wondering if anyone knows a quick fix or possible solution for what appears to be a clutch problem. sometimes when the clutch is pressed in I am unable to shift into gear (like it is blocked from going into gear). then when i play with the clutch by pumping it several times and pushing it in all the way down and letting it snap back up on it's own, i can get the trans into gear when i press on it after playing with it like this.. however, even after playing with the clutch sometimes i still really have to force the shfter stick to get it into 1st. any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

It could be a worn synchro in your transmission. Does it only happen in a 2-1 downshift into first gear? Or just in a neutral to first shift? Either way the likely culprit is the synchro.


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pretty much mostly happens as i recall in a neutral to 1st shift. anytime i am trying to get into 1st gear from a stop, it sometimes is blocked. i don't get any grinding at all, just won't go in or if i play with the clutch sometimes it will go in, and others i have to force it a bit and it will finaly go in... but if i don't play w/ the clutch like that it won't go in at all sometimes from neutral to 1st. this car has a hydraulic clutch right? i'm wondering if it has something to do w/ a clutch adjustment.

 

Will it go into second while you are just sitting there?

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Well i tried it this morning and absolutely no problems at all. it was quite cold this morning. so i guess i will have to wait till it acts up again before i can tell you if it has problems going into 2nd as well.

The fact that it was cold this morning makes me think about whether this problem was only occurring during very hot weather or when the engine was hot and being driven for a while. I'm not completely sure but this could be a factor that is contributing to the problem, as i recall most of the times it was happening was when it was very hot outside and i was in traffic and driving.

I'm not sure if this information would help any, but when the problem does occur again i'll write back and post whether it is blocked into 2nd and/or the other gears as well...

 

I'm thinking you may have a hydraulic problem. There have been many posts in this forum relating to the hydraulics headaches in Rangers. If there is an air bubble in your hydraulic system, it will prevent the throughout bearing from traveling far enough to fully disengage the clutch, so getting it into gear will be difficult. During very cold weather, the bubble could be small enough to allow proper operation. I also wonder, as I have read some other posts, if the hydraulic line runs perilously close to a very hot engine part (exhaust manifold?? header pipe??), causing some low level boiling (vapor bubble) in the hydraulic line. If there is an air bubble in there, it might be a good idea to have a shop do a power bleed (power flush??), only because I've read other posts where folks have had difficulty fully bleeding the system once it has been worked on.

Any ideas??

 

thanks for the info. so is bleeding a clutch similar to bleeding brakes? i've done brakes before and wondering if it is simple to do. do they make any inexpensive pressure bleeder's for clutches as well? i've used the type that takes air from a spare tire and forces it thru the resivoir and master for the brakes before.

anyhow today i was driving my car for about an hour and the shifting problem finally occurred. actually i noticed it did not go into any gear at all (1st thru reverse) unless i play w/ the clutch by popping it back and forth, or really force it into gear. when i first drive the car the shifter goes in pretty easy to all gears...

this is just a guess, but i also would think it is more of clutch problem just because i never really had any grinding problem or noises w/ the current problem. i've had synchro probs on other cars and on those i notice slight grinding when downshifting into 1st which to me indicates the synchromesh is not working properly..?

 

>anyhow today i was driving my car for about an hour and the
>shifting problem finally occurred. actually i noticed it
>did not go into any gear at all (1st thru reverse) unless i
>play w/ the clutch by popping it back and forth, or really
>force it into gear. when i first drive the car the shifter
>goes in pretty easy to all gears...

This verifies that it is a clutch problem not a synchro. Try bleeding the clutch system. You may need a pressure bleeder.

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"lkt" , to answer one of your questions, yes, bleeding the clutch is very similar to bleeding the brakes. Many hydraulic clutch systems (Ranger being one as per many posts) are more difficult to FULLY BLEED than brakes, so the pressure or power bleed technique may be well worth the extra effort.

 

Any luck yet ??????????

 

hi V6rangerlover. well, to tell u the truth since i still can get the truck in gear i'm not gonna bother to bleed it just yet. i probably would wait till it gets really bad to try doing that. right now the problem is irritating but doesn't prevent me from driving the car. if i ever do fix it in the future though i'll be sure to report back... i'm pretty sure that bleeding the clutch might fix it. i guess i'm the kind of guy who waits till the last possible moment before i lift a finger to do anything.. esp. since this is a work truck and i use/drive it much more than i upgrade/perfect it... haha plus it doesn't really seem like a really critical problem that will get worse if i don't do anything.... haha. now i do have a check engine light on right now and i'm working on getting an obdii scanner and trying to fix that problem. this one would seem that would be a more serious problem and i do wanna fix that one so i probably may post about that later. i also had a problem w/ the interior light/swithes that needed to be fixed cuz i couldn't see at night, which i solved by installing an aftermarket interior dome light that had an integrated switch on it. maybe if anyone else has had a simliar clutch problem and fixed it by bleeding the clutch, maybe they could just post to let others know what worked for them... thanks again though to all those who replied w/ possible solutions. it was much appreciated..