97 GT 5 speed will not go in to any forward gears

mustangjim365

New Member
Apr 16, 2010
12
0
1
Hello everyone,

I bought this car with 118k one owner original. It had a run in with a guardrail and set off both airbags and tweaked the doghouse to include the core support and driver inner fender to the driver shock tower (Ac Condensor and radiator no damage). When i looked at the car. You could start it, push in the clutch and it would not go in gear. You could turn it off and place in gear and when you started it with clutch pedal pushed in it would start and try to take off down the road...

Well i dropped the tranny last week and replaced the clutch with a Zoom clutch kit, new pressure plate, throwout bearing and pilot bearing.

I replaced the like new clutch cable with an adjustable one with a quadrant and a firewall adjuster.

I also drained the black and gey tranny fluid and replaced it with 3.0 quarts of mercon 5 tranny fluid.

The tranny mount was broke also and replaced it.

Now after all of that, when you start the car, it still does the same thing, wont go into any forward gears, cranked on the adjusters at the firewall and at the tranny and it will go in reverse barely.

I also noticed that with it running in neutral if you place your foot on the clutch pedal, you can feel a vibration in the pedal?????

Also, when I was pouring the old fluid into a receptacle a piece of shiny aluminum, (wont stick to magnet) and really light about the size of your thumbnail was in the fluid.

I am guessing it is a piece of the shifter fork or clutch fork.

All input and advice on this is greatly appreciated...

I have zero experience with this type of transmission.

Can it be repaired at a reasonable price or can I find a replacement transmission reasonalbly priced?

Jim
 
  • Sponsors (?)


When i looked at the car. You could start it, push in the clutch and it would not go in gear. You could turn it off and place in gear and when you started it with clutch pedal pushed in it would start and try to take off down the road...

Well i dropped the tranny last week and replaced the clutch with a Zoom clutch kit, new pressure plate, throwout bearing and pilot bearing.

I replaced the like new clutch cable with an adjustable one with a quadrant and a firewall adjuster.

I also drained the black and gey tranny fluid and replaced it with 3.0 quarts of mercon 5 tranny fluid.

The tranny mount was broke also and replaced it.

Now after all of that, when you start the car, it still does the same thing, wont go into any forward gears, cranked on the adjusters at the firewall and at the tranny and it will go in reverse barely.

I also noticed that with it running in neutral if you place your foot on the clutch pedal, you can feel a vibration in the pedal?????

Also, when I was pouring the old fluid into a receptacle a piece of shiny aluminum, (wont stick to magnet) and really light about the size of your thumbnail was in the fluid.

I am guessing it is a piece of the shifter fork or clutch fork.

The thumbnail-sized piece of metal in the trans oil doesn't sound good but it won't be from the release arm ("clutch fork".) That is external to the gear-case of the trans...

The problem you describe ("when you started it with clutch pedal pushed in it would start and try to take off down the road") is in the clutch, not the transmission. If you've replaced the clutch and it's still doing it, I'd say the problem is still in the clutch system and the replacement is faulty, the install was done incorrectly or the bad part(s) were missed/not replaced.

I think you need to get the car up on jackstands and inspect the operation of the release arm from underneath while a friend works the pedal. Clearly the clutch is not releasing. How does the pedal feel? You say you cranked the adjusters at the firewall and trans (which should not be necessary) and the clutch barely releases. Perhaps the clutch cable itself has stretched (a lot) or something...

Anyway, the metal bit is scary but I'm thinking the problem is in the clutch or the cable, not the trans.
 
Thanks for the responses...
We replaced the clutch, pressure plate and throwout bearing along with the pilot bearing with the ZOOM Kit. WE also replaced the clutch cable with an adjustable cable with quadrant. Also added a firewall adjuster for good measure. I paid a guy 150 to do all the labor, but I supervised/watched him and it all came apart smoothly and went back together pretty well. The tranny mount was broken also and I still need to put the new mount in, it had to be ordered and just got it in over the weekend. The tranny fluid was black and gray in color and looked nasty..lol Thats when I noticed the nice shiny aluminum piece in the catch pan.

I will be droppingthe tranny back out this week. I will install the mount first and get some help with someone pushing in the clutch while I watch by the tranny to see if I can observe any issues.

If all else fails, I am in the market for a good used tranny..lol

thanks again

Jim
 
The problem you describe ("when you started it with clutch pedal pushed in it would start and try to take off down the road") is in the clutch, not the transmission. If you've replaced the clutch and it's still doing it, I'd say the problem is still in the clutch system and the replacement is faulty, the install was done incorrectly or the bad part(s) were missed/not replaced.

I think you need to get the car up on jackstands and inspect the operation of the release arm from underneath while a friend works the pedal. Clearly the clutch is not releasing. How does the pedal feel? You say you cranked the adjusters at the firewall and trans (which should not be necessary) and the clutch barely releases. Perhaps the clutch cable itself has stretched (a lot) or something...

Anyway, the metal bit is scary but I'm thinking the problem is in the clutch or the cable, not the trans.

Bottom line right there.

You need to verify the clutch's operation... something is keeping the clutch from releasing.
 
I just got off the phone with my dad, he is more trhe mechanic than I am..lol

He will be coming by to help me check and verify the clutch operation.

We are going to put it up on jackstands at each corner and see what the clutch fork is doing or not doing.

Once we troubleshoot this, I will update the thread with our findings...

Thanks for all the input to date, very informational and helps me start somewhere.

Jim
 
Hello everyone,

I bought this car with 118k one owner original. It had a run in with a guardrail and set off both airbags and tweaked the doghouse to include the core support and driver inner fender to the driver shock tower (Ac Condensor and radiator no damage). When i looked at the car. You could start it, push in the clutch and it would not go in gear. You could turn it off and place in gear and when you started it with clutch pedal pushed in it would start and try to take off down the road...

Well i dropped the tranny last week and replaced the clutch with a Zoom clutch kit, new pressure plate, throwout bearing and pilot bearing.

I replaced the like new clutch cable with an adjustable one with a quadrant and a firewall adjuster.

I also drained the black and gey tranny fluid and replaced it with 3.0 quarts of mercon 5 tranny fluid.

The tranny mount was broke also and replaced it.

Now after all of that, when you start the car, it still does the same thing, wont go into any forward gears, cranked on the adjusters at the firewall and at the tranny and it will go in reverse barely.

I also noticed that with it running in neutral if you place your foot on the clutch pedal, you can feel a vibration in the pedal?????

Also, when I was pouring the old fluid into a receptacle a piece of shiny aluminum, (wont stick to magnet) and really light about the size of your thumbnail was in the fluid.

I am guessing it is a piece of the shifter fork or clutch fork.

All input and advice on this is greatly appreciated...

I have zero experience with this type of transmission.

Can it be repaired at a reasonable price or can I find a replacement transmission reasonalbly priced?

Jim

Sorry for your troubles, my only suggestion based from my own experience, my problem turned out to be the shifter, wouldnt go into gear, and would come out of gear, while drivingfixed it by readjusting, ect;I know thats not much help, but thought Id share..
 
Update:
I spent all day and early evening yesterday dropping the transmission the hard way, couldnt get the downpipe bolts loose so had to separate the bellhousing from the tranny.
When we drained the fluid, which is leass than a week old and no miles and maybe 15 minutes run time was silver reddish color. We also found the guy who installed the clutch and stuff reused the old pilot bearing which appears to be the culprit for the tranny not going in gear while running. It looks like the pilot bearing was letting the input shaft turn all the time whille in neutral. So now the tranny is out I have found a replacement tranny but here is the issue. The replacement tranny is from a Cobra. and according to what I have read on the TTC Automotive website, the crossmember mounting points on the Cobra Transmission are 97.9 mm further back on the housing than the mustang GT transmission.
Has anyone swapped the cobra tranny into a GT and make it work? From reading the specifications, they are the same tranny just the different crossmember mounting location.
Any help will be appreciated...

Thanks

Jim