Transmission/Clutch issues

[95Rudy]

I've done numerous searches on the forum and I couldn't find what I'm looking for, so here is my problem.

I got in my car last night, and I can't get the car into 1st, 2nd, or reverse. With some extra work I can get the car into 3rd and I start to pull away. Now as I'm driving I can downshift into 2nd and 1st, but from a stop there is now way I can get it into 1st or even 2nd. or reverse.

The first thing I do is I adjust the cable on the clutch to see if that does anything. After I do that I can shift the car into 2nd at least, but still no 1st or reverse. Now when I'm trying to shift the car into reverse all it does is grind, almost as if the clutch is still spinning or not dissengaging. I can shift into all gears when the car is turned off with no problem. This morning I had my dad look at it to see what he thought, well with alot of work and effort he managed to get into 1st, but still no reverse.

I can shift it into 3rd, 4th, and 5th, with no problems, 2nd with little problem, 1st with alot of work, and no way can I get into reverse. I hope I gave enough details into what is going on with my car. I have a few ideas on to what may be wrong and later this week I am going to drain the clutch fluid to see if there are any shavings in it.

Any help is much appreciated!!

 

[SHO_Driver]

How many miles on your clutch? Assuming the adjustment is fine may not be engaging fully causing the grinding due to a worn pressure plate or bad TOB.

 

[95Rudy]

Sorry, I forgot to mention the transmission was rebuilt about 45k ago, the clutch was replaced at the same time. The clutch that was put in was pretty much stock, nothing special.

 

[Minnesho]

I would suspect the clutch before the trans on this one. You probably won't know until its disassembled for inspection.

 

[CerberuS]

Did you adjust the cable?

 

[93rev2sev]

Bent shift fork? This might allow downshifting but not upshifting.

 

[95Rudy]

Did you adjust the cable?

The night that I first experienced the problem I did try to adjust the cable. After that I was able to get it into 2nd easier.

 

[95Rudy]

I just received a new clutch cable, and I will be installing it tommorrow to see if that does anything. I figure $30 is worth it if I dont have to rip apart my transmission.

 

[green91SHOPlus]

I've got some awesome transmission problems, myself. i was driving on the highway at about 80 mph, then I felt this little jolt, like I hit something small. I immediately begin to see smoke out of my rearview mirror. I pulled over, fiddled with some things, theorized, but couldn't figure out exactly what had happened. So after pulling over five times within two miles on the highway, I just gave up and kept driving, haha. I had a girlfriend to go see! So anyway, later that night, before I took off from her dorm, I got a flashlight and really inspected things. Come to find out, all at once apparently, When that jolt happened, something happened in my transmission (When I try to put it in first gear, it grinds until the gears completely stop spinning), the o-ring on one of my fuel injectors is leaking bad-core (a steady drip that's pooling on top of the block), and there's a pinhole leak in one of my heater core lines that only happens when the engine's under load (the source of the smoke, or steam, really. The entire under-side of my car was wet when I looked). As far as the transmission goes, I guess I'm gonna have to drop the pan and see what kind of chunks of any gear or syncronizer I can find, haha. But everything else is a real easy fix, though. When it rains, it pours... Stupid fords. If it weren't for how nice and solid the engine itself is, I'd have absolutely nothing to do with these things.

 

[AREA 91]

Stop driving the + until you get it fixed! A fuel leak is bad news, fix it! The heater core lines aren't as bad, and you can get them at your local parts store. For the tranny, there is no "pan to drop". If you felt a "jolt" is there any fluid left in the tranny. I don't want you to get too worried, but that sounds like the classic "diff pin through the case mod". If this is the case, your trans is junk. Been there, done that.

Get under the car and look the tranny completely over for any cracks or holes. This will determine if it is in fact a diff pin failure.

 

[green91SHOPlus]

Ah. I could've sworn there was a pan or something. It made sense at the time, anyway. When I typed that up, I had 4 1/2 hours of sleep AND I've got a cold, haha. Ok, but enough whining from me. Yeah, since I was out and about without a jack or anything, I couldn't get underneath it to thoroughly inspect everything. Since I know that my half-shaft seals aren't completely sealing, I've kinda thought that the fluid level finally got down to a dangerous level, resulting in that jolt. But as soon as it happened, I got the feeling that there's probably a hole somewhere, haha. So even after the diff pin spins free, would the car still be driveable? First gear still works, I've just got to wait for the gears to stop spinning before I put it in gear, otherwise it'll grind. I drove for an hour each way after it first happened yesterday, launching from second gear most of the time. Foolish, I know. But I didn't have much of a choice. And I've had that problem before with those stupid o-rings on the fuel injectors leaking. Not this bad, though, haha. Luckily enough it was cold outside last night, and my grille is missing, so there was plenty of cold air to go through the radiator and into the engine bay, keeping my temperature very low. But yeah, it was scary to drive it with that huge of a gas leak, haha. Any suggestions on replacing the fuel rail without twisting or even knicking the o-rings? Last time I completely tore the assembly down and put it on one rail at a time. But obviously something went wrong somewhere...

 

[runner]

I have a 91 SHO, Approx 90,000 miles. Need both shift cables for the manual trans. Ford is telling my mechanic that these cables are discontinued. Any ideas for either new or good used cables? Problem sounds similar to the initial question on this thread. I can only get 3rd and 4th, no reverse,1st,2nd, or 5th

 

[AREA 91]

For the injectors, you have to make sure that all the O rings are in good shape. No rips, tears, or cuts allowed. A dab of engine oil on them helps them slide in the rails without getting hung up. If you have some bad O rings, you can get new ones from RCM Automotive. Whrn you get the injectors seated in the fuel rails, bolt the rails to the heads. Now you can ground the fuel pump and check for leaks before putting the intake back on. (been there, done that) If the injectors are A O.K., now it's on to the tranny. First you need to check the fluid level vias the fill plug on the fron of the trans. The fluid must be within one inch from the fill hole. Once the trans is full, if the diff did eject a pin, the fluid will start leaking out as fast as you put it in. When I blew my diff, the car shifted and ran fine for the first few miles, then what was left of the tranny fluid got onto the clutch disc, and it starterd slipping. Back to the garage for a tranny swap. This time there is a quaife installed, so no mre SHO boom tranny for me. Hope this helps, and don't hesitate to write back.
P.S. The PLUS always has the advantage.

 

[Endri_SHO]

I've done numerous searches on the forum and I couldn't find what I'm looking for, so here is my problem.

I got in my car last night, and I can't get the car into 1st, 2nd, or reverse. With some extra work I can get the car into 3rd and I start to pull away. Now as I'm driving I can downshift into 2nd and 1st, but from a stop there is now way I can get it into 1st or even 2nd. or reverse.

The first thing I do is I adjust the cable on the clutch to see if that does anything. After I do that I can shift the car into 2nd at least, but still no 1st or reverse. Now when I'm trying to shift the car into reverse all it does is grind, almost as if the clutch is still spinning or not dissengaging. I can shift into all gears when the car is turned off with no problem. This morning I had my dad look at it to see what he thought, well with alot of work and effort he managed to get into 1st, but still no reverrse

I can shift it into 3rd, 4th, and 5th, with no problems, 2nd with little problem, 1st with alot of work, and no way can I get into reverse. I hope I gave enough details into what is going on with my car. I have a few ideas on to what may be wrong and later this week I am going to drain the clutch fluid to see if there are any shavings in it.

Any help is much appreciated!!

hey man sorry to hear about what is happening to your car,

but i tell you one thing do not drive the car now ,, go online or at a dealer near you buy a clutch kit stock or high performance and put it in now before you cause several damages to your tranny later on by forcing the gears in ,, and the thing is that your tob is going and you also have broken pressure plate fingers... good luck on it man..

endri

 

[green91SHOPlus]

For the injectors, you have to make sure that all the O rings are in good shape. No rips, tears, or cuts allowed. A dab of engine oil on them helps them slide in the rails without getting hung up. If you have some bad O rings, you can get new ones from RCM Automotive. Whrn you get the injectors seated in the fuel rails, bolt the rails to the heads. Now you can ground the fuel pump and check for leaks before putting the intake back on. (been there, done that) If the injectors are A O.K., now it's on to the tranny. First you need to check the fluid level vias the fill plug on the fron of the trans. The fluid must be within one inch from the fill hole. Once the trans is full, if the diff did eject a pin, the fluid will start leaking out as fast as you put it in. When I blew my diff, the car shifted and ran fine for the first few miles, then what was left of the tranny fluid got onto the clutch disc, and it starterd slipping. Back to the garage for a tranny swap. This time there is a quaife installed, so no mre SHO boom tranny for me. Hope this helps, and don't hesitate to write back.
P.S. The PLUS always has the advantage.

I just got the o-rings done today. After searching around, I finally found the right size at Advanced Auto. Got back, completed everything and even sealed about half of my valve cover bolts with rtv all within a half an hour. Turned it to KOEO a couple of times to charge the rails, and everything held up alright. Thanks for the advice! I didn't read it until after I got it done though, haha. Next thing in my list is to check out the tranny today. It's been driving smooth and fine so far, and first gear still works fine, it's just that when I come to a stop and go to put it in first gear, it grinds. As if some sort of syncronizer busted off or something. But I can wait a few moments, then it'll go into first gear and work completely normal after the gears stop spinning. I have had my spurts of being rough on the car, so I honestly wouldn't doubt that it would be the diff pin. But normally I drive the car so reserved that most everybody passes me. Little cars and big cars pass me, alike. People that floor it in their big SUV's always irritate me, though. 'Cause I know that even with them driving like ***** and flooring it everywhere, they still have the audacity to gripe about gas prices.

 

[95Rudy]

hey man sorry to hear about what is happening to your car,

but i tell you one thing do not drive the car now ,, go online or at a dealer near you buy a clutch kit stock or high performance and put it in now before you cause several damages to your tranny later on by forcing the gears in ,, and the thing is that your tob is going and you also have broken pressure plate fingers... good luck on it man..

endri

Hey thanks for info, I just replaced the clutch cable, and sure enough the clutch is stiffer but it didn't help the problem. I havent driven my car very much in the past week, maybe 10 miles max, but the problem isn't as bad as when I first reported last week. Not sure why but now 1st and 2nd gear are much easier to get into, but still not nearly as easily as it should be. Plus I can get it into reverse now if I put into 3rd or 5th first, and then shift into reverse.

I know now that the problem is going to be internal so I am going to order a new clutch kit, includes pressure plate and TOB. Anything else that I should order along with that just in case?