Anybody familiar with this scenario?

My '95 F150 with the Mazda 5-spd grinds when shifting into 3rd unless I wait for the engine to rev down.

Also, the shifter got stuck in 3rd on a couple of occaisons. Without warning the thing just acted like it was welded there. Then after tapping the clutch and throttle a few times it popped back out and worked normally again.

Last but not least I can hear a noise when cruising down the road in gear with foot off gas and foot off clutch. Its like a squeaking or chirping. If I push the clutch pedal it goes away.

What do you guys think? Time for a transmission rebuild? Or just a clutch? The truck has 105k on it and so far I've only replaced the slave cylinder (should've done the clutch at the same time I guess).

Thanks in advance!

 

I had a similar problem with my 93F150 5.04x4 with the 5spd. I bought the truck with 265.000km on it and had a new clutch put in as part of the sale although the slave cylinder was not replaced at the time. All was well for a while and then it started sticking in gear and grinding going into third. It got to the point whee I would have to shut off the engine to go from forward to reverse and sometimes into first too! I replaced the slave cylinder and that cured the sticking problem but it still grinds going into third. I think the syncros are weak in these transmissions. If I puch the throttle just before shifting it seems to load the gears differently and it doesn't grind as much but does little for gas milage though. It now has 356,000km on it and is still the same

 

Thanks stevieray. I was thinking catastrophic failure was just around the corner, but it sounds like I may be able to drive it for awhile as it is, like you have been doing.

I found a salvage yard trans for $800... Seems a little steep for a used trans that could end up doing the same thing. Guess I'll probably look into having it rebuilt, or more likely, just learn how to live with it!

 

It's pretty common, the two F150s with M50Ds that I have had have had this problem (one with a brand new clutch), it is pretty annoying and why I want to do a ZF swap.

 

$800 is WAY too much for one of those transmissions. A local shop here rebuilds them for half that with a one year guarantee. A band-aid fix for worn syncros is a change from Mercon to type F ATF. The type F has no friction modifiers so the sychros "hook up" a little better, avoiding the "grind".

Jim

 

Thanks for the idea - I think I might try that. Probably overdue for an oil change anyway.

 

My 93 ZF had a bad sycro in 3rd, It wrecked the gear. I drove it for along time like that. It helped if I double clutched going into 3rd. almost no grind.

 

Had nearly 200000 on mine and it did that grind thing for about 8 years ( I bought my truck used ) One night I snatched 2nd gear and then it was gone . No I mean 1st and 2nd were gone. I figured it was tranny time and I waited untill I could pay for the FIX . When I took it to the Transmission shop the guy that own it cracked it open and said that he could not find anything wrong with it! I also looked at it. The only thing that had happened was the guy that had the truck before I did was bad about riding with his hand on the shifter and it wore the shift forkout. The gut gave me a new top and it was fixed for just over 100 bucks. I am now saying that this will fix your truck but I was glad!

 

I wonder if I have a worn shift fork too. There is a fair amount of play in the shifter but the plstic ball thing that the shifter resides in appears to be ok.I have had the shifter out a few times to fill the trans as I have tried a few different types of oil in it to try to fix the grind and the lock-up. I went back to mercon. I wonder of Lucas oil addatives would work? In their demonstration device the oil seems to cling better and may slow the gears down a bit to help shifting, Any thoughts? Also, I have seen shifters for Mustangs (same tranny) that have a piece that mounts on the shift tower that prevents the shifter from going past the engagement point. There are ajustable bolts to stop the shift arm from over traveling and I suspect that it would also stop fork wear from holding on to the shifter. Heavier shift ***** probably don't help either.

 

A couple of my brothers had 88 and 89 Ford 150s 4x4s with the Mazda five speeds, both went out and where replaced by the factory warranty (no repair attempted) at less then 50K. I don't think they ever knew exactly what "broke" but both started with problems similar to yours and went down hill until they could nolonger use 1st, 2nd (and 3rd?). Definately sounded like a syncro went out. I also understand that was a common problem in those years (fixed after a couple bad years?).

 

I think the adjustable stop bolts would be very good preventative maintenance. I know there have been times where I have shifted very fast and very hard into third trying to squeeze every last bit of performance out of the poor I6.

Another interesting consideration for me is weather. Cold winter mornings in Wisconsin make the thing shift really stiff until it warms up a little. Wonder what effect if any that will have on my grinding scenario.

 

so its bad to cruise around w/ ur hand on the shift ***??

 

I wouldn't think so. I rest my hand on mine, especially in 2nd and 4th. I think as long as you don't wiggle it a lot you will be fine.

 

The pressure of your hand has to be going somewhere. Doesnt it ? YES! and while your at it what adjustable stops ?

 

Moved to tranny forum.