I've noticed a notchy feel when shiftng lately and I'm a bit worried. Almost like a light grind mostly noticable when going into third but second does it a little too. Also it's been hard gettin into first quite a bit lately. Could this be my transmission starting to fail or just acting up because of the cold weather? If I time my shift perfect and the rpm matches perfect it goes in smooth but if I'm off a little I notice the grind/ notch. Could it be synchro problems too? I'm guessing replacing synchros are not fun and I'm sure a new tranny wouldn't be easy either...

 

First thing I would try is changing your trans fluid. I switched over the Royal Purple Synchromax and it smoothed and quieted down my trans nicely.

How many miles and how hard are you on the trans?

 

Check the trans fluid and check all your bolts (especially the bolt holding the shifter to your trans) and all the bushings. If the alignment is off at all it will grind.

Remember 3 liters of NON synthetic Mercon 5 for the trans.

 

mine started like this, turned into loud pop every so often while downshifting to 3rd / 2nd. strarted doubleclutching it on the way down to ease the syncros, and there is actualy a TSB on this, Ford is repairing it for me. But they need a syncro puller thats a Ford tool.... my car has been up in the air for 2 weeks now with the tranny pulled, tool on backorder.

 

hows the clutch pedal feel?. are you pushing it all the way to the floor?. how many miles on tranz?. and also do you power shift the car?.

 

Pedal feels normal but i hadnt thought about the possibility of not pushing it in far enough. Ill keep monitoring. it again if it happens but i didnt notice it to and from work
49600 miles on the trans so far but as you can guess most of that is highway.
If by powershift you mean without letting of the gas no, but i have shifted at high rpm fairly quickly. Ive also missed a few shifts into third but not in quite some time.

When does ford recommend changing the trans fluid. Seeing as im about at 50k i might go ahead and the trans fluid, oil, spark plugs, and what ever else ford recommends.

 

not sure on the tranny fluid change date.. but i would do it first..also it sound like a good time to upgrade your shifter to insure no missed shifts.. the stock one is so sloppy.. a nice MGW would fit your needs..also check your brake fluid.. thats is what is used for your clutch.. good luck.

 

you can try a CHE torque limiting brace too. Alot of people blame the shifter, but the real daemon here is the twisting of the drive train on the remote mounted shifter. The torque braces are relatively cheap, cheaper then shifters in fact, and smooth out many issues people have. Just keep in mind what I said before about the TSB on this, you don't want your coverage expiring while you try to work it yourself.

 

I've felt the same thing recently but the dealer did not find anything and they actually have techs who know a thing or two working there

 

so your car recently started feeling much different in the transmission area on a car notorius for transmission issues and the the techs tell you theres nothing wrong....

I dont care how confident you are in there techs, if it feels much different and sloppy and my car was nearing the end of its coverage, i would want them to do something about it.