I recently purchased a 94 ford explorer xlt, manually trans. 4x4.
After driving for a while, especially when it is hot out, I can not shift into 1st or 2nd gear. No problems when it's cool out or when I first start out. I just noticed that the overflow container has brown water in it. Any idea what could be happening? Going to flush the radiator fluid tomorrow.

 

Two things to check: Transmission fluid level and clutch fluid level. If clutch fluid is old, might even help to flush it, and replace with all new clutch fluid.

 

All the fluids are full. They were just recently change when problem started

 

how about the clutch is it slipping when you put a big load on it....meaning going up hill or under hard acceleration, check every gear to see if the clutch is slipping the rpms will go up a little then back down you will know if its slipping possible time for a new clutch

 

Hey everyone,
I had this same problem in my 94 XLT.
After finding a post in these forums discussing problems with the firewall flexing around the clutch reservoir when depressing the clutch pedal, I inspected my own.
In my case one of the mounting bolts for the reservoir was loose giving it some room to move when the pedal was depressed resulting in not enough hydraulic pressure to move the clutch to fully disengage. Tightening it up fixed the problem for me. I have also read that if the problem is in the firewall flexing (resulting in the same thing happening) then there is a bolt on plate to stiffen up that area.