Manual Transmission won't shift at times

[jnorton]

Hi All.
99 Explorer (120K miles) with manual transmission is starting to do tricks. The other day driving through town I stopped at a light and when I tried to put the vehicle in gear it wouldn't shift into any gear. No grinding , just literally wouldn't move more than an inch or two or engage any gear. Thinking it might be the slave cylinder, I pumped the clutch while trying to shift. While doing this I noticed that the Explorer wouldn't shift even with the clutch engaged (pedal up). Is this some sort of safety feature and if so how does it work? After what seemed like hours but really only a few seconds it went into gear and all was well for a while. Seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why it does this. Any input or thoughts appreciated.

 

[ahodges]

Could have just been misaligned gears and in the panic to get it in it made it worse. Or it could be the sincros starting to show wear, My 99 ranger does a similar thing so I make sure I do all the shifting while it is rolling some.

 

[jnorton]

thanks

If it just did this the one time I would agree with you but this is happening regularly now.

 

[gavin]

what happens if you double-clutch?

ie, push clutch, shift into neutral, let off clutch, push clutch in again, shift into gear.

 

[RaveDigger]

My truck does this occasionally too. I've just learned to always have it in first gear before I come to a stop.

 

[ahodges]

my truck does this occasionally too. I've just learned to always have it in first gear before i come to a stop.

x2

 

[jnorton]

Problem Solved!
Well after testing it turns out that when I took my Explorer in to one if those quick oil change places, it turned out to be a bad decision. First time I've ever used one of these places and sure to be the last. I had just moved to a new town and my the garage was jam packed with assorted boxes, and I figures instead of trying to find tools I would just get a quick oil change.First issue was the large oil puddle under the Explorer in the morning. Seems they felt that "finger tightening" the drain plug would be good enough. It also turns out I should have paid more attention when they told me my tranny fluid was a little low. I remembered that comment and thought , "lets just check that". Pulled the fill plug , stuck my finger in and smelled the oil. Sure enough the delightful scent of gear oil. Changed the oil and put in Mobil 1 Synthetic ATF, and within a day the problem got less and less. Now all is back to normal. Rig shifts fine every time.

 

[ahodges]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I've always been told that you should put Mercon V ATF in the manual transmissions of these trucks..

 

[Big Z]

/\ I think they can also use 5-30 or 15-40 gear oil... I just use ATF and so does everyone I know. If it was synchronizers you pry would've been able to just push it in with some gear clash. When I had a clutch cylinders go out, there was no pressure pushing the pedal down and you would have to put it in gear and use the starter go get going, then float shift. Glad you caught it.