recently my trans has been very hard to shift. On some instances it will pop out of first gear when starting from a stop. My problem is that when the car is off, I can shift through all the gears but when the car is on, its a PITA to put in any gear. I believe the syncros are bad?? Its not a world class T5.

 

No... at least, HIGHLY unlikely. There are 5 of them, one for each forward gear; they don't just all "go bad" somehow, identically, at the same time. See my signature for helpful advice concerning logic.

That part of your problem, is something to do with the clutch; either the clutch itself, or the pilot bearing/bushing. This car have any recent work on the clutch? Any other history involving that part of the car you feel like sharing?

Popping out of gear IS a "synchro" problem, but not the kind you fix with a rebuild kit. It's caused by the splines inside the "slider" or "sleeve", whatever you call that part, being worn out where they engage the teeth on their gaer; they are cut with a taper that PULLS the sleeve ONTO the gear, but they wear into a taper that PUSHES the sleeve OFF OF the gear. To fix that, it needs a new "sleeve". However, if you have a clutch problem, the REAL reason might just be that it's not going far enough into 1st gear, but rather, just barely hanging the teeth; which will also make it pop out. But if you keep on drving it with it doing that, eventually it WILL create the kind of wear described above, by destroying the sleeve.

Fix the clutch first. Then see if you really have a transmission problem. I'd put about 3-to-1 odds that there's nothing wrong with the trans.

Doesn't matter which design T-5 it is; or if it's a 3-speed, 4-speed, 6-speed, or whatever. They all work pretty much the same way.

 

I just replaced the clutch. But the car was doing the same thing before i replaced the clutch, popping out of gear and hard to put in gear. Should i take it all apart again to see if there was something I might have messed up? I checked everything before I put the car back together. One thing I did notice was that I couldn't get the trans ALL the way in (separated from bell housing). The splines were engaged with the clutch but there was about an 1/8" gap between the trans and the bell housing. I replaced the pilot bearing and the throw out bearing when I put the new clutch disk/pressure plate in. Today I was on my way home and I could not shift the car into 5th gear or reverse. I couldnt even slide the shifter over to slide it into gear. The trans has always been tough to put in gear ever since I bought the car.

 

Next time loosen the bellhousing bolts to engine block makes it easier to get everything to line up.

 

I'm going to rip it all out tomorrow and check everything.. Is it easier to put the trans up with the bell housing attached??

 

just put bellhousing on but dont tighten bolts that secure it to the block and trans will slide in much easier ..... My t5 did what your did before things let go.