5th gear pops out

[0tobe60in10minutes]

hi. my family owns a 1995 ford escort wagon with the 5spd overdrive transmission and a 1.9. recently the original clutch was replaced at 110,000 miles and now, when driving in OD, usually over about 65 to 70mph, the car will just pop out of OD, into nuetral. is this a simple tranny/clutch problem, maybe something dealing with throwout bearing? also the car will make i quite, high pitch grinding noise constantly in 4th and 5th gear. THANX.

[midwayfreak]

I doubt it's a clutch problem. Could be, the mechanic didn't refill the transmission after having the axels out, if so its probably too late to save it. Check the level by removing the speedometer drive gear, the gear is also the dipstick. Oil level is top of the gear.

[AzTumbleweed]

Sounds low on tranny fluid.

Picture below shows full and add marks on the speedometer drive gear. A 10mm bolt is all that holds it in. If you add lubricant it takes Mercon ATF.

[AltecZX2]

sounds like a syncro/fork problem

[AzTumbleweed]

There was a recall on this very problem but I think it was earlier models.

[0tobe60in10minutes]

hey thanx, the fluid level was my first guess along with the clutch. also is the speedometer gear the filing hole too?

[AzTumbleweed]

Yes, put the Mercon in through the same hole. Best if you have one of those long, narrow funnels like they use on automatic transmissions.

[midwayfreak]

Here's a tip you might want to try, I quit running ATF in mine 2 years ago. I run 30w motor oil, it makes a noisy high milage transmission run much quieter and smoother.

[AzTumbleweed]

Good idea, Midway. I wonder why they went to ATF anyway? In the Army we ran 10W in our transmisions. I may have to try this as an experiment. Love to experiment

[UnexplodedCow]

I have an idea...since he removed your transmission from the car, he could slightly moved the shift linkage from its original position, which would cause it to slip out of gear. As far as motor oil goes, I'm using type F in my '90....would anyone know if 30W would slip past the axle seals? If not, then I might just give it a try.

[midwayfreak]

There is no shift linkage adjustment, but the rubber bushing at the front of the torque rod definatly affects shift quality. The seals have no problem with motor oil.

[UnexplodedCow]

If the 2nd gens are anything like the first, they have an adjustment where the linkage bolts to the body. The linkage can be adjusted back and forth on the 1st gens. I've pulled mine out before from taking the engine out.

[AzTumbleweed]

Unexploded cow? Here's a video of an exploding cow!

http://www.wackyvids.com/movies/military/44/holycow.wmv

This video was taken in Iraq, some insurgents hid explosives inside of a dead cow and planned to blow up some marines when they drove by. But the marines found the cow and blew it up before that could happen.

[midwayfreak]

"they have an adjustment where the linkage bolts to the body."

just where does the linkage bolt to the body? it is a single rod that goes from the trans. to the shift lever. If you mean the adjustment where the lever ataches to the body, that if I recall from when I changed my '91 from auto to manual, simply centers up the neutral position, it should not affect just one gear, it is used to match the lever position to the length of the torque rod. this adjustment should need to be changed only when replacing the lever or torque rod, not when replacing the transmission. Although a truly incompetent mechanic may try to remove the transmission before disconnecting the shifter and bend something. A more likely problem affecting 2 or 3 gears more than the rest could be one of the plastic bushings in the shifter rod trunion is missing.