Nabz1179

Guys, I have a query?
What does it mean when at low ram trying to shift back to second gear I need to really yank on the gear hard or I stick it back to first without releasing the clutch while the car is in motion then it goes into second.
But at high rpm it shifts ok.

Thanks Nabz

houtex

2012 5.0 Manual, or so your first post says.

Assuming all stock transmission/shifter/driveshaft/rear end. Anything not-stock on those kind of throws a curve into the process.

First things first... It's entirely possible a transmission fluid change could help immensely. Apparently the bees knees is to use Motorcraft XT11QDC Transmission Fluid to replace the fluid in there. Smoother shifts and all that. Might do the trick. Semi-easily done, and you'll know pretty quick if it worked. And the draining of the fluid might tell you a story itself, so there's that aspect of the situation. (Note: If you do swap out the fluid, be sure to remove the FILL plug first BEFORE you remove the drain plug! While some might have a chuckle at the glug glug glug of a fill plug installed transmission drain, I did not. )

Next, have you changed the brake fluid? Might wanna try that. It could be the clutch isn't releasing right, and second is a little finicky as it's aged. Water gets in the brake fluid because brake fluid is thirsty. Er, no, it just likes to trap water in it, and try as you might, water's gonna get in it. It changes the compression of the overall fluid as it gets in there and causes the clutch to not work right. Ditto brakes, btw. So yeah, maybe a change of brake fluid is in order. The Ranger method as I've heard it called is to mark where the fluid is currently in the brake fluid reservoir, then suck the brake fluid out of the reservoir with a turkey baster, install new fluid, pump brakes, pump clutch, do that maybe a couple of times, then add/subtrack fluid from the reservoir back to the mark. Better would be to do that overall, but for the clutch just go down and disconnect the line, let it flow a little until clear (gravity is your friend on this one), then reconnect, pump the clutch 50 times (engine off, no gear selected) and that *should * de-air it. And again, reservoir level back to the mark. Unless you're doing the brake pads too, then get done with that, and fill to max level. Of course, a complete brake fluid swap is bleeding the brake calipers too, but we're not solving brakes, right? Right.

Ok, beyond that, the clutch is still maybe not fully disengaging, which could be a worn out/broken clutch or a throwout bearing. That'll have to be inspected somehow to be sure.

There's also a possibility of the synchro for 2nd (and others possibly) being chewed up/worn out, but there's no way to really determine that except pull the transmission and tear it apart. I see no real way to test that in car on the interwebs, but maybe I didn't look hard enough. I'm sure a transmission expert will come in and school us if needed...

There's also the possibility a shift fork has broken. There was a problem of that nature on 2011-earlyish 2012 MT-82s. They went from steel to aluminum shift forks, and the new material didn't like doing the job, apparently. Also I hear the case material itself is not all that hardy (but maybe they fixed it in later models), and finally the MT-82 itself has some design flaws overall, but not sure any of that applies here.

There's also the shift rails, shifter linkage, shifter, motor mounts, transmission mount, possible driveshaft issue, possible rear gear/axle issue. It gets less and less likely as you keep going down the list, but still there as a maybe.

The best bet is to get it up in the air with a person 'driving' and another under it inspecting/listening. And it may be that the person inspecting needs to be a transmission/drivetrain expert. Can't be sure.

I'm sure someone else, similar to above, will come in and tell me where I've messed it up, which would be great. I'm always ready to learn more than I've got in this head of mine, crazy though it is up in here...

In any case, I hope that helps. Let us know!