97 ranger clutch problem

[kolb02]

So I bought this 97 5 speed ranger and it seems that when the truck is cold it has a really hard time going into 2nd and seems like the other gears are hard too. When it's warm its intermittent on being hard to shift. One time last week it started to roll when the clutch was in. only did it once. Sometimes if you put it in neutral and then try to go back into a gear it wont go into any gear unless you really work at it for awhile. Does the clutch just need to be replace? Or is the tranny messed up too?

 

[hank857]

probably bad master cyl look under it for signs of leaking, check under dash for signs of leaking. You can also look in bell housing area for signs of leaking of slave, but I would be more inclined to say bad master cyl. Be advised depending on mileage when 1 is replaced other will probably follow soon after.

 

[RonD]

First make sure transmission is full of ATF, not regular 80 weight transmission oil, ATF(automatic transmission fluid), that's what the M5OD-R1 was designed to use, regular gear oil is too thick and you will get what you describe in cold weather.

For '97 M5OD trans Mercon ATF was spec'ed, it is now called Dex/Merc
'98(or was it '00) and up M5OD used Mercon V ATF

The newer version of Mercon V is OK to use, even on the older M5ODs according to Ford, but there were some complaints about harder shifting when using Mercon V in the older M5ODs, but that was supposedly fixed when Ford changed Mercon V to be backwards compatible.

If it isn't a trans fluid issue then bleed the clutch system

 

[kolb02]

We changed the fluid and put ATF in it and bleed the system a few weeks ago and its still the same. We also checked for leakage of the master and found nothing. It seems that the throw out bearing makes a lot of noise too.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Does it shift ok with the engine off?

Try this, push the clutch pedal down to the floor, now slip your foot off the pedal so it slams up, do this 3 or so times. If there is any air in the master cylinder, this should help... Believe me, it sounds stupid, but it works....

 

[kolb02]

I tried shifting it when its off and it seems fine. I will try the peddle thing.