Difficulty shifting into 1st, 3rd, and 5th - M5OD-R1

[1992redranger]

Hello!

I seem to be having trouble shifting while driving, whether warmed up or not, into gears 1, 3, and 5. For the most part I can go into gear fine. It just seems there’s more resistance going into these gears than 2, 4, and reverse. When at a stop light, I’ll test 1st gear to see if the resistance to it happens two, three times in a row: it seems like for 1st gear, after the first try, I’m able to slide the shifter into place with no resistance.

Any tips on what to investigate would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

2002 Mazda B3000, M5OD-R1 (manual).

 

[Brain75]

The slave cylinder is notorious for failure on the M50D-R1 chief symptom, difficulty going into 1st and reverse... sounds like you have a slight variant of that... only solution is to replace the slave (inside the bellhousing) which means dropping the trans.... could flush/bleed the system to see if it helps just incase it is bad fluid or a bubble...
troubleshooting says could also be the linkage- but in a master/slave no real linkage...

Manual Transmission Troubleshooting - The Ranger Station

Noisy in neutral with engine running: 1. Input shaft bearing worn. 2. Damaged main drive gear bearing. 3. Worn countershaft bearings. 4. Worn or damaged countershaft endplay shims. Noisy in all gears: 1. Any of the above causes, and/or: 2. … Continued

www.therangerstation.com

the main article on trans has some more info on the slave failure:

Ford Ranger Manual Transmissions - The Ranger Station

Model Trans Code P/N Vehicle Speed Ratios Mitsubishi FM132 D 1988-1992 2.9L 2WD 5-Speed Unknown Mitsubishi FM145 D E67A-7003-FA 1985-1987 Ranger 4X4 5-Speed 1st: 3.769 2nd: 2.210 3rd: 1.516 4th: 1.00 5th: 0.812 Reverse: 3.400 Mitsubishi FM146 D 1988-1992 2.9L Ranger 4X4 … Continued

www.therangerstation.com

(past the chart and the 1st picture)

... don't feel bad, I have a M50D-R1 the PO replaced the clutch but not the slave... difficulty going in R for me... I know it is on my horizon.

 

[sgtsandman]

I've found that the transmission fluid wearing out would be the first thing to try. I run into similar issues with my 2011. I have also found that Motorcraft Mercon V holds up better than aftermarket with my transmission. I can get 30,000 miles before shifting starts getting rough, where as aftermarket is more like 15,000 miles.

I would try that first before going after the slave, though the slave, or the master cyclinder could be the issue.

 

[superj]

Changing the fluid in mine a few weeks back made shifting easier

 

[Brain75]

you guys are running synthetic I assume?

 

[1992redranger]

OK interesting, thank you for all these tips!

The previous owner supposedly changed the clutch, master, and slave around 6,000 miles ago (see attached image), and I replaced the transmission fluid about 1,000 miles ago, so assuming all that got done correctly, I guess I could try to flush the clutch fluid first? I did go out and take a look at it just now and it did look sort of murky. And to your comment, superj, I was excited to have my shifting get easier after I changed my transmission fluid, but didn’t notice a thing, lol

 

[Brain75]

actually with all that done, I would suspect bent shifting forks first... does it slip into gear easier if you kinda "ride the edge" meaning after you find the notch you push the shifter all the way to one side or another of the notch.

normal shift pattern in red - you look for the center of each slot:

riding the edge, (this example the right/right/left - 1/3/5), you find the notch then hug the edge of the slot (try both right and left):

only do this as a diagnostic don't use it as a "oh it works, I'll just get by like this" - pushing laterally (or resting your hand on the knob between shifts) bends the shifting forks.

 

[Brain75]

also if the fluid is murky in only 6k miles, I would suspect either A) it wasn't changed B) it got contaminated / wrong fluid used - ya can't change the master and slave without putting a bunch of new fluid in.

 

[sgtsandman]

you guys are running synthetic I assume?

From what I understand, Mercon V is supposed to be synthetic already. I don't know about the aftermarket stuff. That may explain the difference in the number of miles before the shifting stiffens up.

 

[sgtsandman]

OK interesting, thank you for all these tips!

The previous owner supposedly changed the clutch, master, and slave around 6,000 miles ago (see attached image), and I replaced the transmission fluid about 1,000 miles ago, so assuming all that got done correctly, I guess I could try to flush the clutch fluid first? I did go out and take a look at it just now and it did look sort of murky. And to your comment, superj, I was excited to have my shifting get easier after I changed my transmission fluid, but didn’t notice a thing, lol

Unfortunately, with the quality of a lot of new parts these days, new doesn't always mean good.

From the explaination of the fluid and what appears to be a shop invoice for repair, it is possible the wrong fluid was used.

Try bleeding out the old fluid with new DOT 3 brake fluid and see if that helps. Whatever you do, do not let the reservoir bleed dry or you will be pulling the master to bench bleed the thing. Assuming that it was properly bench bled to begin with.

If that doesn't help, you might want to try bench bleeding the master before throwing parts at the truck. Eliminate the possibilies of what is bad one step at a time with as low a cost and least amount of effort as possible.

Taking a step by step approach will also narrow down what was bad instead of unloading the parts canon and not knowing what fixed it, spending extra, unnecessary money.

 

[ford4wd08]

I had similar issues when worn shifting forks in a M5OD I had in a 95 F150, I would inspect them for wear.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

From what I understand, Mercon V is supposed to be synthetic already. I don't know about the aftermarket stuff. That may explain the difference in the number of miles before the shifting stiffens up.

Mercon V is full synthetic.

I’ll also second that new doesn’t always equal good. My F-150 after I replaced the slave the first time, I went through a slave cylinder a year until I found a heavier duty option because the aftermarket ones just didn’t hold up.

 

[1992redranger]

Thanks for the diagrams @Brain75 those are super helpful. I just went out and played around with the shifter again (stationary at first, then driving around) and I don't think I had to change which "edge" I was on in order for the gear to go into place. However, I did notice that what I mentioned before ("When at a stop light, I’ll test 1st gear to see if the resistance to it happens two, three times in a row: it seems like for 1st gear, after the first try, I’m able to slide the shifter into place with no resistance.") also applied to 3rd and 5th.

The specific type of resistance I'm experiencing has to do with how far I'm able to move the shifter before it goes into place. It seems like there are two stages required to move the shifter into place. Starting from neutral and going into 3rd, for example, I move the shifter up halfway (where it seems to settle in place) before moving it the rest of the way. In the spirit of diagrams, I made one as well. Once when I was driving, I went to shift into third and the shifter stopped at this halfway mark. I couldn't go any further and had to pull the shifter back into neutral, at which point I tried to shift into 3rd again and it shifted no problem.

I attached a photo of the fluid in question to see what y'all think. I think it looks sort of murky (is that sediment gathered down at the bottom of the reservoir?) but could be wrong.

 

[scotts90ranger]

First, that doesn't look like enough room for the diaphragm in the clutch reservoir, is that rubber thing there?

First gear stopped is a pain on these transmissions almost all the time unless they're really worn out or in depending on your point of view... my '97 is hard to get into first but if you bump second or third to get the teeth to line up different it'll usually go... Sometimes 5th is a bit stiff on this one but it seems to be more related to how you move the shifter than anything, no grinding or anything...

My '90 that probably has 300k on the transmission (have put new bearings in twice and synchros in once) shifts like a dream, I can shift it as fast as I want, works great...

 

[1992redranger]

First, that doesn't look like enough room for the diaphragm in the clutch reservoir, is that rubber thing there?

@scotts90ranger the diaphragm was in there (I removed it for the pic), although I guess the fluid could be too full? Any guidance on this or the stuff that seems to have settled in the bottom?

First gear stopped is a pain on these transmissions almost all the time unless they're really worn out or in depending on your point of view... my '97 is hard to get into first but if you bump second or third to get the teeth to line up different it'll usually go... Sometimes 5th is a bit stiff on this one but it seems to be more related to how you move the shifter than anything, no grinding or anything...

Are you saying that the transmission isn't worn in enough yet and that's why these gears are hard to shift? I'm at 129K: engine, transmission, truck.

Thanks for all the insight, y'all!