Waterboy

I've been reading all of the recent threads about Redline and am going to switch over but I'm not positive it will fix all my problems. I have the same notchy shifting that everyone talks about when cold but I also have problems getting my tranny into gear once in a while. It usually happens when the vehicle is warm and I pull up to a light. I go to put the stick in N and it is hard to pull out of gear. At that point I know that I'm going to have a hard time getting it back in. When I go to put it back in it's like I'm running into a wall instead of a gear. I can try pushing between 1 and 2 and feel the rear end thump each time I try but it still won't go in. Some time I can tap R and it will glide in to 1 fine. Othertimes it doesn't even want to go there. The only way I can get it to move is to stuff R and roll back a little then hammer 1 and 2 and few times until it goes in. This happens maybe once a week. Sometimes it will do this for consecutive lights, other times it will do it once then after I get going again it shifts fine. Sometimes when I'm rolling up to a light shifting out of gear and feel the stiffness I will immediatly try putting it back in gear. I get the same wall feeling for a second or so then it will find a way in. When I do this and let off the brake I can feel the truck trying to pull it's self forward like the clutch isn't disengaged all the way until I put the brakes back on again then it won't try taking off again.
My hope is that someone will chime in and say they had the same problem before they switched to Redline. Otherwise I might have a problem with my clutch cyclinders.
I didn't think that the clutch master and slave cyclinder went out intermediately though. It worries me when it happens but it is easy to forget when it doesn't happen for another week. Any thoughts, reassureing comments ect...? Thanks.

Birdman

Could it be your shift lever bushing/seat? Perhaps Bob's article will provide some insight.

http://www.4runners.org/articles/shift/

Waterboy

Replaced that last year, I should have mentioned that in the original post.

Victor

Get underneath the truck with someone pressing on the clutch pedal and see how well your slave cylinder is working. If the clutch isn't disengaging properly it can have the trouble going into neutral problem you describe. From what I've heard on this board if you change the slave cylinder get a Toyota one and not a parts store one. Most people end up changing their brake master cylinder soon after a slave cylinder so maybe you should do both at the same time.

bobzemuda

My family has a trustworthy mechanic that they've been going to for 10+ years (he even gives them hams for xmas). He's a really nice guy, and on my 95 4Runner I was experiencing the same problem. I took it in, thinking it was the clutch, but it turned out to be that my transmission was going bad according to them. As they weren't in the business of fixing transmissions, it seemed a reasonable assumption.

My shifting was more than notchy, just as you describe. You'd pop it out of first at a stop, and you could just feel by the way it popped out, that it was going to be a problem getting it back into gear. In my truck, I could always get it in reverse, and throwing it in reverse and then into first did the trick about 95% of the time just as you described.

My mechanic suggested that if this wasn't a big deal to me, that I just live with the reverse to first shifting until that didn't work well anymore, and at that time rebuild the transmission. It wasn't, so I lived with it for about 1.5-2 years.

Around September of last year, I couldn't even get the car into first from a cold start, reverse or not. After about 30-60min of driving it would start shifting in and out of first, but not without some effort.

I never found out the exact cause of the problem, as I decided to get rid of the truck not soon after, but that's the most I ever found out about it.

Bill

SLC Punk

Sounds like the synchros to me. I had the same problem with my 94 Ranger, that's why I have my 4Runner now.

Waterboy

So just look for full movement on the slave cylinder? The hardest part is going to be finding someone to jump under my truck in traffic when it screws up to check it out.

Not comforting words but at least I know others have had the same problem. You mentioned it lasting 1.5-2 years, how far did you drive during that time and what kind of driving. Just trying to judge if it is an immediate problem or something to keep in the back of my head.

I've heard the Ranger transmissions are know for being weak. How long did yours last with the problems.

Thanks all

dusty98

Have you lubed your u-joints lately? I notice mine shifts noticeably better after I hit all those zerk fittings on the drive train. I put a little extra in the slip yoke; usually enough to make it slide back a little. (The slip yoke is on the driveshaft, closest to the transmission)

Also, don't rule out that tranny fluid change. One day I mixed dino and synthetic gear fluids and I had the same problem shortly after. I drained the tranny and put fresh fluids(of all the same kind) in it and it's been fine since.
Good luck and let us know if you fix it.

bobzemuda

I drove at least 30K with it like that, and not until the last couple thousand was it very bad. According to my wife I drive like an A hole, and I really drove it and shifted it hard trying to compensate for the 3 slow all those years. I'm sure I helped the problem along.

Bill

GodwinAustin

Allright guys - my problem is like this one here - the thing is it only happens to me when the truck is cold - after about 10-15 minutes of driving the clutch works fine. But before the truck warms up I often cannot shift from second to first OR first to second...going into neutral is no problem at all. But trying to go into second from first or ocassionally 2 to 1 is like hitting awall -cant move the shifter at all - truck shifts very strong other than this. its weird to be honest. My question is it seems - based on what I read - it is liely the tranny fluid since it only happens in the cold - but is there anything that will really point to the synchros being the culprit here???

trucks a 97 5 speed V6 57,000 miles on it - bought it used .....I mean what kind of damage can someone due to a transmission in 50K?

thanks so much guys

superjoe83

that problem is common in toyotas, try using a synthetic grear oil, ive heard good stuff about redline

GodwinAustin

Question:
Joe - is there anything in particular that will point to the synchros as the culprit?

Fahrenheit 451

Are you certain it isn't just the clutch assembly itself?
The bit with sticking it into reverse to get 1st gear to work seems to be exactly opposite of the synchro problem normal with Toyotas in that they sometimes won't go into reverse without sticking it into another gear first.
To my incredibly untrained brain, it sounds like as the vehicle warms up the clutch is failing to release either as the result of damage to it or the pressure plate. Any chance you have an oil leak that is getting oil on the clutch? If the clutch disk swells at all it won't release and walla, no shifting.
I had a somewhat similar and intermittent problem on my '85 4Runner a while back and it finally wouldn't release at all. Took it to the shop, they pulled the tranny and parts of the pressure plate fell out! Two or three of the rivets(?) by the fingers on the pressure plate had broken off and, in the beginning, would from time to time bind up the clutch. Eventually, the clutch assembly simply wouldn't release at all.
I can't say I was too happy about that. It was a heavy duty assembly from LCEngineering and I only got about 15-20k out of it tops.
Just an uninformed opinion, but it don't think it's the tranny myself.

DarylD

Hey Jesse , check your clutch pedal backet . I've seen a few broken ones .

Waterboy

Mine does make alot of noise but I've never checked it. Thanks for the tip. Haven't seen you on here in a long time.
My truck has me trained well enough now that I've actually forgotten about this problem. It's just one of the quirks that make it mine.

ken.vs.ryu

truck is hard to shift into 1st. i have to force it into 2nd, notchy, and then it will go into 1st but notchy. into reverese i would just grind my gears so i have to go into 1st first then rev.

-i'm gonna check tranny oil first.

hmm according to this its the synchro or the shifting key spring.

notoyos

sync r wore out

Bigblock

if you put red line oil in it, it will not shift without grinding. BUT hard to put in and out of gear, mostly out, is a clutch prob.

notoyos

bull

notoyos

just joshin 3yotys