HELP! Manual tranny won't go into any gear! | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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HELP! Manual tranny won't go into any gear!

srvblues00

Well-Known Member
Joined
November 22, 2001
Messages
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City, State
Denver, NC
Year, Model & Trim Level
94 Sport / 88 Turbo Stang
Today I replaced the rubber plugs in the manual mazda 5spd tranny with metal freeze plugs. That went fine.. I also bought some shifter bushings from Ford, and I was replacing those while I had everything apart. I pulled out the ball (not the shifter knob), replace the washer that goes below it, and then I put it back in. I stuck the shifter on there temporarily to test it. I tried to put it in gear, but nothing happened. I have been messing with this thing fo rthe last hour, and I can't make it work. I am almost postive that I had the tranny in neutral when I pulled the ball out, but maybe I didn't? I really don't have any idea what to do from this point. Has anyone had this problem or dealt with anything similar? HELP!
 



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Pull the shifter back out (I assume you mean you had the whole lever out???) and look down inside. IIRC, there should be three square notches (one in each rail) that should line up when in neutral - if not, then I'm thinking of a different trans :(

It is even possible that you have managed to get it into 2 gears at the same time (the interlocks aren't totally foolproof) or you have missed the receiver with the bottom of the shifter.

Check to see if the transmission is indeed in neutral or not....
 






hmm... well, I guess it is in gear. When I look down in there, there is only 1 notch, and there's stuff all around that 1 notch. There is only one possible location that the shifter can go into, and it has the side to side travel like it is in gear.

Any ideas how to get it out of gear?
 






I'm still trying to remember what it looks like down in there..... after a while, all the transmissions I work on kind of "homogenize" in my mind and I need the real thing in front of me to joggle my memory.

Where the stick goes in.... is this a square notch or a little cup looking thing?
 






After I replied earlier today, I went out there and looked around again and played with it some more. It was in gear. I used a screwdriver to manually shift it, and then I had 3 notches line up. The two outer notches had rubber bumpers on them that moved once pressure was applied to them by the shifter. Apparently, when I pulled the shifter out of the tranny while it was in gear, the rubber bumper closed the gap that it was in. The only place left for the shifter to go back to was neutral, but the tranny itself was in a gear. Once I got it out of gear, everything was back how it was supposed to be. Thanks for the replies, they helped! :)
 






Manual transmission stiff..

1996 Explorer V6 4x4 with everything standard. Gear change is starting to stiffen up, it's difficult to shift up or down unless the clutch pedal is ON the floor and even then it's stiff. I've bled the clutch but knew that wasn't the problem. Anyone have any idea and please tell me it's an easy fix that I can do myself without removing the tranny. Have only had the vehicle a short while..
 






Is it stiff in all positions or just in certain "gates"? I will assume that the transmission oil level is up and the fluid is appropriate for te transmission.....
 






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