Slipping out of fourth gear (sometimes second)

I've searched around the boards a little but mostly what I've found on this is ones still in warranty so the short answer is always "take it to the dealer".

I've got a 2002 Taco 2.4L 5-speed with 75K miles that has recently been slipping out of fourth gear (and very few times second gear).

Basically when I put it in fourth and release the clutch it just gently slips out and grinds gently. Most times if I put it back in third and then fourth again it will stay, but sometimes it takes a couple of times doing this because it stays.

Anyone see this particular issue and have any opinions?

synchros need to be adjusted?
bushings on the shift tower?

Or just need new clutch? To my knowledge this is the original clutch.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike

 

I would assume it has the original shifter?

Does it have a body lift?

I would remove all the shifter covers and inspect the *throw* of the shifter. Make sure it has enough room to fully engage on the bottom half. Perhaps something came loose? If you think you need to adjust the 'throw' - do some more research on this, as I'm only familiar with what I've done on our vette shifter (we installed a B&M). It can get technical and mess something up if you don't adjust it properly.

If you have a body lift - that can also inhibit the throw a bit. I had to cut some of my inner shifter boots on my jeep to allow the shifter to engage fully on the bottom half.

...and last but not least....that could be a sign that your transmission is going out.

 

Do you leave the truck in 4th alot (like delay upshifting to 5th for city driving or anything)?? Or did you grind gears often learning the truck??

It's possible that the throw is off from use/regular- but that sounds like you might have a thrashed gear or syncro in 4th gear.

I think that taking the covers off and looking at how everything is moving and where things go bump is a good start. Good luck!!

 

Thanks for the replies guys. Let me address some of the questions so I'll get more accurate replies:

I would assume it has the original shifter?
Yes it is.

Does it have a body lift?
No


Do you leave the truck in 4th alot (like delay upshifting to 5th for city driving or anything)??
This one's hard to answer because of my driving distances. When I do over 40mph it's in 5th...even on the street (vs. the highway), but sometimes I have left it in fourth when the revs are low enough. Although this is for a total of, say, 2-3 minutes on a 30 minute commute.


did you grind gears often learning the truck??
Not really on this one. I got the truck well into my 20th year of driving manual transmissions, so if I'm still grinding gears then I need to skip the automatics and just go straight to a scooter.


All this being said, does anyone have any good and trustworthy mechanic in the South Florida area?. I've done some work on my 99 Z28 and '02 Z06 in the past, but now-a-days my hobby time isn't what it used to be. So I'd just rather have someone look at it.

Thanks,
Mike

 

I wasn't cracking on your driving btw- Just asking to try to pinpoint.

 

My corolla started doing that after I had the tranny replaced with a used one. Ended up swapping it for a second used one and the problem went away. Not sure what the problem was exactly, but since I had a 90 day warranty i got it swapped.

 

Actually I never thought you were. That's a normal question to ask...I was trying to be funny in my reply...I failed


I guess I'll have to try my luck with a local mechanic and hope it's not the tranny. I just never figured I'd be replacing a tranny on a Toyota at 75K...These things are supposed to be good for millions of miles

 

I can see the funny- Sarcasam is hard to read over the internet. It's all good...Good luck with your local mech.