5th gear pop out

[pudbrother]

my friends got an '88 wagon with the 3sfe engine 5spd...he said that while in 5th gear it will randomely pop out of gear. he asked me t find out why so i thought id get some ideas from you guys.

[JetspeedCamry]

Means the syncronisers in the gearset are gone for the particular gear. No way to fix this without rebuilding the box/changing the bad syncro.

[fredk]

the slider drum is walking off the edge of the gear, its wore ass out, mine does it too, wait till you got the cruise set and it hops out and floors the motor, it usually hops out under a good load so it winds up really quick, first time mine did it i was on a cross country trip and thought an axle hopped out of the trans, thank god for the fe rev limiter or i would of had motor parts all over Kansas, just push the clutch in and put it back into gear and go on

[TBayToyotaBoy]

Holy crap, I'd expect that on a well-used synchro like first or second, but fifth?!?! How much highway shifting has this car been through? I hope to god mine doesn't go...finding manual trannys for a six-banger is impossible...

[fredk]

its not the synchro ring, its the slider drum that catches the 2 gears and locks them together, the gears wobble, work their way out from under the slider drum and pop, the detent that the ball bearing on the shifter rod is probably getting wear and letting the gears push the drum off the edge, the s53 is such a marvel

[JetspeedCamry]

^ It can also be the syncronisers sir, got a 4 speed Ford Top Loader here that does that same thing in 3rd, and it's due to a bad syncro.

[ironpig]

There is a bushing under the shifter that can wear out and make the lever pop out of gear. Simple fix is to change the rubber bushing, shouldn't be too expensive.

[ss1670]

Ironpig -
You responded to the 5th gear pop out question. Was wondering if you're talking about a bushing in the base of the shifter or is this a bushing in the linkage itself? I have a 1989 with about 120K miles and suddenly starting popping out of 5th on me. Is this bushing a dealer item or can I buy a replacement at a hardware store?

There is a bushing under the shifter that can wear out and make the lever pop out of gear. Simple fix is to change the rubber bushing, shouldn't be too expensive.

[Dave88LX]

My 5th gear pops out all the time. I can feel the shifter pulling/pushing during accel/decel...so I'm hoping it's something simple like an engine mount. Haven't had a chance to look into it yet.

I looked at Auto Zone and Advanced Auto's websites yesterday, and it looks like there is one kind for auto and one kind fo rmanual trannys. Too many choices, once I look underhood, it might make more sense to me.

[drugal]

The 5spd tranny I just swapped in is doing the same thing. It's getting really annoying since I have to use 5th every day. One of the bushings on the shifter cable is worn right out though, and I might try changing the detent to see if that helps. Only 5th though, all the other gears are pretty tight.