i drive a '95 4x4 3vze 5spd ex cab pickup. clutch, pressure plate, hose, main bearing oil seal, etc. were replaced with new OEM parts three years ago this month; clutch now has 13k miles on it (yeah, working from home is rough, but someone's gotta do it). most shifting from gear to gear is smooth with no signs of slippage (i know what that feels like). but occasionally it slips out of first gear, starting from 0 mph off a stoplight, on the flat. today it did so with a bang, like i was rear-ended almost. if i hold in the stick, this doesn't occur. i read through this post, for instance, but didn't quite see what i was looking for. got any ideas? (i would concede user error if i hadn't purposefully put it firmly into first, knowing that this happens from time to time.) thanks.

 

sounds like the detaunts are going bad

 

This is probably irrelevant to your current situation, but...

The exact same phenomenon started on my brand new '85 SR5 within 2 or 3 months of purchase. It got more frequent and more pronounced (yes, I remember how the occasional 'ka-pow!' would startle the bejeezus outta me...). I took it to a dealership, who fixed it under warranty. Odd as it sounds, they told me there was an incorrectly installed synchro, which they replaced. The truck never rejected 1st gear again...

 

thx for your reply. are these in the shifter mechanism, or in the clutch? (is this clutch-related at all? ha.)

 

its in the transmission its self, it has nothing to do with the clutch assm.

 

My sister had the same problem with her Grand Am. It was a bent fork.

 

It could be that your shift lever bushing has worn out. I have replaced mine but never actually had that happen. My friend, however, had this happen to him on his 93 pickup and it turned out the shift lever bushing was worn out and letting it slip out of gear.

An easy fix.

 

cool! i'll have a look sometime. thanks all for your replies and suggestions.

 

Try the shifter seat & bushing first, it's a cheap & easy job. Just make sure you get both parts, the dealership tried to sell me 2 bushings & no seat last week when I did it. The bushing actually looked pretty good, but the seat was trashed. There are some really good threads about it here, and one has a link to a nice writeup with pics that I used. roughly $20 for bothparts and maybe an hour to with just a couple tools.

 

I was too lazy to do it yesterday, but here is a quick how-to link on the bushing replacement:

http://www.off-road.com/toyota/tech/shifter/index.html

 

The problem, as you describe it, has nothing to do with the clutch, pressure plate, throw out bearing, or clutch fork. You have an internal problem with the transmission (possible syncros), but most likely the shifter mechanism (shifter bushing or shift rails). Simply put, the transmission is dropping out of first gear under a load (acceleration). The bang you feel/hear is the gears between the main and counter shaft disengaging under load. There are two possible causes for this. Either the gears were not fully engaged in the first place, or something is shifting and causing them to separate. I tend to agree with those that suggest you look at the shifter bushing first. It is easier to access (shouldn't need to remove transmission), and cheaper to fix.

 

excellent how-to, nic. thanks for the link. let's hope this remedies the problem, instead of its being something more complex and costly.