shifting problems

hey all, i'm having shifting problems in my 01 trd v6 5-speed. moving the shifter into gears is hard to do, 1st being the hardest, 2nd a bit smoother, and 3rd smoother still and so on. this problems is worst when first starting off in the morning and only showed up as the weather got cold this fall. there are no grinding noises of any kind and if doesn't feel like i'm hurting anything when i shift, but sometimes it takes a fair bit of effort to shift into first and second. any thoughts would be appreciated.
cheers

 

my best advice to you is gonna be for you to do a drain and fill of you clutch fluid with some mobil1 mt90.........synthetic................and should make shifting easier and smoother. especially when its cold......sunthetic will flow alot better than conventional.

 

Sounds like you might have a problem with the transmission fluid being too thick due to the cold weather do you know what fluid you have in it ?

 

had it in at the garage about a month ago and they thought it could be the trany fluid so thats been changed, i believe it was 75w90 synthetic gear oil, i'll have to try the clutch fluid as well, but with the amunt of force needed to change gears i can't see it really being a fluid issue, but i'll try anyway. good news is if it is a tranny issue it's under warranty

 

Watch this....... LOL someone dident proof read! You should only need to change your clutch fluid if its black so just check it and make sure its up to the line, and you use Brake Fluid! MT90 is Redline Trans Oil.

 

Dident mean to come accross as a dick, Im very smartA$$'ish sometime I guess my txt comes across like that, I do appologize.

 

think i may have found the problem, found a small amount of brake fluid at the connector of one end of the flex line that goes from the body to the tranny and on to the clutch release cylinder, so gonna change out that line and give the system a bleed and see how that goes, be nice if it was actually this simple of a fix

 

yeah that could be it, pull the boot back on the slave cylinder too that can hold fluid, its the slave is bad.

 

yep....didnt proof read come on amn.....i am from south carolina!!!

appreciate that Chris!!

yeah.....im kinda smartass-ish too................its across and apologize!!

 

glad you have a sense of humor.

 

man......ya gotta have a sense of humor these days!! no harm/no foul!

 

I'd start by changing the clutch fluid (DOT 3) if it has a brown or green color to it. Brown is dirty and green has too much copper content in it. A change and a simple bleed job might do the trick. If that doesn't help, then a clutch adjustment or even a new plate might be in order.

 

alright i changed the clutch hose and bled the system, the fluid was horrible, very dark green/brown and thick. everything went well, the hose definitly needed changing, but when i took it for a test drive nothing had changed, i figured just by the state of the fluid that it would've made a difference, but none. while i was bleeding the system i did notice that the slave cylinder was squeaking a lot, maybe it's to blame? i always understood that a bad slave was evident when it was leaking fluid but mine is bone dry. any suggestions?

 

The noise you are probably hearing is where the slave cylinder rod pushes against the clutch fork it will make a dry squeaking noise when its dry the cylinder is probably still good if it has no leaks . You can pull the clutch fork rubber boot back and spray a little lube on the fork itself.

 

alright so i reflushed the system just for the hell of it and adjusted the clutch pedal height and play so that i get as much push from the pedal as possible and it actually made a difference. it's still not great but it's mainly on downshifts that it's difficult now. so now i'm thinking do i just go ahead and change out the master cylinder or is it unlikely to be the problem? it seems i may be out of options other than getting the clutch replaced.

 

It might just be worn syncros in the clutch that are causing the problem. How many miles are on your truck? My clutch is old but if I double clutch the gears it will shift smoothly. I've only had to do this when it gets cold outside(like below 20) and it's always only been for 1st, 2nd, or reverse gears.

 

isn't the syncros in the tanny? and i have 135 000 miles, i have no idea how old the clutch is. when i bought it, it didn't come with much service history after it's warranty ran out. the clutch seems fine otherwise, no noticeable slipping.

 

yes the syncros are in the tranny but I don't think you should be having any problems with them at 135k. If shifting becomes smooth through double clutching and there isn't any odd smells, sounds, or problems getting stuck in gear... I do not think your clutch is going bad it may just be getting stiff from colder weather but if it gets worse or becomes a major concern I would recommend having it checked out. hope this helps at least a little bit.