Shifter Rail Question

[drvon]

I'm been doing some reading and I was wondering if the shifter rail leaking was ever fixed by ford / Mazda. I have a 2010 Mazda b4000, and was wondering if this is something I will need to keep an eye / repair as my truck gets older.

 

[XionicWaste]

I wouldnt lose any sleep over it, Ive had 2 rangers 1 with 195k and 1 with 165k and counting and they never leaked. (2nd gen Rangers) You can check by either dropping the tranny, or remove the carpet and you will see some bolts around the bell housing (inside the cab) take those bolts out the sheet metal covering the bell housing will come right out. There you can see the rubber gromets and either grease them or possibly get freeze plugs. I wouldnt do the freeze plug thing though because when I changed my tranny I shifted the truck and then pulled the shift fork and then the truck was stuck in 1st gear while the fork was in neutral. My options were to either drop the tranny or shift the truck back to neutral through those rubber gromet/ potentially freeze plugged holes. So glad I didnt put freeze plugs in. My 2C

 

[drvon]

Good to know. For some reason I remember reading something saying that ford / Mazda incorporated a fix on some model year. For the life if me I can't remember where I saw that.

 

[chrwilkins30]

I wouldnt do the freeze plug thing though because when I changed my tranny I shifted the truck and then pulled the shift fork and then the truck was stuck in 1st gear while the fork was in neutral. My options were to either drop the tranny or shift the truck back to neutral through those rubber gromet/ potentially freeze plugged holes. So glad I didnt put freeze plugs in. My 2C

You can adjust the rails just by taking the shifter and ball out and use a screw driver. No need to go throughout the rubber seals.

 

[adsm08]

It has been pointed out in the past that the rail plug leaks are mostly a by-product of the trans being over-filled.

 

[Mazda]

One my 94 I got the leak around 100,000 miles and fixed it with freeze plugs. My dad had a 95 that went almost 300,000 and never got a leak. IDK why that was I think it was because 75% of the time I would park at a slope in the driveway and he always was on a flat parking lot or in the garage.. May have nothing to do with it.

 

[drvon]

Thanks for all the advice. I guess its not as big of a issue as I thought.