Hard 1st gear shifts... Bad Tranny?

[SHOWYA]

This only happens when the engine comes up to normal temperature; first starts in the morning, gears are no problem. At stop lights i have to force the gear in ... but it will not grind, and to try to shift into another gear its possible but its still hard. Reverse does grind like crazy if i try. shifting is not a problem once the car is going. It worse before i changed the trans fluid 3 days ago. Only other thing that i can think of is the flywheel, it was not regrounded when i installed a new clutch about a year ago. Is tranny getting ready to go?

 

[Machspeed]

I thought you HAD to reground the flywheel? I had the same 2 problems you did. Mine would grind a lot when i tried to go into reverse. (Do you go into a foward gear b4 you try to go into reverse? If not thats the problem) I had the same problem about forcing it into first to, when i first got my sho it sometimes became VERY difficult to go into first from a stop. But no grinding. My clutch lasted a couple more months and it was TOAST. Id put it in 5th going 55 and if i even opened it up 3/4 of the way itd SLIP. I could rev it all the way up to redline in gear if i wanted to!

 

[SHO--ripper]

When installing a new clutch you should regrind the flywheel. Did you fill the transmission all the way up? What kind of fluid did you use? Does the trans leak?

 

[Zap]

The flywheel should be resurfaced OR replaced when doing a clutch job. According to Ford, the MTX doesn't require fluid changes, though it leaked fluid out of the halfshaft openings, so one would think you would have to top the fluid off at least. If you're going to be taking the time to remove the transmission, you might as well replace the fluid.

 

[sdpatt]

This isn't a transaxle or flywheel problem, it is a throwout bearing and pressure plate problem. The surface on the flywheel would only be an issue if the clutch was slipping or you felt an unsteady take-up when you released the clutch pedal. The clutch is not fully decoupling the engine from the transaxle. Try lifting the clutch pedal with about 10 pounds of force to allow the tension spring to ratchet the cable to the correct tension. If this doesn't help, I must ask if you replaced the throwout bearing when the clutch was serviced.

 

[SHOWYA]

OK, I did not reground the flywheel at the time because i didnt know it had to be done on a clutch job. I refilled the trans with 2 quarts of penzoil synchromesh trans fluid and 1 quart of 'lucas trans oil' bottle says thats its for hard shifting and it did help alot. The clutch that was installed is a Hi revs race clutch from Sho Shop. Is it already bad after a year of usage??

 

[SHOWYA]

Is the throw out bearing the one that the fork pushes into the presure plate? If it is then it was replaced. Actually the clutch kit came with a sleave to acomodate the bigger size of the hole on the clutch, then i guess that is the bearing that went over that sleave. Does that sound about right???

 

[B Fa SHO]

I use to have that problem as well. I'd try and force it to go into 1st so hard sometimes I'd get a clicking sound when it finally did engage. This happened before and after I got my clutch replaced although it cleared up remarkably after the new clutch was installed. Putting it in 2nd then immediately going up to 1st use to make things a lot easier, and going into 4th then into reverse stopped a lot of the grinding. You just have to be patient sometimes and make sure you have the clutch pedal pushed in far enough. And if you have a hard time putting it in 1st, just return it to neutral, let off the clutch pedal and try again. Usually worked for me.

 

[DHMag]

SHOWYA:
Is the throw out bearing the one that the fork pushes into the presure plate? If it is then it was replaced. Actually the clutch kit came with a sleave to acomodate the bigger size of the hole on the clutch, then i guess that is the bearing that went over that sleave. Does that sound about right???

if the kit came with a TOB and sleeve, then its not the redesigned bearing and should have the sleeve on the quill. by not having that sleeve on there, the TOB is allowed to jump around...not remain on center with the pressure plate. and if thats the case, then youve pretty much torn your pressure plate fingers apart. granted, the play without the sleeve is not very much, but it only takes a little to ruin a lot.

 

[SHOWYA]

OK this is very weird... I got to brainstorming and i decided to take out the chip from the car. Its a Superchip for the X2J ECU. Well this chip was in since i baught the car 2 years ago. After driving the car with out the chip the shifts improved noticeably. A day after leating the car sit overnight and after drving it again i have no problems shifting whatsoever! Gears just glide in! So what realy is my problem ??? was the programming on the chip wrong or the chip just gave out??

 

[SHOWYA]

Well its was not my trans at all that was going bad, it was the starter that finally died. Replaced it yester day. Everything is OK except that 1st gear is a little stiff when going in. I guess its because of those 2 weeks of hard shifting.