1999 Mustang GT having shifting problems. Clutch or transmission??
Ok this is long sorry lol. I am having MINOR issues with shifting. I have a 99 GT 5 speed. When pulling out casually the 1st to 2nd shift under 4000 rpm is nice and smooth it doesnt hesitate and there is no noise. If I'm at a stop and I pull out aggressively and take 1st gear past 4 grand when I shift into second quickly I get a grinding noise and it doesn't want to go in very smooth. You can force it in without much problem but I hate doing that. The noise makes me sick to my stomach the second I hear it and I end up throwing it in neutral and going from there. Also just over the past few weeks, when traveling the highway and just making a casual shift into 5th at lower rpms I hear and feel a very slight grind as soon as I put it in gear. The shifter locks in and everything is normal I just hear and feel the slight grind, more like a bite if you would wanna say. This has only happened a few times but still it just started. My first thoughts with the whole 1st to 2nd problem was synchro. My dad told me that if it was a bad synchro then it would happen on every shift. Is this true? I am starting to lean towards a possible clutch problem...? The clutch has very good pressure and doesn't slip at all, that I can notice. Very rarely when I'm really on it from 1st to 2nd I can hit the shift pretty decent and it goes right into gear. 9 times out of 10 I just take the extra second and not take the chance of the grind and make sure the engine speed falls a little bit before I go for the shift. If I wait a second it goes in with no problem everytime. When I decide to go for the quick shift and hope that it works fine 9 times out of 10 I get the grind. When it does grind I can feel a slight difference in the clutch. It doesn't seem like it has as much pressure when i throw it to the floor and it seems as if it takes an extra second for it to fully disengage. I'm thinking this may be the reason why I am getting the grind? I have no shifting problems from 2nd to 3rd and 3rd to 4th at all and other then the recent 5th gear "bite" I've never had a problem with that shift either. The clutch usually always feels fine during those shifts. I don't have any real good ideas on the topic. I'm not a mechanic and I am only making suggestions from what I know and the things I experience/feel. Is the whole problem possibly me? Do I just need to learn how to shift from 1st to 2nd better? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. THANK YOU! and sorry for the length again.
1st make 100 percent sure that the clutch is fully depressed. if it is then its probably your blocker ring or synchronizer since you said it happens 9 out of 10 times unless you go slow. jeez so much sexual innuendo in this post.
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hahahah well thank you for reply my friend also mentioned checking the tranny fluid? I havn't yet...like a dumb a$$ lol it gets inspected soon so i'm just gonna have them check it all while its there.
I had a similar problem with the Cobra when I first got it. When I shifted hard into second, the clutch would slip pretty bad and the pedal would have no pressure pushing it to the floor. Like yours, it wouldn't do it every time. Once I put a new clutch in, the problem was solved. Since you said your clutch isn't slipping, it could be something different. Have you adjusted the clutch? To do so, just pull up on the pedal until you feel it click.
I have never noticed it slipping but i think it may very well be slipping when I throw the clutch in at high rpm...I'm not sure all I know is there is definately a different feel in the pressure of the clutch when going from 1st to 2nd during an aggressive pull out. It also seems like it takes an extra second for the rpms to drop thats why I'm kinda pointing towards the clutch. The only problem is the clutch feels great 90% of the time so I'm not sure if I can even start to blame the clutch...
my car does the exact same thing. and my tob is going out on my clutch so i think that might have something to do with it. i dunno, after i get my dyno tune ill deal with the clutch i guess.
I have the same exact problem. I'm changing my clutch out this weekend if I get around to it or have the time. Hopefully that will solve it. I'm glad I'm not the only one with this problem. Mine also makes a whining noise sometimes when the clutch peddle is pushed in, sometimes even if my foot is barely resting on it.
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1998 GT Convertible
CAI, Bosch +4 Plugs & Fresh Wires,
MAC Pro-chamber o/r H-pipe & Flowmasters, no cats, 17 x 9 Polished Cobra R Replicas, Functional Rollcage (not style bar), FFRP 3.73 Gears, BBK Strut Tower Brace, Steeda Tri-Ax Shifter, fresh clutch, 180 thermostat, Monroe Sensa-trac shocks/struts, Steeda double hook clutch quadrant & adjustable cable, Steeda TA @ 15 degrees, Cobra front bumper, Cobra R 3" cowl hood w/ louvers, Smoked lights, HID 8K in headlights and fogs.
I have never noticed it slipping but i think it may very well be slipping when I throw the clutch in at high rpm...I'm not sure all I know is there is definately a different feel in the pressure of the clutch when going from 1st to 2nd during an aggressive pull out. It also seems like it takes an extra second for the rpms to drop thats why I'm kinda pointing towards the clutch. The only problem is the clutch feels great 90% of the time so I'm not sure if I can even start to blame the clutch...
If it takes an extra second for the rpms to drop going into the next gear, your clutch is slipping. I'd replace that first before digging into the tranny.
my car does the exact same thing. and my tob is going out on my clutch so i think that might have something to do with it. i dunno, after i get my dyno tune ill deal with the clutch i guess.
If you used the TOB that came with the Spec, I'm not suprised. Don't feel bad though, I did the same thing and so did Carguy!
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Originally Posted by 98DropTopGT
I have the same exact problem. I'm changing my clutch out this weekend if I get around to it or have the time. Hopefully that will solve it. I'm glad I'm not the only one with this problem. Mine also makes a whining noise sometimes when the clutch peddle is pushed in, sometimes even if my foot is barely resting on it.
That definately sounds like the tob, whining when there is pressure on it!
I had a similar problem with the Cobra when I first got it. When I shifted hard into second, the clutch would slip pretty bad and the pedal would have no pressure pushing it to the floor. Like yours, it wouldn't do it every time. Once I put a new clutch in, the problem was solved. Since you said your clutch isn't slipping, it could be something different. Have you adjusted the clutch? To do so, just pull up on the pedal until you feel it click.
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You should adjust the clutch with the car off, although I've done it while it's running. BTW, this only applies if you're using the stock quadrant.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Racman
the TOB would whine until you pushed un the pedal wouldn't it
I guess it depends on how you have the clutch adjusted. If you have it adjusted so that the tob is NOT resting on the pressure plate when the clutch is engaged (pedal out), then the tob is not turning. When you press the pedal down, disengaging the clutch, the tob is pressed against the pressure plate fingers and the bearing begins to turn.
If you have it adjusted so that there is light tension on the pp fingers when the pedal is out, the bearing will always be turning and would probably always be whining if it's bad. Markwondi and I had this discussion in the SVT forums last week. He stated that there SHOULD be light tension on the tob and pp, however, the instructions I got in my clutch freeplay correction kit stated that there should be a gap of 1/8" to 1/4". I have no idea how it's adjusted from the factory with the auto adjusting quadrant, but thinking back to my first clutch replacement, I had plenty of play to release the cable from the fork without first releasing the cable from the quadrant, so I'm guessing there was a gap.
1999 Mustang GT having shifting problems. Clutch or transmission?? 
