2000 Mustang Gt Clutch Or Tranny Issue Please Help

Kenny1775

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Nov 2, 2013
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Hello everyone, just created this account. I have an issue I cannot figure out yet. I have a 2000 mustang gt. Last October I replaced the trans with a used one with 40k miles on it from a 98 gt, also replaced the clutch. This morning, after getting my CDL, I was driving on an on-ramp here in Ohio (idiots cant merge here), and attempted to shift from 4th to 5th gears and 5th kept kicking out. I tried this several times an didnt work. SO I drove in 4th around 65 mph, 3k rpms for several miles. During that time I would try to get in 5th again with no success. I had no issues prior to this besides the usual reverse hard to get. The final time I tried to grab 5th, the shifter froze and I couldn't get into any gear. It was as if the shifter was froze. I had to use both hands and pull it into neutral, clutch engaged and coast over 4 lanes of highway traffic to the side of the freeway. I waited a bit, maybe the trans got overheated or something to that effect and the shifter still would not budge unless I used both hands and all my strength to push and pull into each gear, 5th was unsuccessful still. The clutch is fine, I checked the quadrant under the dash by the pedals already. It does still have the stock clutch cable with the plastic piece under the hood it mounts to the firewall ( non-adjusting). Shop said a good tranny flush may help and thats $130 at the local Valvoline quickstop, May do that before taking it to a shop . Any advice and thoughts are appreciated.
 
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Go to the gym get your arms stronger and shift with no problems......


just kidding don't kill me haha,

your car is manual , mine is auto , and I had the same problem (freezing knob) once, and after opening the case around the knob I found one (LOCK) broken and stuck
as for Auto you have to press the button to release the knob , MAYBE , just maybe , something like that happened to you .
 
HAHA...funny guy. I work out daily and can roll by stang over on its side. lol...I was told this morning, (true story), and old man in his 80s Id guess who walked by with his dog that likely the clutch cable needs adjusted at the fork underneath on the tranny. He has 31yrs as an ase mechanic before he retired so I may start there. I was gonna take the shifter out inside the car and look down in there. The boot there is torn a bit and I know some metal shaving from the 2 piece stock shifter kept coming lose and falling down in there. I dunno how to fix that. I keep tightening those 2 bolts on the shifter and soon as I shift, they come lose. Gonna put on a short throw shifter I think. Every stock piece on the damn thing is giving me issues. lol.
 
oh I forgot about my true story part. lol...yeah the old man stopped and stood there talking to me about all the cars he worked on over the yrs and gave me his advice to check the cable at the fork first. When I let off the clutch pedal very slightly, it engages the clutch. So I think it needs a good adjustment asap. He stood there farting as he talked to me. Think the guy :poo: his pants for about 5 mins straight. lol..was very funny. Sad we all have to get old. lol
 
LOL, bro, I know what you mean , had some situation like this before (the only difference was that he was a police officer who pulled me over ) then said ... what a fine machine you have here, and asked if its for sale and start asking if its modified (which is strictly illegal here ) and I keep telling him no modifications , after he showed me his cars and finding out he lives not far away from my home , I opened my hood to show him ... he keep talking about his supra for about 30 mnts about 1:30 PM and the sun was hot like hell. but I end up with a friend in the law force that might be useful one day hehe

anyway... since you can engage it at some point , then a good adjustment might really solve this problem , wish you all the luck in the world , keep us updated
 
Yeah well funny thing is...I am a police officer. lol Yeah I hope a good adjustment will fix it. I have been waiting on a bud to get here with a jack so I can get underneath it for 2 hrs now. ugh
 
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Update....so I got the car up and looked underneath at the cable and the clutch fork. The wife pressed the clutch pedal to the floor as I was overseeing the cable and fork go forward normally. Not sure if I should rule adjusting the clutch cable out yet. I drove the car, still pressing the clutch to the floor and using all my force to push and pull each gear 1-4 through town. It looks like when the clutch is pressed to the floor, the fork only moves about 2-3 inches, maybe 4 as I didnt measure it. lol...Thinking it has to be something internal. Possible pilot bearing or pressure plate failure?
 
I really doubt the problem is the clutch...you should be able to easily shift out of gear with the clutch fully engaged by just letting off the throttle...if you can't get it out of gear then something internal is not right.
 
Yeah I was dreading it may be internal. The tranny only has about 50k miles on it so wasnt really expecting it to go bad already. I keep checking other forums and its narrowed down to all the syncros went out at once, or something else inside. It is hard to move with car off, running, clutch in, clutch out, etc. I know it is in dire need of a good fluid flush and fill though and dont have the funds to change it at the moment. Anyone know how many quarts it will take and a good type of fluid? Some said that royal purple stuff.
 
I use Royal Purple Syncromesh, and my trans has almost 250,000 miles on it now...but I don't think that fluid is the problem either. Unless you are totally out of fluid and things have started seizing up you should still be able to get it out of gear.

It seems like maybe the shifter/shift rail or a couple bent shift forks...if I had to bet it would be on the shift forks.
 
Right, but would all those shift forks go out at once? I just drove it to the store and back. Had to push it backwards as I cant even force reverse still. I was able to shift 1-4th gears but was really hard to push and pull that shifter. I noticed the clutch pedal engages just as I lift it off the floor...also I have a loud exhaust and let it idle low and I heard a noise like something spinning under the car as I let off the clutch. If I pressed the clutch to the floor, the noise went away. Throwout bearing and shift forks bad? That damn tranny only has about 50k miles on it. lol..:leghump:!
 
don't know for certian, but it sure sounds like it is a mechanical, internal problem...but diagnosing over the internetz it's a pretty iffy proposition.

the throw-out bearing is probably chirping, but they all do that
 
Yeah its got me really annoyed to say the least. It was all completely fine til Saturday morning when I went from 4th to 5th gears and 5th kept grinding and kicking out. So then drove for over 10 miles in 4th at over 3k rpms and all the sudden it was stuck in gear and once I jerked it hard out of 4th, it wouldnt budge back to any gear.
 
Yes, when I press the clutch to the floor, then barely let up, it moves forward. I put in a new clutch and a tranny with 40k miles on it last October, and the clutch has always been hard to push in to the floor since but it engages barely off the floor. I looked under the car at the cable and shift fork moving when the clutch pedal is pressed to the floor and the fork moves forward about 2-3 inches only. There is still alot of room for that fork to come forward it looks like. Its a stock clutch cable and cant be adjusted. I tried that under the dash pulling up on the pedal bs and that never worked. It clicks about 3 times but goes back to the original position soon as its pressed to the floor again.
 
It needs to start to move about half way out. You need a steeda or maximum motorsports firewall adjuster and aluminum quadrant and take some slack out. It is never good when the clutch is engaged constantly like that. Its actually the most common way people kill their trans. The car will shift much better after this. There is a drain plug on the bottom of the trans, drain the fluid and put in 3.5-4 qts of penzoil syncromesh. Pull the shifter off the trans and pour the fluid in there.
 
Okay update. I changed out the tranny fluid today and to my surprise, it was dark grey in color. Not brown, not pink...dark grey. Wtf did the shop put in it when they swapped the tranny out lasy October? Yikes! Still wont even slide over to get 5th or reverse and Im forced to drive with gears 1-4th with my reverse lights on constantly. Ive had several people follow me and say they are on. lol..NO :poo: I tell them. Any more ideas what this could be? I hate driving it in 4th at 3k rpms, gonna blow the engine before too long. There isnt any trustworthy shops here in Columbus Ohio. Ugh.