I figured i would post this in here also because the M5OD is so popular behind the later model 300s.


When in first and second gear, you can just barely hear a small scraping noise coming from the stick shift on my M5OD. It just started doing this after a 3 hour drive to my college. Which is the worst of times because now i'm out of money and the tools to fix her

When you move the stick around when its in gear, you can change the sound of the noise a bit, making it quieter or louder. Is this telling me a synchro is going out? maybe leaking tranny fluid? i checked under there real quick and there are no massive red fluid leaks that i can see.

any ideas?

please tell me there's just a leaf stuck in my clutch...

 

Worn clutch fork?

 

Unless it gets real loud, in your place I would keep using it and don't worry. Like someone
once told me"have faith". I'm not preaching, but those noises may be annoying and scary
if we let them be, but machinery has ways of doing what needs to be done if we treat it
with some care. Good luck on your education, should your problem get worse come back
these guys will help.

 

I did change the tranny fluid about 8 thousand miles ago.

I'm going to just double check that the fluid is topped off...

Would it only make that noise in 1st and 2nd if it were the clutch fork?

I realize that it may have little to do with the gears, and is probably the speed of the gearing.... aarg.

I'll drive it around on the weekend and see if i can further diagnose.

Thanks a lot for the suggestion guys, you've saved me so many times its hard to count.

 

Perhaps Ghog wanted to say the shift fork which runs in the synchronizer for first and
second gear.

 

my M5OD has made those noises for a few years now. mostly in first and second gear as you described. I havn't had any problems (135k miles) so I don't worry about the noise. Every Ford I have owned makes its own weird noises. I don't think you have anything to worry about.

 

1. I'm thinking a bearing is going out. The course of action would be let it go til it screams.
2. Any chance the wrong fluid was put in it? Alot of times it's the simplest of things.

 

Dextron III Mercon, i believe it was Penzoil...

Lettin it go till it screams is pretty much my only option any ways..


I'm going to see if i can get a job as shop bitch at the garage down the road... that way i'll have access to some tools at least...

 

The 4OD takes gear oil 80-90. Is Dexron III the right stuff?

 

I dont think a bearing would talk only in first and second gear. Input shaft bearing
all the time the engine is running. Output shaft all the time the truck is moving, even coasting engine off neutral.

 

The M5OD takes ATF according to the owners manual.

In my limited knowledge of how a transmission works, i was under the impression that all the gears are spinning, asuming the truck is moving, but only the gear you are in is "connected" to the shaft at that time.

Even though they're all spinning, when one is engaged, its recieving a lot more stress, so the noise could deffinitly be coming from something only when under stress.

It sounds a lot like some piece of debri is scraping around.... like if you took a metal rod and just scraped it along a thick piece of alluminum...

 

My M5OD makes those noises, and leaks a little ATF out the front seal. ATF changed 1000 miles ago Does it make any noise when you push in the clutch? I can hear the front bearing spin down to zero when I push in the clutch at idle. Runs fine, wouldn't take it drag racing (too much tire hop anyway).

What about putting in some sort of additive? What about some Tufoil (which is just Teflon suspended in dino oil).

 

Are those additives safe for the tranny? Personally i've never used or really heard of tranny fluid additives for manuals, but the teflon sounds like a good idea for lubricant. My take on these though - if its really that great, why doesn't ATF have some in there already?

I haven't noticed any noise tied to the clutch.

Noise is only in first and second gear. I'm pretty confident it isn't the bearings because it makes the noise under any load, even when you're just coasting. I forget whether it talks when the clutch is disengaged.

If the shift fork runs through 1st and 2nd, that seems like it may be the problem. Does anyone have a service manual or schematic for the M5OD? If i can see the components i can get a better feel for diagnosing it...



Amen to the Funky Ford Noises. She's just lettin you know she's workin! if i ever hear a Ford with a quiet power steering pump, i know somethings wrong.

 

I recall from other posts that there's a 1-2 shift fork, a 3-4 fork and a 5-R fork, and the 1-2 gets the most abuse (and is the first to go). Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. There's a plastic bushing in the top of the shifter that breaks and wears. You can see if you remove the shift boot. Causes lots of lateral play in the shifter.

Haynes F150 manual has exploded views of every manny tranny except the Mazda 5.

Cost. Seems to me most any modern transmission will do 100k without ever being opened up, and do it on cheap fluid. Then the vehicle is either serviced and resold or junked. Use anything better than the bare minimum and, on average, you're sending dollars to the junkyard. Unless you intend to run your vehicle for several hundred thousand trouble-free miles, in which case you can spend extra for good stuff like Mobil 1 and teflon.

I'm VERY skeptical of additives and miracle cures. Wasn't until I read the ingredients on Tufoil and looked up "PTFE" (a listed ingredient), and found it to be polytetraflouride, or some such thing, aka teflon. Now I'm willing to even consider using it (teflon makes eveything better). Related story: My old neighbor siezed two 351Ws using Slick 50 in his '88 F250 work truck. Said it looked like crystallized honey in the oilpan. He then bought a late model 300/6, which he worked like a dog and still has today (I think).

Blue talks to me. I know exactly what she's doing. It's those little nuances and familiarities I liked when I was a kid, riding in cars (or my first schoolbus!).

 

You are correct on the shift forks there are 3. I'm not sure about the plastic bushing,
nor do I know what the what the fingers of the forks are covered with to prevent wear,
noise in this trans. Many transmissions use plastic (nylon) to accomplish this, however it means pulling the cover and that means removing the transmission. That is why it's a bad habitto keep your hand on the lever it puts pressure one way or the other causing wear.