Help our Ford Escort loosen up a little

October 22, 2009 4:28 PM

What can be done to make the manual transmission shifter easier to work again? We have a 2000 Ford Escort which seems to be working fine, with the exception of a few blips. One 'blip' is the amount of force currently required to shift the manual transmission between gears.

All of the gears are equally difficult to shift between. I feel like I am pulling an oar through vaseline. It used to be that after driving for a while, the stick would loosen up a little and feel normal again, but lately that isn't the case. It doesn't seem to be just a cold weather phenomenon either, as the last few warm days in the northeast haven't made things easier, and we don't remember having much trouble with it last winter.

Could this be just a need to lubricate something? (If so, what? And with what?) Or is it a sign of a more major repair?

Hopefully this issue been address in MeFi somewhere else -- I couldn't find anything similar...

posted by Tandem Affinity to travel & transportation (8 comments total)

Disclaimer: I am not a gearhead. Or a car person. Or anything along those lines. My understanding is limited.

When my parents' car started having this happen with only some gear combinations -- second into third, third into fourth, fourth into third, third into second -- the issue was degrading synchromesh. (I do not know what synchromesh is. Just that that was the problem.) This was the early 90's; at the time, the repair would have been expensive enough that we decided to simply double-clutch the transmission for a few years. Double-clutching is when you shift from Gear A into neutral, let out the clutch, put the clutch back in, and shift into Gear B.

Have you tried double-clutching? If that fixes the problem, it could well be the synchromesh for you too, whatever that is. Sadly it was expensive to fix twenty years ago. . . might be better now.
posted by KathrynT at 4:47 PM on October 22

I just had to replace the clutch on my car when it was doing this.
posted by runningwithscissors at 4:49 PM on October 22 [1 favorite]

When was the last time you replaced the transmission oil? Or even checked to see if it needed oil? People tend to forget this maintenance item. You might try replacing the transmission oil. Not too time-consuming or expensive.
posted by exphysicist345 at 4:52 PM on October 22 [1 favorite]

I vaguely remember getting something called the linkage fixed, but that was in a much older car.
posted by mareli at 4:53 PM on October 22

It could be many things - your clutch may be maladjusted or worn out, so it does not completely disengage the engine and the transmission. Or you could just need some more oil, or a (transmission) lube change.

Take it to a mechanic.
posted by notsnot at 4:54 PM on October 22

I would try replacing the current manual transmission gear oil with fresh synthetic. Apparently, Ford spec'd both ATF (yes, automatic transmission fluid!) and 75W90 gear oil for the 2000 Escort. Source. The gear oil will give you smoother shifts.

Personally, I really like the Redline® brand synthetic gear oils, which are available at the better parts houses, and which work great. I'm sure they make an equivalent transmission gear oil for whatever transmission you have.

Finally, be sure to completely drain your old trans gear oil before replacing with new, especially if the old oil was mineral-based or ATF and the new gear oil is synthetic.
posted by mosk at 5:05 PM on October 22

My guess is either the clutch isn't fully disengaging when you step on the peddle, or the synchros are dead.

Try double clutching. Essentially, you depress the clutch and shift to neutral. Then release the clutch and rev-match for the next gear with the throttle. Then, very quickly, depress the clutch again and go to your target gear before the revs have a chance to fall. This gets all parts of the engine and transmission spinning at the same speed before load is added again. Synchromesh was invented to relieve drivers of this task--the synchros handle the input-shaft rev-matching instead of the driver.

If double clutching helps, then it's the synchros. If it doesn't, then that points to the clutch.

Although, of course, it could be the transmission oil, as mentioned above.
posted by Netzapper at 5:46 PM on October 22

everybody gets 'best answer' because we still haven't figured it out. i do have a feeling it isn't the synchromesh because it is just as hard to shift out of gear (with the clutch pedal pressed in) as any other movement. but who knows? current events in our family economics have suddenly changed and we can probably now just get rid of the car instead of sucking every last drip of life out of it... thank you for the input though -- we will be caring for our next transmission much better than this one -- the transmission fluid was never changed, to our knowledge....
posted by Tandem Affinity at 10:34 AM on November 4