5 speed shift problems....please help

[ton_e_montana]

I have a 2002 Ex sport with a 5 speed manual tranny. After a long trip the truck started to not go in gear. With the clutch all the way down, it would hang and not go in. 1st gear being the worst along with reverse. The rest of the gears hang less as you go up. It's intermittent as sometimes they go in smooth while other times I fight with them. The clutch seems to engage immediately when the pedal is lifted and feels very short in range of motion. Is the the slave cylinder? Where do I start. I have read where the master cylinder is also associated. Any help would be appreciated. Also, if anyone knows what tranny I have that would be great. Thanks in advance.

Note: I think I have found that the tranny could be a Mazda M5OD-RIHD

 

[dynamite196]

Is the pedal really low to the ground or is it normal height? also, how many miles on the truck.

 

[ton_e_montana]

The pedal is really low. I did find out the master was dry. I filled it up and it seems better. I might have to bleed. Not sure what would make it lose fluid. I guess I need to look for leaks. After doing a serch about bleeding, it looks like I am in for a headache.

88k on the truck

 

[dynamite196]

Bleeding those is not fun, and yes you will need to def bleed it otherwise when it heats up the air will expand and you'll have BIG problems. There are only 3 possibilites for leaks, the master cylinder, the slave cylinder, or the line. Shouldn't be too hard to pinpoint.

 

[ton_e_montana]

Thanks for the reply. Any suggestions on the bleeding process? I have read the write-ups but it sounds confusing. I haven't bled one before.

 

[dynamite196]

I didn't have a very pleasant experience lol. I was replacing the clutch and had replaced the slave cylinder as well. I spent a good 3 hours trying to get it to bleed but had no luck. I'm not sure whether this was because the master cylinder was 'bad' (I have no idea whether it was or not, I wound up replacing it though) or for some other reason. But, once i replaced the master cylinder and bench bled the system, the rest bled fine too. This is definitely a 2 person job, don't try any quick bleed kits or anything to make it a one person job. Also, if you could get a vacuum bleeder, that would probably help A LOT! Good luck to you