: After some more reading, some people say that if you pump the clutch pedal & its easier to go into gear then its the clutch master cylinder. Is this correct for Rangers as well? If it is then I can rule out clutch master cylinder from being bad because pumping it makes no differences when the tranny is warm.

Also want to note that my truck doesn't move forward at all/nor bog down rpms when I'm on level ground in 1st gear with no brakes while the clutch is fully pushed in.