T5 shift question

[hound dog]

I got a T5 trans. in another car (the brand of which I will not mention) that upshifts just fine. The problems occur when I try to downshift from 3rd to 2nd. The trans. won't let me in until the car speed reaches about 15-20 mph. I plan on using the car for some HPDE in NASA this year and the inability to downshift from 3rd to 2nd at around 40 mph is going to hurt. Is there a blocking ring or something in the trans. that's preventing it from downshifting?
h dog

[blykins]

Sounds like it might be a block ring or synchro hub....can you blip the throttle and get it in?

[hound dog]

Oops, just realized, wrong forum. Maybe someone can move this to the shop talk. Anyway, blykins, bliping the throttle doesn't help. Sometimes if I start towards 1st and then yank the #### out of it, it may go in. Not good for the tranny though I don't imagine.
h dog

[blykins]

Well if you've tried to match the revs when you downshift and that doesn't work....it sounds like an actual mechanical problem inside the tranny....not talking about a blocking ring problem or broken gear synchro teeth...but maybe a bent synchro key...Something that's physically forcing the synchronizer out. Could be a bent shifter fork too. Should be easy to spot if you got it apart.

Don't mean to sound anal or anything, but are you really giving it a good rev before you try to move the shifter? Sometimes the speed differential between the synchro hub / blocking ring and the gear itself is too great for it to just slip right in.

I have a buddy of mine that has a 2003 Mustang Cobra....I've seen him repeatedly running about 55-60, mash the brakes to turn into a driveway or something, get it down to about 25-30 in 3rd or 4th gear and then try to mash it up in 1st gear....then he wonders why it fights him so hard...he just keeps shoving harder. Stuff like that just irks me.

I'm not trying to say you're that inexperienced, but I'm trying to think of possibilities.

Has it been having this problem for awhile?

[hound dog]

Just bought the car last week, so I haven't got much experience with it. They won't let me run the cobra in NASA's HPDE because it only has the one roll bar. Maybe I haven't matched the RPMs with the T5 yet, but it seems to shift so easily after the speed comes down, no grinding or anything. I thought it may be something in the transmission blocking it above a certain speed. First T5 I've owned. I thought GM might be protecting their motors
h dog

[aumoore]

GM? Please tell me he did not say GM! Argh! My aching heart.

Hound Dog I would say you have a bad case of generalmotorssuxitis. The only know cure is to sit fire to the beast and hope that the infection does not spread to any of your blue oval vehicles.