• Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and Register for our forum. Even if you don't want to post, you can still 'Like' and react to posts.

Pushed out of 3rd gear on ramp | Will not shift into 1st, 2nd, 3rd gear anymore!


jamiejja8

New Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2016
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Vehicle Year
1996
Make / Model
Ford
Transmission
Manual
Hi there! I've just gotten a 1996 Ford Ranger 2.3l with 240k miles about a week ago, I got it by trading one of my flat screen TV's. :icon_rofl: When inspecting the truck for the first time, it ran good, I took the trade and drove 120 miles back to where I live. It drove great, no issues it running at all.

A week later, I changed the engine oil and filter (Mobil-1 Synthetic 5w-30), I took it out and as I was going down the freeway ramp (I was in 3rd gear about 6k-8k RPM), I suddenly heard a popping noise and sounded like it popped out of gear so I quickly shifted into 4th gear and took the upcoming exit.

After taking the exit, I could not shift into 1st, 2nd or 3rd gear and was only limited to 4th, 5th and reverse. I drove about 4 miles home in 4th gear.

Now when I got home, I tried through all the gears and reversing, the truck is slow when letting out the clutch in 4th and 5th and a strong smell of something burning (possibly clutch). When I put the truck in neutral and I let go of the clutch, it seems as if the truck is still in some gear...

Before this happened, I've also noticed a rattling noise when putting the truck in 1st and 2nd gear even when the clutch is engaged. The engine still runs great! Will start up no problem to this day.

I am not sure if I did something wrong while changing the oil and filter, this is the first Ford truck that I've owned and did many other oil changes on my other vehicles. I will take pictures of the drain plug where i drained the engine oil. (I put 4 quarts in). I'm 80% sure that I did not drain the tranny fluid lol.

Please reply to this thread if anyone has any information or help on this topic! Thank you!!

tldr; Got the truck, went down freeway ramp in 3rd gear about 3-4k RPM, truck popped out of gear, will no longer shift into 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear. Truck seems to be in a gear even when put into neutral.
 
Last edited:


alwaysFlOoReD

Forum Staff Member
TRS Forum Moderator
V8 Engine Swap
TRS Banner 2012-2015
TRS 20th Anniversary
Joined
Apr 13, 2009
Messages
14,383
Reaction score
5,720
Location
Airdrie, Alberta, Canada
Vehicle Year
’97, '06
Make / Model
Pontiac, Dodge
Engine Type
V8
Engine Size
2.2,5.7
Transmission
Automatic
2WD / 4WD
4WD
Sounds like the same as happened to me with an f150. Pull the shifter and line up everything inside with a long screwdriver so that it is a mirror image side to side and top to bottom. Reinstall shifter. The trans is starting to wear out and this may occur again. Mine was good until I sold it a year later.

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk
 

jamiejja8

New Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2016
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Vehicle Year
1996
Make / Model
Ford
Transmission
Manual
Sounds like the same as happened to me with an f150. Pull the shifter and line up everything inside with a long screwdriver so that it is a mirror image side to side and top to bottom. Reinstall shifter. The trans is starting to wear out and this may occur again. Mine was good until I sold it a year later.

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk
Thank you for the reply, I'll definitely try that out along with flushing the transmission fluid. I'll keep you guys updated on what happens tomorrow!
 

RonD

Official TRS AI
TRS Technical Advisor
Joined
Jun 2, 2012
Messages
25,364
Reaction score
8,416
Location
canada
Vehicle Year
1994
Make / Model
Ford
Transmission
Manual
You have an M5OD-R1 manual transmission
Rangers had these from 1988 and up, to the end of Rangers, 2012
Also called M5R1 by some

Yes, could be shifter alignment, but popping out of gear usually means a worn transmission issue.
New fluid won't hurt but won't help either.

Look here for how to get shifter out: http://www.therangerstation.com/Magazine/winter2007/shifterbushings.shtml

Last picture shows 2 of the shift rails aligned in Neutral position, there are 3, all 3 need to be aligned for trans to be in Neutral
Make sure wheels are blocked when shifting trans manually or it WILL roll away on you, lol.
You usually need to rock the truck back and forth to release pressure on shift rails(gears) to get them to move to Neutral position.

My feeling on description of problem is that you will need to pull out the transmission.

If you look for a used or rebuilt trans you need certain parameters.
1988 to 1997 M5OD-R1, 1998 and up won't have speedometer hook up needed for your 1996
Must be from a 2.3l engine, 3.0l or 4.0l M5OD-R1 won't fit and can't be adapted
And must be from 2WD, 4x4 trans won't have correct tail shaft.

You could swap tail shaft and tail shaft housing which would allow you to use M5OD-R1 from 1988 to 2001(2.3l or 2.5l), 2WD or 4WD because you would keep your speedometer hook up(in your tail shaft) and 2WD driveline hook up

Mazda B2300 truck used the same M5OD-R1 trans
 
Last edited:

jamiejja8

New Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2016
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Vehicle Year
1996
Make / Model
Ford
Transmission
Manual
Thanks Ron for the detailed reply, I think I've gotten a reply from you also on ranger-forums haha. Anyways, I've taken the shifter out and this is what is revealed. Anyone got any input on it? Car was in neutral when I took it out.
 

Attachments

Last edited:

chewy012

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2016
Messages
427
Reaction score
1
Location
Colorado Springs, CO
Vehicle Year
1992
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
4.0 OHV
Transmission
Manual
6k-8k rpm!? That seems rather high

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 

jamiejja8

New Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2016
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Vehicle Year
1996
Make / Model
Ford
Transmission
Manual
6k-8k rpm!? That seems rather high

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Haha sorry, I'm not used to not having a tachometer so I believe 6-8k is overkill on what I was actually doing. thinking back, I would say I was doing 3-4k RPM. The truck is super loud to me and Im not used to it. (ride motorcycles daily).

Anyways, I just went out to check if the truck rolls in neutral and it does not, when letting go of the clutch in neutral, the truck will want to stall. (still stuck in some gear)

However, when I hold the clutch in, the truck rolls forward and backwards no problem. As Ron was saying, I believe it is a shift fork... If anyone else has any other input, please feel free to leave it here! Will help alot!
 
Last edited:

chewy012

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2016
Messages
427
Reaction score
1
Location
Colorado Springs, CO
Vehicle Year
1992
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
4.0 OHV
Transmission
Manual
Haha sorry, I'm not used to not having a tachometer so I believe 6-8k is overkill on what I was actually doing. thinking back, I would say I was doing 3-4k RPM. The truck is super loud to me and Im not used to it. (ride a motorcycles daily).

Anyways, I just went out to check if the truck rolls in neutral and it does not, when letting go of the clutch in neutral, the truck will want to stall. (still stuck in some gear)

However, when I hold the clutch in, the truck rolls forward and backwards no problem. As Ron was saying, I believe it is a shift fork... If anyone else has any other input, please feel free to leave it here! Will help alot!
Haha 3-4k is much more reasonable. Sorry, I don't have an help on this to offer, I just read 6k rpm and about fell over. Though 6k would've been some awful screaming haha

best of luck with the truck

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 

Rownan

New Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2015
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Vehicle Year
1998
Make / Model
Ford
Transmission
Manual
Was there any outcome to this? I think my trans encountered the same problem (stuck in gear).

I just dropped the trans and opened up the top.. Trying to determine if it's salvageable. I can't immediately see what might be wrong, besides one of the synchros seemed to be locked in place, and I have a good bit of fore/aft movement on the mainshaft.
 

RonD

Official TRS AI
TRS Technical Advisor
Joined
Jun 2, 2012
Messages
25,364
Reaction score
8,416
Location
canada
Vehicle Year
1994
Make / Model
Ford
Transmission
Manual
Was there any outcome to this? I think my trans encountered the same problem (stuck in gear).

I just dropped the trans and opened up the top.. Trying to determine if it's salvageable. I can't immediately see what might be wrong, besides one of the synchros seemed to be locked in place, and I have a good bit of fore/aft movement on the mainshaft.
Looking down in the shifter hole you will see the 3 shift rods each has a shifter slot that needs to lined up with the others in the middle, and thats neutral
Each rod also has a Shift Fork, in Neutral position each Fork is Between its respective gears, 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and Reverse, nothing engaged

This setup doesn't allow you to shift to another gear unless the 2 other shift forks are in "neutral position"
Shift forks and shifter slot are held on to shift rods by Roll Pins.
A roll pin can come out or shear off, this will lock transmission in gear, because it can't be put in Neutral position to shift to another gear.
 

Shran

Junk Collector
TRS Forum Moderator
Supporting Member
Article Contributor
V8 Engine Swap
Solid Axle Swap
Truck of Month
Joined
Mar 4, 2008
Messages
9,109
Reaction score
5,528
Location
Rapid City SD
Engine Type
V8
Engine Size
5.0
Sounds to me like it's stuck in 4th or maybe 3rd gear, regardless of what the shifter and shift rail looks like (it's in the correct position for Neutral in the pic above.) That would explain why it tries to stall out in neutral when you let the clutch out, because it's not actually in neutral.

Pull the trans, remove the top cover and I bet you'll find a worn out or broken shift fork or roll pin like RonD said.
 

Sponsored Ad


Sponsored Ad

Staff online

Today's birthdays

TRS Events

Member & Vendor Upgrades

For a small yearly donation, you can support this forum and receive a 'Supporting Member' banner, or become a 'Supporting Vendor' and promote your products here. Click the banner to find out how.

Truck of The Month


Rick W
October Truck of The Month

Recently Featured

Want to see your truck here? Share your photos and details in the forum.

25th Anniversary Merch

Follow TRS On Instagram

25th Anniversary Sponsors

TRS-3 Ford Ranger Sponsors

Check Out The TRS Store


Sponsored Ad


Sponsored Ad

Sponsored Ad


Amazon Deals

Top