Fordman2011

I have a real stumper here. A few weeks ago my transmission got really hard to shift into any gear if I was sitting still while the car was running. if I turned the car off I could get into gear no problem then once I was going the shifts felt normal. I decided to change the fluid and see if that would help and I switched to penzoil syncromax. It worked wonders. Shifts were smooth and crisp and it was still a little difficult to get into gear but much better than before. A few weeks ago it began to get a little more difficult to get into gear about 4 days ago and today it is nearly impossible unless the car is rolling. There is no grinding in any gear and nothing gets hot and my fluid levels are fine. I decided to do a little troubleshooting and adjusted my clutch cable properly and then I jacked the rearend up and discovered that my wheels spin when in gear with the clutch pedal pressed. The clutch still feels fine and grips normally and is a centerforce dual friction.

Any advice would help. Im thinking maybe my syncros are bad but I really really hope not. Thanks in advance for any help


(PS) the car has a t-45 im assuming because the prior owner grenaded the tranny and grabbed one out of the junkyard instead of a 3650. The car has 160k on it and I have owned it since it was at 112k.

CalBoy101

You might have a problem with the pilot bearing thats pressed into the end of the crankshaft that the nose of the trans input shaft rides in. If that bearing is grabbing it will make it hard to shift from a dead start. Your throw out bearing or clutch hat could also be bad, not allowing the clutch to fully disengage. If the car has a hydraulic clutch linkage it could also be hanging up and not fully disengaging the clutch.

If you are sure the clutch is adjusted correctly its sounds like its time to yank the trans off and check all the clutch parts to see whats wrong, I don't think its a syncro problem.

GT210

+1 CalBoy101.
The tranny is easy to take out I would take it out to see what is really going on in there.