okay, well here is the story, i am pretty knowledgeable about cars and trucks as i am a ase master tech and work on trucks all day long, fords to be exact, here is my problem, i know every car has its quarks or what have you, i have just bought a 98 ranger with a 4 cyl and a manual trans, the old guy that i bought it from told me that its done this since it was fairly new and he took it in and ford just told him that there is nothing they could do and shift slower so basically here is the description,

if im driving and i shift into 3rd kinda fast it just gives me a little synchro buzz only when i upshift hardly ever when i down shift, and the hotter or longer i drive the truck the more prominent it is,

here is my question, do i dump the old atf and exchange with new fluid, or just leave it and drive it becasue i dont know if the fluid is the original or not, im assuming its not as they just did a clutch last year, but like i said i dont know what shade tree mechanic did the work,

any help, info would be great thanks guys.

 

I'm a retired diesel mech. so hi fellow line mech.

If it were mine I would try changing the oil and maybe looking for a additive to help shifting. Have you tried double clutching it? How about shifting 2 to 3 without punching the clutch? Pull it out of 2 as it peaks and as the engine winds down have light pressure on the shifter and it should fall in. Don't force it.

It probably had a bad syncro from new. It's not really worth doing anything to it untill you have the tranny out for a clutch.

 

well yeah i was going to just put in some mercon 4 and see what happens, as far as an additive are you talking about maybe a gm synchromesh or a penzoil, from personal expereince with my camaros having old m-22 rock crushers to a t-56 ive had good luck with syncromesh,

and yeah they said the clutch was done less than 8k miles ago, so if thats the case, im not looking to do one for another 90k, which is how many miles it has on it now.

ill try not clutching, as far as double clutching no luck, if the trans is hot, it does it every time unless you wait at least 2-3 secs for the trans to slow down a bit.

 

here is one tsb
# TSB #0036 -- VEHICLES MAY EXPERIENCE BUZZING AND OR GRINDING NOISE DURING 2-3 SHIFT- VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH M50D TRANSMISSION AND BUILT BEFORE 11/1/99. *MJS (NHTSA ID #612387, FEBRUARY 07 2000)

 

and another
TSB #13794 -- VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH M5OD R1 TRANSMISSIONS MAT EXHIBIT A 2-3 UPSHIFT GRIND. *MJS (NHTSA ID #612815, JANUARY 01 2000

 

makes me mad that the dealer took advantage of this old guy and told him its normal, well **** there is 2 tsb's both issued before 2000. they should have delt with this the right way not dodged bullets like the dealers do all the time