Hard to shift into first gear

[catmanbarney]

I have a 2003 Ford Explorer XLS 4wd 4.0 SHOC - My problem is that I have to hold in the clutch pedal to stay in first gear. If I let off of the pedal (long light) then it's Extremely difficult to get it to shift into first gear. Does anyone know what causes this?

 

[RangerX]

Welcome to the forum!
Yes, it's most likely the slave cylinder. Search and read up on it and see if it matches what's happening with yours.

 

[catmanbarney]

Hi RangerX,
I have already replaced the clutch slave cylinder but still have the same problem. My mechanic says that my transmission fluid is black. Could this be the syncronizers? I am not a mechanic and no nothing about doing this type of work. I'm trying to narrow it down to 2 transmission shops. The one wants to "rebuild mine" changing only needed parts and says nothing about the acumulated sludge in the cavities. The other wants to replace mine with a refurbished transmission. He doesn't know if they stripped it down far enough to get the sludge out of the cavities, but he thinks so. Meanwhile my shifting very hard problem just seems to get worse.
Considering that the clutch slave cylinder has been replaced with a new one, do you or anyone else have any ideas? maybe it just needs a new transmission> I have 165,000 miles on it.

 

[Rick]

There is a master cylinder and a slave cylinder. The transmission needs to be removed to replace the slave. Did they replace them both??

 

[catmanbarney]

Hi Rick,
They removed the transmission to replace the clutch slave cylinder.Since this only happens real bad in first gear I'm guessing that the master clutch cylinder is good. From reading the posts here "some" of them point towards the syncronisers inside the transmission. I just wish I could get a "vote" as to which part would be the most likely part (s) responsible for my very hard shifting into 1st gear. I appreciate your help and replys with this

 

[BigRondo]

Welcome aboard!!

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