babyfood1217

1988 4runner - 22re - 5speed

So that past few weeks I've had some shifting issues. Unfortunately, the issue, though it remained the same, was inconsistent. It takes an very heavy arm to "force" it into gear, 1st especially, but as the days have gone by it has been affecting all gears.

-From cold start, or after being at temp,
-Start out fine, then after heating up and driving for a while (25 min. at lower hwy speeds)
-Start out with not being able to shift, and after forcing into gear for a while, it got easier.
-on level, downhill and uphill surfaces.
-coldest current temps have been 30's/40's at night

It started out just happening one or two days. The next day it would be fine and shifting would be great. Fast forward a week or so, then my morning commute would start out with me grind gears for 10 minutes or so, typically having to roll away from the apartment in 2nd gear. Or perhaps the morning drive went fine until the last couple miles, where stop sign/light and commuter traffic kept me shifting. The engine/tranny would have been warmed up, but the shifting got exponentially more difficult. Double clutching would work on occasion, but not always, and I would yet again have to simply muscle the shifter into its' spot.

I checked the clutch pedal bracket for the crack/break that many experience, I and I couldn't find any sort of break or signs of fatigue. I have adjusting and readjusted the clutch pedal height and play and pushrod length and whatnot so many times in the past two weeks, I have likely tried everything configuration.

I did notice something peculiar the past couple days: with the clutch pedal in and me trying to strong arm the transmission into gear (any gear, forward or reverse), though the transmission isn't engaging, when the shifter is aligned and TRYING to fall into a gear, the vehicle slowly creeps. It's like it registers that it's about to go into 1st gear, but doesn't, and it tries to move forward, but only with a slow creep. Once, after noticing this, I move the shifter towards 2nd gear let it creep forward, and the shifter eventually engaged.

Fast forward to last night: I drove the truck home, having to double clutch a few times at the very end of the trip. My gal immediately hopped in and drove to work (3 more miles.) She finished her waitress shift around 1:30am and I get a call. She was at a stop sign, trying to turn onto the main road home, but the truck won't shift into ANY gear. I coached her a bit at finding friction points, and she managed to get into 3rd. She limped it home, and parked it.

This morning, I did the following:
-replaced MC cylinder
-replaced clutch release cylinder
-bled system.

Still had the problem, so I did the following:
-drained transmission (unscrewed fill plug first, then drain)
-refilled with 3.2 qts of GL-4 gear oil (house brand from O-reillys Auto)

Still have the problem, so I decided I can't deal with it anymore. I'm gonna sell this thing, but I would like to solve whatever problem is plaguing the shifting so I can still use it.

Any ideas of what's happening? I'm currently scouring a handful of threads about shifting issues, but the culprits tend to be issues I have already remedied.

Help!

-Chris

combatcarl

Bent clutch fork not letting clutch disengage? Or possibly clutch is just hammered? How many miles on it, if ya know offhand.

babyfood1217

I don't know how many miles on it actually. Pretty sure it was put in '07 (just going by the warranty sheet for the transmission work the PO had done) but then I don't know for sure. Shift forks sound like something I can't tackle. No shop, no lift, no means of pulling the transmission off. That would suck, but I'll read up some on the symptoms of that. Thanks.

-Chris

combatcarl

Well,could be shift forks...but more likely the clutch fork. Speaking of shift forks, replacing the shifter bushing might help, too. And its cheap. Marlin Crawler's where I got mine, fixed most of my hard shifting and kicking out of gear.

babyfood1217

I've been reading quite a bit about the shifter bushing. Simple enough to do, and it seems to solve a lot of peoples' issues. I started unscrewing the steel cover that holds the shifter boots down, but I just couldn't bring myself to working on that dumb truck anymore tonight. Only thing is, I have never, repeat NEVER had an issue with it popping out of gear. Not once (that I recall.)

And my bad. I meant to type clutch fork. Still stuck with the clutch within the forward end of the transmission though, no?

Also, I just typed in "bent forks" in this subforum, and one of the threads I read talked about syncros going bad. The description between syncros and forks was as stated...

I was curious, so I just ran out and tried it. No key in the ignition, just clutch pedal in and sure enough, I can shift to all forward gears and reverse. Started it up, and no go. Same stuck shifter. Turned it off and again, all gears were accessible. If the above comment regarding syncros is correct, does that mean that's my culprit? What other symptoms would failing syncros yield? Could another issue belie this "shifts-when-vehicle-is-turned-off-but-not-when-running" behavior? Ugh. I would kill for a garage right now.

-chris

combatcarl

Wellll..if it goes into gear not running, but doesn't when it is, it could be indicative of worn syncros. But if your clutch isn't fully releasing, it won't let you get into gear either. I just happen to have the Haynes for my truck open here, and the first point for "difficulty engaging gears " is clutch not releasing completely. If your clutch is worn, (springs) then it could drag, causing the rotating gears to be in motion, and hard to engage.

bmcghie

Seems like a syncro issue would develop in a pretty linear fashion... you notice it once and it just gets worse after that.

Also, it's worth reiterating that these toyota manual transmissions are TOUGH. they seem to take a tremendous amount of abuse without loss of function. Do you know how many miles on the truck? Do you know anything about how the previous owner treated it?

Finally... reverse gear does not have a syncro in your transmission. You SHOULD be able to go from driving forward, clutch, stop... and within 9 seconds shift to reverse with no grinding. If the transmission input shaft takes longer than 9 seconds to spin to a stop, your clutch is NOT releasing properly/completely.

My advice: rent a transmission jack and pull the transmission back/down to have a look at the clutch release fork. I bet your problem lies therein. Best of luck to you, I know how much of a bitch it can be when you don't know what to fix.

bmcghie

Or, get down underneath and pull the shift boot off the side of the bell housing. You might be able to see a bit inside with a flashlight, and possibly get a ballpark idea as to how the clutch fork looks like.