I have noticed something over the past few months in my old '91 Ford Ranger: the shifter knob feels kind of sloppy. It’s hard to pinpoint when it happened since I rarely drive the vehicle.
It’s a sort of left-to-right slop, about two inches. Other than this, all is well.
Is this just a feature of aging manual transmissions?
What illnesses could cause such a symptom?
Is some attachment slowly working itself loose, to fall off some day when I am in an icky part of Newark? If so, where would I find this attachment?
Almost certainly there are some loose, worn, or broken parts in the transmission’s shifter, where the shift lever pivots in its housing. The first thing to do is to remove the shift lever from the tranny and inspect that area. While it won’t necessarily get to the point where shifting is impossible, it likely would not be very expensive to repair it so it works properly.
On 2.3L manual Rangers (at least some models), there’s a plastic cup on the bottom end of the shift lever that breaks and will cause slop. Remove the dust boot, remove the four bolts that hold the shifter in the transmission and pull up. The cup should go over the ball on the end of the shift lever. I think it’s a five-dollar part.
I wish I could remember the details (6 years since I sold my '88 Ranger), but this is a common problem. I think it’s more than a minor fix. If you talk to a good repair shop or a Ford mechanic he can fill you in. The transmission is, unfortunately, the weak link in these trucks.
Nothing to add except that I stalled my friend’s old '84 Honda at the lights because I’d forgotten what gear I was in, so I moved the stick, and it went for miles as if I were in neutral. It was actually in third.
Anyway, I would rather not involve a mechanic if it is something I can check out on my own because I don’t know a mechanic who would not salivate at the mention of the word “transmission”.