What could be wrong if a 1997 Ford Ranger with manual transmission will start and shift into gear but won't move?

Answer 1

It sounds like it may be low on fluid, or maybe a dirty filter. Depending on how the vehicle is operated (Hot Roddded, Lead Foot, etc.) it could even be the clutches. The best way to find out is to pull the dipstick and check the fluid. This is while the engine is running, the vehicle is warmed up, and in park, on level ground. Pull the dipstick out, and wipe it off on white paper towels. Does it look brown? If so, this would be a danger sign letting you know that the transmission needs to be rebuilt, or replaced. If the fluid is red, almost a candy color red, then the transmission is probably ok, but the fluid is probably low. Put the stick back in, and pull it back out again. See where the fluid level is on the stick. There are two marks, and it should fall somewhere in between, if not, closer to the upper mark. If that is ok, then you need to find a trustworthy shop, or a friend that knows how to change transmission filters, because this would be your next step. If the fluid is low, have some put in to see if that fixes your problem. Then find the leak.

Answer 2

It sounds as if the rearend fell apart. There is a lock inside the rearend, it breaks (quite common)and then the shaft and spider gears fall off, and then you are stuck. To know for sure, you need somebody to crawl under and look to see if the driveshaft is rotating while you have it in gear, idling, and the emergency brake set. If this is the case, then it will be the rear end.

Answer 3

If it is an automatic transmission then your reverse clutch pack is probably burnt out in which case your transmission needs to be rebuilt If it it a manual transmission and it wont go into the reverse gear it is probably a shift synchronizer.

Answer 4

The technical terms that should be used here are not known to me. So the following suggestion is going to be a tad fuzzy to follow. But see if that makes sense to you: Imagine that the gear-stick presents, to the mighty fluid jet that drives the fan-looking drive wheel linked to the drive shaft, different jet-handling sections internally machined as channeling elbows of different calibers and/or directions, mounted sequentially on/in a common rod/track/sleeve. If that is the case, and if the prescribed mounting sequence for the drive- and reverse- sections (which by the way may look pretty much the same externally but for some probably not very conspicuous ID No. or markings) has been permuted through sloppy work, poor communication/instruction, and left that way by quality inspectors that work like Homer, that's the embarrassing result we could expect... (well, whatever the answer is: so much for TQC at Ford Motors!... and this, nearly 50 years after Demmings' leg-up to the Japanese industry.) ----------------- After-thought comment: The above description might fit the drive mechanism for a power station steam/hydraulic turbine but would cost far too much in energy generation and waste of it, and could not adapt the constant stop and go pattern of driving. So back to square one, and sorry for wasting your time folks. This needs a complete rethink. Q#1: how does a fluid transmission box works? (speculating here:) System has to be based on the of a viscous medium, and of whatever parts are reacting in it. Even if must be used as much as it is in a clutch, in this case it must be exerted indirectly via the fluid medium, not through contact. How to maximize that friction? a lot of the clutch structure may be borrowed here: with a central brooch of parallel impellers linked to the engine shaft, closely interleaved with a series of impelled static padddle wheel plates crown-linked to a outer sleeve that contains them. Q#0: original question still not addressed. got to go, now. will get back to this later... mmbrunet42@optusnet.com.au

Answer 5

Tranny is shot.
The reverse gear in your transmission had burned out

Answer 6

Shift linakge out of adjustment or transmission needs a rebuild