Having trouble with my 2000 Ranger, manual, two-wheel drive. She drove normally on the highway today, but as soon as I got into the city, I noticed that she was "sticky" in low gear for lack of a better description -- I had to really press the gas to get her to accelerate and she revved high, but as soon as I was up to speed and in third, she was fine. By the time I got to my destination, I noticed a burnt smell.

I have a mechanic I trust at home (about 25 miles away, half the distance being city/small town low gear driving and half being on a highway at high gear). I can't find anyone locally in the city who can take me right now and I have to be home this evening to feed my dog. Public transportation is not good to where I live.

I'm hoping that someone could:

1) give me an idea of what might be happening so I can get an idea of what the terms are in Spanish (I live in Mexico).

2) tell me if I might be able to get home to my mechanic if I take it easy (repairs here are so inexpensive that I'm not super worried about making things worse).

Thank you!

Rae

 

Last time you checked/changed the gearbox oil?

 

My goodness, that's a good question... I have a full mechanical check done before every long drive, so it should have been done 5,000 miles ago when I left Canada to come here, but I don't know for sure if that was on the list!

Is this something I could check and possibly top up myself? My truck is such a common model here that I know I won't have any trouble finding the oil.

Thank you!

 

Very simple.

It takes MerconV ATF.

As an emergency measure (if you don't have the ability/tools to drop it, you can just undo the filler bolt (22mm i think) and squirt it in there until it starts spilling out.

 

Thank you! I did a search and everything I noticed today could be explained by low/bad gearbox oil so I'm really reassured. I'm going to find some oil and then hopefully I can find a guy to to drain and top up for me (labour here is so cheap I'm forgetting how to get my hands dirty!), but worst case, I have tools. Really appreciate the quick and pertinent answer.

 

Let us know how it goes, hope the damage isn't too bad.

 

Thanks. I noticed the burning smell about a block from where I landed so I'm really hoping it's going to be okay.

 

It's the clutch. :(

 

Oh :(

What went? seems a weird way for it to go, or was it because it was slipping?

 

The truck has 250,000KM on it so I knew the clutch was going to go at some point. The mechanic said that, yes, it was slipping. He did a road test, but didn't even need it. Whatever she was doing when he was just parked there playing with the gear stick and clutch told him that it's the clutch.

Thankfully, a cheap repair here (about 300USD). I wouldn't have bothered in Canada. I'm more panicked at this point about how I'm going to get home and back tomorrow to pick up the truck.

 

Wow, labour costs! :)

Good luck with the transportation.

 

Parts are about the same price down here, but you save so much on labour. Paid about the same thing for a brake job a while back.

Thanks for your help!