Hard Shifting YJ

[ddbbee]

I've got a 93 2.5L engine, 5 sp manual. 200k miles. The problem is it sometimes shifts smoothly and sometimes it won't shift in to any gear when the car is stationary, including reverse. The clutch seems to work well-smooth some of the time, but it can even be hard to shift at speed sometimes. It does grind most of the time when I shift in to second gear. The clutch doesn't slip at all. When it is in gear it drives well. Does anyone have any idea as to why it is having this problem? Thanks for your help.

[Westley Karcher]

I had a similar problem with my AX-5, but mine wouldn't go into 1st very easily. It would "block out" first gear every now and then. Turned out that when I replaced my tires from 31X10.50s to 30X9.50s it helped relieve the blockout somewhat. I eventually drained the tansmission case and refilled it with the slick 50 gear oil and it has been working great since. I really think that the oversized tires contributed to most my problems.

[windywinters]

With 200K miles I would suspect your problem to be worn synchros in the tranny or a bad clutch. Tires size ( as suggested by another user ) should have no affect on transmission shift quality. By the way, I'm assuming the tranny oil has been checked / changed regularly ? Hope this helps....

[Westley Karcher]

Originally Posted by windywinters

With 200K miles I would suspect your problem to be worn synchros in the tranny or a bad clutch. Tires size ( as suggested by another user ) should have no affect on transmission shift quality. By the way, I'm assuming the tranny oil has been checked / changed regularly ? Hope this helps....

Another remedy to this problem that I failed to mention is that I had drained the AX-5 tranny and used GUNK engine flush to remove the varnish build up that was built up between the synchronizers and gears... allowing for a smoother shift. But be warned that this is by no means approved by the automotive industry, but it did in fact help my AX-5 which is running about 120 miles a day with no problems (about 8 months since I did the flush). I have rebuilt many Jeep manual transmissions and I attempted this because I have nothing to loose... for me a failed tranny means about 6 hours of work and finding bits and pieces from my spare trannys... but for you it might mean $1000.00 or more in repair bills. Remember that the fill hole which is located on the passenger side of the AX-5 is a large silver colored drain bolt. You know if you have enough gear oil in it when it begins to spill over the fill hole. I found that using a large vaccum hose connected to the gear oil bottle helps get the fluid into the fill hole with little mess. Good luck in whatever you decide.