have 86 ranger. 2.3 5spd. 2wd. replaced slave cylinder and bleed it like you would brakes. still will not go into gear.

whats causing this. any ideas what i need to do next?

 

does the clutch pedal get harder to push near the end of the travel? if it gets harder, the pressure plate is starting to disengage. Then it could be a bad install of the clutch slave, or someone forgot to put the throw out bearing in or the throw out bearing self-destructed.

Any way I see it, tranny needs to come out for a look see because I'm pretty sure you have no inspection covers. Yup, crawled under the 4 by and nope no covers.

spend some quarters to degrease it first, you'll thank me later.

BTW you have two threads going simultaneously, kinda hard to figure out which one to answer.

 

ok. i been tried some more today to bleed the slave cylinder some more. when i try and put it in reverse it grinds but if i slap it in reverse its fine when i release the clutch. now when trying to get it in 1,2,3,4,5 it doesnt grind but hard. i found that if i can slap it in first it will go throu the other gears with very little force almost normal but it dont do it all the time. when i test drove it, it seemed to shift ok for the most part.

im realy lost here. i replaced the slave cylinder and it came with the throu out bearing. if i drop that tranny again i think im just going to replace the clutch. but it will be a few weeks. got to get the money together.

you dont think it would be the master cylinder. i dont see no wround way to install a slave cylinder. it eaither goes on right or not at all.

 

i posted this thread first and then looked down and saw they had a link for trannys. so i posted it there to. i thought i would get a better response there. do you know how to delete one or combind. if so i will fix it. thank you

 

You almost certainly have air in your master cylinder. Fun to get out, NOT! You have your choice of either bench bleeding the master cylinder, or pulling the piston out through the throat to purge it. Either way it's a PITA, but not as bad as rebuilding the trans if you burn up the synchros jamming it into gear like that! Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you've got some more bleeding to do!

 

My '94 Ranger was doing the same thing..not going into gear or really difficult. I got the slave bled, and it is noisy (gear catches) going into first or reverse, then it is fine. If I start the engine with it in gear it shifts fine. You probably need a new slave cylinder. I got a '92 Ranger and it had the slave replaced and ran fine (188k miles when I sold it). I am going to replace the slave in my '94 as well.

 

there was a warning in my books about proper alignment of the slave cyl, but it is for a different year/set-up. must be loosing my mind.

how much pedal travel do you have from the floor before the clutch grabs?

I'm guessing not much which would point to the master cylinder on the firewall is either going bad or still has air in it. chilton has some warnings about the original quick disconnect fittings trapping air forever.

Chilton also says that the process is like bleeding brakes, only slower and slightly different:

open bleed screw on slave gravity bleed until no air bubbles. tighten bleed screw closed

depress clutch pedal to floor and hold there for several seconds, side step clutch and get pedal to return up as fast as possible. (the reservoir inlet is lower than the master cyl piston travel and this agitates the air bubbles downwards) let pedal sit at top for several seconds.

repeat >>> 10 <<<< times

check fluid in reservoir

do the floor the pedal and side step thing either 5 more times or 50 times (depends on how you read the instructions).

check fluid in reservoir.

hold pedal to floor and crack the bleed screw to allow air to escape.

close bleeder, release clutch pedal

Chilton also says to start it in neutral, and try to get reverse without any gear clash. If you have clash, you need more bleeding. Apparently foward is easier to engage.

 

Well, I do need to bleed it some more probably. Reverse would be harder to go into because it involves three shafts instead of two...I don't have much travel before the clutch engages. I am more concerned right now about my oil pressure dial staying low. Probably a clogged pump collector...I am not the original poster though.