QuestionHi Ted, I have a 92 Toyota pickup with a 5 speed manual transmission. 172,000 miles. The transmission recently started popping out of fourth gear immediately after shifting into that gear. Then more recently, it started popping out of first gear when letting the clutch out. It really makes a good bang when popping out of first gear. Once the transmission goes into gear, if it does not pop out of gear, it stays in gear just fine.
Otherwise the transmission does'nt leak or make any grinding or whining noises.
Do you think that it might be something simple, like a synchro or shifting fork, or something major making a complete overhaul necessary? It appears that I am not the only one that has had this problem with the transmission. When I drained the transmission gear oil, the magnetic drain plug had very little metal in it. 3-4 small chips. At 120000 miles, I changed the trans oil and serviced with 85w90 GL-5 gear oil as specified in my factory service manual.
Thanks in advance for your help.
AnswerA common problem is that the shifter bushings disintegrate,remove the shift lever from the transmission,don't remove the 12mm bolts on the shift tower,press down and turn the retainer that holds the shifter in and the shifter will pop out, there are two bushings, one on the bottom of the shifter and one that goes around the opening,this one is probably gone, it's made out of teflon, so don't worry about the pieces that fell into the trans, if you're going to do this yourself, buy the parts from the dealer first so you will know what you are dealing with, make sure that all the broken bushing pieces are removed.
