I was going to take the car to work one last time before the snow starts to fly and I put it away. Shifted to first, pulled away and then second..... shifter slid back to neutral. It didn't seem to grab and I went around the block and back in the driveway(had to hold it in reverse to back in). Noticed while sitting, gears would drift back to neutral not locking in place.
Ran it again after work and the same thing, but then .......after it warmed up then all gears started to lock into place and stay there. I could now feel it click in.
Retried this experiment again another day, same thing. Fine after its warm.
I've had it out many times in the warmer weather and never had any issues but now it was about 5 degrees C outside.
I will dump the fluid and replace it in the spring.
Does this sound like something worn out?
It's a 5 speed manual on a 350. I am not at the point yet to say exactly what transmission this is, sorry about that.

 

It's possibly as simple as a fluid issue. Start there first. If you plan on driving the car between now and spring, I'd suggest changing the fluid asap.

 

If it's a T5 you might have wrong fluid in it. Lots of different opinions on what to use but ATF seems to be a pretty safe choice.

 

Many owners with these older stick **** cars are using synthetic & really it.

 

I use syncromesh in mine and it seems to like it.

However, the warming up thing gets me thinking. It's possible it has a weird lower boot? Maybe it's a thicker rubber or something than factory and causing it to "push back" against the shifter, until it warms up and the rubber becomes more pliable?

 

Do the fluid change first.
I went from 2/3 gear oil - 1/3 ATF mix in my Gforce T5 to 2/3 Royal Purple Synchromax - 1/3 gear oil and noticed the difference right away with temp changes.

 

Ok, looks like I'll be changing the juice and see how it goes.
I see there's a lot of variation as to what people are using,
As to the lower boot, I'll have to take a look. The leather one on top is stiff and crappy looking also. Might be time to replace all of that and maybe a new shift ****.

 

Any update?


 

Well, not really. I filled it with ATF and had it out last Saturday..... but it went up to 14C outside so I didn't have any issues probably because of the temperature. Now the car is in my backyard all bundled up. If it doesn't snow for a bit, I might try to get it back out, but once theres salt out there that's it.