Manual Trans. Thud when shifting

[whokilledkaji]

I have been paying attention and am fairly confident temp. has to do with it. We haven't had many cold days recently in SoCal and the first few months I had the vehicle it was pretty warm out 24/7 (I did not notice any of these issues at all). Not saying you shouldn't check it out -- but you may be a bit on the paranoid side about it which is why it ruins your experience and you should try not thinking about it. Is it typically cold where you are at? See below for my other reply regarding warming up..

Yeah... I was probably being a bit paranoid, especially since for a while I thought it was user error on my part...

I live in Michigan which is pretty darn cold most of the time.
I'll pay more attention to the temp and let the car warm up a little more.

On another note, I see some people recommending Barton/MGW shifters, Blowfish/Steeda brackets... Do these make the issue better?
(I did kinda want an aftermarket shifter. Maybe a good excuse to get one?)

Sponsored

 

[Steeeliskt]

Yeah... I was probably being a bit paranoid, especially since for a while I thought it was user error on my part...

I live in Michigan which is pretty darn cold most of the time.
I'll pay more attention to the temp and let the car warm up a little more.

On another note, I see some people recommending Barton/MGW shifters, Blowfish/Steeda brackets... Do these make the issue better?
(I did kinda want an aftermarket shifter. Maybe a good excuse to get one?)

I have not used any of those but have heard good things about them. You could always try it and if you don't like it, switch it back. Just let us know how you like it and if any changes should you move forward with it!

 

[MSMStannyl]

While I have been experiencing the thud issue with my car from day one, I had a couple concerning incidents in recent weeks. I'm nearing 14,000 miles on my GT. I definitely have been feeling the notchiness in shifting that many are complaining about, however twice now, I have been unable to shift into 1st gear from a stop! Very strange and worrisome!

In both cases, I came up to a red light. As usual, I put the clutch in and put the car in neutral and let the clutch out while waiting. Once the light turned green, I put the clutch in and went to 1st but could not get in. It got to the point where I was holding up the lane so I just gave up and went to 2nd. It was fine after that until the next incident a day or two later which again seemed to be a one time thing. Haven't experienced it since but it's only been a few days.

Car is on all original, stock fluids in the tranny, diff, etc. (just oil changes).

 

[redline727]

While I have been experiencing the thud issue with my car from day one, I had a couple concerning incidents in recent weeks. I'm nearing 14,000 miles on my GT. I definitely have been feeling the notchiness in shifting that many are complaining about, however twice now, I have been unable to shift into 1st gear from a stop! Very strange and worrisome!

In both cases, I came up to a red light. As usual, I put the clutch in and put the car in neutral and let the clutch out while waiting. Once the light turned green, I put the clutch in and went to 1st but could not get in. It got to the point where I was holding up the lane so I just gave up and went to 2nd. It was fine after that until the next incident a day or two later which again seemed to be a one time thing. Haven't experienced it since but it's only been a few days.

Car is on all original, stock fluids in the tranny, diff, etc. (just oil changes).

Any grinding or anything or just completely wouldn't let you in the gate? I have had this happen on other cars before but not either of my mustangs. No grinding just locked out of first and had it happen in reverse before too. All I would do was go into another gear before selecting first or reverse and it would be fine. Completely random. Unfortunately it was on older cars with transverse engines so not really going to be similar when trying to narrow down possible causes for you. I would think shift linkage or slave cylinder adjustment on those cars. One of them was my 91 Eclipse and you could actually buy an extended piston for the slave cylinder because with wear it wouldn't make proper contact for engagement. But completely different designs compared to the Mustang.

 

[jkstang78]

What did you take out? Clutch spring?

Posted in wrong thread sorry. Must have hit the wrong thread on my phone

 

[fogus]

Posted in wrong thread sorry. Must have hit the wrong thread on my phone

What thread? I'm curious about what you did. If love to experiment with this.

 

[WeinerDog]

I guess like most everyone else, I've decided the "thud" isn't going to keep me from enjoying the car. I don't even notice it now with the windows up and with them down, I still hear it sometimes, just don't care...much.

Advice here about exhaust is good. It's not loud, but since I did the H-pipe resonator delete, it sounds so good I guess I focus on that rather than the thud.

 

[fogus]

I guess like most everyone else, I've decided the "thud" isn't going to keep me from enjoying the car. I don't even notice it now with the windows up and with them down, I still hear it sometimes, just don't care...much.

Advice here about exhaust is good. It's not loud, but since I did the H-pipe resonator delete, it sounds so good I guess I focus on that rather than the thud.

It's not really the noise that bothers me. It's the jolt feeling and the fact that the sick doesn't go in smoothly. The noise I can live with.

 

[WeinerDog]

It's not really the noise that bothers me. It's the jolt feeling and the fact that the sick doesn't go in smoothly. The noise I can live with.

I have no issues from a performance standpoint, shifts are very smooth.

 

[fogus]

I've noticed that it almost never (never?) happens when I push the stick in slowly and allow the synchros to merge the gears.

Does anyone else notice that? I wonder if double clutching would be a workaround.

 

[Genxer]

I've noticed that it almost never (never?) happens when I push the stick in slowly and allow the synchros to merge the gears.

Does anyone else notice that? I wonder if double clutching would be a workaround.

Neutral to 1st, slow is definitely better. After the car warms up, sometimes quicker shifts are better. Leaving my neighborhood first thing in the morning, I always ease into the 1-2 shift. After warm all is well.

 

[5ABI VT]

In my opinion it's just unacceptable in this day and age. I've been driving my c4 ZR-1 a lot back to back the last several days and every time I get back into the mustang it's a much more noticeable thud. The zf6 is rated higher than the mt82 and that motor spins 7800 all day long and any gear any rpm , 100% silent gear shifts. 25 year old platform. To me this this is the only thing I'm not happy about with this car. So far all my friends who have driven it have commented about it right away.

Ford is just lucky it's not something we can video tape and record or you'd probably see tons of complaints on YouTube etc. I think people need to try and get together and have something done about it.

 

[redline727]

I think it's just minor drive train shock. They must have done something internally to the trans for 2015+ bc I didn't have this on my 13. Maybe I'm being optimistic but maybe they really did beef it up a little. I only notice the thud going into first when at a dead stand still. If the car is in a slight roll forward it is non existent so that tells me the thud is from a slight jolt through the back of the trans through the driveshaft from first gear catching. When the car is slightly rolling that jolt is absorbed because the drive line is already turning that way. A lot of vehicle's are equipped with driveshaft flex joints to absorb this shock. Ford did not utilize one on the s197 but still some how didn't have this thud. They are essentially giant rubber bushings inbetween the rear of the trans and the driveshaft. At BMW I learned them as Giubos (a combo of the Italian word for coupling and the guy that designed it) and look like this.

And this is what they look like worn. And can get much worse.

If you come into my work with a complaint like we have on our cars on a BMW this is typically what gets replaced first. Bc it's worn and not absorbing the shock anymore, same goes for BMW autos when popping into D or R.

My 13 was a solid mount driveshaft. But didn't have this issue. The 15+ ADDED a flex joint to which it's whole purpose is to reduce drive line vibration. But we still get this thud. So the only thing I can think of is that they may have changed is the transmission internals. Why else add it if it wasn't a problem before. Maybe since Ford took years of abuse for the MT82 being weak. And GETRAG makes tons of other transmissions for many different OEM's (worlds largest I hear) so the design capability must be there, maybe they finally used them to make the trans stronger but the thud was a side affect. So the giubo was added to help it. But just not make it go away. Ford is American, Getrag is German, and the MT82 was made in China??? I mean WTF? Weird recipe but, the potential was there though.

Also think about this. Anyone ever hear a dogbox transmission hit first??? I know apples and oranges with the MT82. But the thud doesn't mean something is wrong necessarily. And if anything changes in the future it will probably be a redesign of the flex joint with a softer durometer to make it absorb the thud better. Which then the after market will have to make an upgraded poly/billet version that will add NVH back, but won't grenade for higher HP applications like on BMW. So it will be a cycle until the MT82 is gone. But Ford is in this joint venture with GETRAG so who knows if a different/better trans will happen at our price point we like our GT's at.

Sorry for the long post. Just my thoughts.

 

[mustang_guy]

l hate the guibo. I replaced one on an m5 on friday.

 

[Asharus]

havent seen one of those since my 1992 325i, or was that my 1992 525i

Sponsored