So I posted this on the engine forum a few weeks ago without any luck, thinking that it might have something to do with the engine, but after driving it another 500 or so miles while paying close attention to when this happens I am fairly certain it is something wrong in the transmission.

I recently purchased a 1996 XLT Ranger with the 2.3l and 5sp manual tranny. It has 152K miles on the odometer now, and coming home today I noticed a problem. I do not have a tachometer (yet) so I don't know the exact RPMs. The check engine light does not turn on when this happens.

It runs great and has no issues while the tranny is cold, but often immediately after I get off the freeway (after about 5-10 miles or more) I come to a traffic light and stop. Everything seems fine. When the light turns green I put it in first and start to accelerate. It goes forward but acts like it is working hard and then hesitates at about 5-8mph, then I hear a single pop of some sort coming from somewhere but I couldn't figure out where. After it popped it immediately regained power and accelerated just fine. At the next light it does the same thing in first, then repeats the process when accelerating in 2nd (12-15mph), and also again in 3rd (20-25mph). It rarely does it in 4th, but often it does not want to be in 4th going 35mph (When cold it does just fine at 30 or more in 4th) and I have to shift down to 3rd to maintain my speed going down the road. I have no idea where the popping is coming from. It seems like something I need to fix soon, as it is my daily. Does anyone have any ideas as to where the popping is coming from and how I can fix it?

It usually only pops if I am going up a hill or putting more strain than usual on the transmission, and when it pops it only does so a couple of times and then it is done doing that for the day. However, once the transmission is warm, even after just driving around town if it has enough time to get to full operating temp, it will kind of hesitate and lug for a second before suddenly regaining all the power I would expect it to have. Once it regains power it accelerates just fine, but before that happens it will get stuck at around 2kish RPM and not want to move when I push the gas pedal down, sometimes to the floor. Once that transition happens it is smooth and dandy. It is hard to explain but the lugging is kind of like if you were trying to idle up a shallow slope in 1st gear; kind of jerky and luggy, except in this case you are moving a lot faster. (This seems to happen in any gear going any speed once the tranny is warm) Then when it regains power it feels a lot like an automatic transmission when it downshifts to accelerate on the freeway, only the RPMs do not change in the same way, because it is not shifting at all. instead, you get the same increase in acceleration without the RPMs changing. This always happens well after I have let the clutch all the way out and am well established in that gear. I have noticed that it is especially bad and only gets worse after about 2 hours of continuous driving.

I feel like this cannot be a problem that I am the only one experiencing. I think it is within the transmission, but maybe the diff has something to do with it? I am not sure. I have not checked or changed the transmission fluid yet, I have everything I need to do it but I have not found the time to get around to it yet. Do you think simply changing the fluid will help?

Please let me know if you have any experience with this, as I am hoping to make a few longer trips soon, (Seattle to Spokane) and I don't want to have any problems.

 

I'd also be checking your brakes, almost sounds like you have one that is sticking.

 

I will look into that! Thanks!

 

Yes, reads like rear brake is sticking after a stop

Hold out e-brake release handle and pump the e-brake pedal a few times you should feel it become tighter each time you press it down, you can NOT over tighten it, just FYI
If e-brake is not working then that could be the problem

It is possible for a front brake flex line to cause a front brake to hold tight after pedal is released, but you would feel the vehicle pull to one side when starting out and you didn't mention this, so rear brakes would be my guess



As for the hesitations
Clean MAF sensor
And test TPS(throttle position sensor), it may have a dead spot or it was replaced before with a 3rd party TPS, you can only use Motorcraft TPS and IAC Valves, another FYI

 

Ok, so I talked to the guys at Les Schwab the other day, and they told me that it wouldn't be my brakes because it often happens multiple times in a row, once per gear. This makes sense to me, and after driving it a bit more the brakes seem to be working fine. So I am back down to either the Tranny or the Diff. Any thoughts?

 

Yes, as said:
As for the hesitations
Clean MAF sensor
And test TPS(throttle position sensor), it may have a dead spot or it was replaced before with a 3rd party TPS, you can only use Motorcraft TPS and IAC Valves, another FYI

 

I will look at those when I get a chance. Thanks for the help!

 

Ok, so today I did some work on it which was going to include changing the transmission fluid, but it appears that the fluid was just changed as the fill and drain plugs were marked with bright paint and when I pulled the fill plug out, the fluid inside looked and smelled brand new. I decided not to go through with the complete change. When I was underneath it pulling the fill plug out I noticed that there are several bolts missing around the bell housing where the transmission mounts to the engine... There are 3 or 4 bolts in a row missing on the passenger side of the housing, and they must have fallen out fairly recently because I could see inside the bolt holes that the threads were still shiny. Could this be related to the problems I have been having? I know I need to fix this problem ASAP but I am not sure where to get the right bolts.



I did not end up getting around to cleaning the MAF sensor or testing the TPS, as I was working on some other things unrelated to this thread. Overall I am worried about these missing bolts though. What do you guys think?

 

Those 2 open holes look like starter motor bolt holes

Picture of your 2.3l Lima engine bell housing bolt holes seen here: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...2-jpg.1735150/

This is an old bellhousing using a different clutch setup, the the bolt pattern is the same

 

Well after closer inspection those holes do belong to the starter, with the bolts coming through from the other side. (I feel kind of dumb for not realizing that but it's whatever) I cleaned the MAF Sensor, and while it seems to have a little more power, it did not get rid of the hesitation problem. It still hesitates and stumbles after slowing down from cruising. In addition to that, I noticed what is somewhere between a knocking and ticking sound coming from the transmission after this happens when I am at idle. It goes away if I press the clutch in, so I know it is in the transmission somewhere.