T5 3rd gear issue

[blubyu87gt]

So my Mustang is having a problem where when it gets shifted into third it wont go into any other gear easily (or at all) for a bit. It will come out of third and coast then back into third just fine but doesnt want to go into any other gear. The problem will randomly stop and shift fine. Its only happened about 5 times but three of them were in the last few days so I am thinking whatever the problem is may be getting worse. This is only with third gear as well all other gears work great.

This is also only when the car is in motion. If the car is off it will go through the gears just fine. I am thinkin it is the shift fork but I am not positive because last time I bent a shift fork (an 85 351w notch) it did a smililar issue all the time in motion or not. But it might not be as severe of a bend with this car.

Any input? Anyone on here good with trannys that wouldnt mind checkin it out and or fixin it for me. I am not really comfortable with transmission skills yet and I dont have the tools or space to do it anyway if I were...


Thanks in advance guys!

[LXtasy]

what shifter do you have

[blubyu87gt]

Stock. :roll:

[gearmesh, inc.]

Check to see if your clutch is releasing enough. Do this by idling in neutral for a few seconds and push the clutch in to disengage. Hold the clutch pedal in for 5 to 10 seconds and see if you get a grind going into reverse. If you get a grind, your clutch isn't releasing far enough to remove torque from the input shaft to get a clean shift. A dragging clutch wears the blocker rings down quickly in the trans.

A fresh pressure plate will have about .060" travel from full clamp to full release. As it sees heating/cooling cycles and thousands of bending cycles on the diaphragm spring, it work hardens and doesn't clamp as tight or release as far as it did when new. Over the life of a pressure plate, clamped to released distance can get below .030" or less. This creates an issue of not removing enough torque from the input shaft to let the blocker rings in the trans do their job.

On a cheaper note, I have seen shift quality improvements before just by changing to fresh fluid in the trans. If you haven't changed it in a while, a fluid change could be a cheap fix if your clutch isn't dragging.