Ford Ranger Gearbox & Transmission Problems

There was a recall for a batch of manual-transmission Rangers built between 2015 and 2016 which had a poorly installed clip on the gearshift cable on the production line. Your car is from an earlier batch, but it’s not inconceivable that the problem is the same one.

The cable clip in question could allow the cable that operates the gear changes to make contact with the car’s driveshaft. At that point, gear-changing could become difficult or even impossible, which sounds pretty much like your symptoms. Check with a Ford dealer to see if your vehicle was covered by this recall.

It’s very unlikely a workshop would replace a component it fitted two years and 25,000km ago for free. Spare parts and repairs come with warranties, but generally not over that period of time or mileage. In any case, it sounds more like the clutch or flywheel has failed, rather than the master or slave clutch cylinders.

This model Ranger had a dual-mass flywheel designed to make for smoother operation, but the design cold also lead to premature clutch wear. When that happened, difficulty in selecting gears was one of the symptoms. Some owners when faced with this problem, converted their vehicles to a conventional single-mass flywheel to get around the problem in the future.

There’s a fair bit going on in a Ranger’s all-wheel-drive driveline, so you can expect a bit more noise than that generated by a conventional car. It’s not uncommon, either, for one example of a car to be a bit noisier than another of the same make and model and this is all down to what’s called production tolerances where there might be slight differences in two otherwise identical components.

In the case of driveline noises, it’s often said that a noise is more of a concern when it’s heard all the time, not just at a particular speed or frequency. If the noise goes away below 80km/h and is gone by 90km/h, then it could easily be one of these transient noises that doesn’t signify much to worry about. Concern should set it, however, if these noises, their volume and/or their duration start to change or become more frequent. At that point, you can be pretty sure things are changing inside the driveline and that’s usually an early sign of components starting to wear. Keep and ear on things and if the noises change, have them checked out. If you’re still concerned, have a mechanic who knows these vehicles well take a ride in it at the problem speed and have them compare it with other Rangers.

While many car-makers now profess that their automatic transmission no longer need regular fluid changes, many mechanics believe there’s no harm in doing so and, in fact, there are benefits in doing so. They include reduced wear over time and the removal of any contaminants that might cause problems. Also, if a transmission has ever reached high temperatures, the fluid should be replaced.

The thing to know is there are two types of fluid change. In the simplest, the transmission fluid is drained, the filter changed and new fluid added. Inevitably, some of the old fluid will remain in the torque converter and other components. But a more complete approach is what’s called a fluid flush where new fluid is pumped through the entire transmission, purging it of all the old fluid. The full flush method is best practice and shouldn’t cost a lot more.

First instinct says the clutch is broken and not disengaging properly or at all. If that’s the case, the gearbox internals will be whirring around the whole time the engine is running and will not allow you to select a gear. If the clutch was working properly, you could disengage it, allow the gearbox internals to slow down and this would enable gear selection. That’s – very simply - kind of what a clutch does.

The fact that you can stop the engine (and, therefore, the bits inside the gearbox) select a gear and then restart the engine, also suggests that the clutch is worn or damaged and requires replacement.

Or you might be lucky and this is a simple case of the clutch hydraulics having failed. If that’s the case and the hydraulic system that links the clutch actuating arm to the clutch pedal inside the cabin has failed or seized up or run out of fluid, then you’ll get the same symptoms (because the clutch isn’t disengaging) but in a much cheaper to fix form.

The first thing to check is the level of hydraulic fluid in the clutch’s master cylinder under the bonnet. If it’s low or empty, you may have just found the culprit. Either way, these are sealed systems, so any loss of fluid suggests a leak somewhere. For the record, this model Ford Ranger did have a reputation for noisy clutch release bearings and problems with the clutch slave cylinder, the latter of which could certainly cause a fluid leak.

This could be caused by a range of things, but it’s also worth noting that this model was subject to a recall back in 2017 for a problem very, very similar to the one you’re experiencing. The recall involved Rangers built between June 5 2015 to February 12, 2016, so a check of the build date on your vehicle is the first step. A Ford dealer will also be able to tell from the VIN number whether the car was affected by the recall and if it’s been fixed as a result.

The problem involved a retaining clip that held the gear-shift cables. In some Rangers, this clip or clamp was not tightened sufficiently, and could allow the cables to make contact with the vehicle’s driveshaft. Over time, this contact could damage the gear-shift cables as well as the actual driveshaft. Difficulty in changing gears was one of the tell-tale symptoms.

Beyond that possibility, you need to check the shifter mechanism (including the cables) and maybe even dig into the transmission itself if nothing is wrong externally.

In very early-build examples of the Ranger (from 2011 and 2012) there was a problem with the gearbox output-shaft speed sensor that could cause the transmission to shift back to first gear with a distinct clunk. While it’s generally accepted that this was fixed as time passed, it sounds too much like the same problem to ignore a check of this sensor as part of any investigation.

And guess what? The sensor fault was found to be an intermittent one, just like your experience suggests. I’d have the sensor checked and work from there.

There have been plenty of complaints over this transmission, and a lot of them have been traced back to the valve body separator plate which, from the sound of things, has been replaced on your vehicle. However, was it replaced with a new part or a second-hand one sourced from another vehicle? Was the work done by a Ford dealership or a transmission specialist or a general workshop?

It’s not so likely to be the wiring that’s at fault. Wiring tends to either conduct electricity or it doesn’t. But that doesn’t mean the computer that controls the transmission wasn’t damaged when the loom was burned. Fundamentally, the symptoms you’re experiencing could be from any (or all of) the causes you’ve suggested. Valve bodies, torque converters, electronic control units and gearbox internals all have to be working in perfect harmony in a modern automatic transmission. One little problem with any of those systems can cause all sorts of shifting problems. I’d take the vehicle to a transmission specialist who will be able to – hopefully – diagnose the exact cause of the harsh downshifts and do something about it.

There have been plenty of complaints over this transmission, and a lot of them have been traced back to the valve body separator plate which, from the sound of things, has been replaced on your vehicle. However, was it replaced with a new part or a second-hand one sourced from another vehicle? Was the work done by a Ford dealership or a transmission specialist or a general workshop?

It's not so likely to be the wiring that's at fault. Wiring tends to either conduct electricity or it doesn't. But that doesn't mean the computer that controls the transmission wasn't damaged when the loom was burned. Fundamentally, the symptoms you're experiencing could be from any (or all of) the causes you've suggested. Valve bodies, torque converters, electronic control units and gearbox internals all have to be working in perfect harmony in a modern automatic transmission. One little problem with any of those systems can cause all sorts of shifting problems. I'd take the vehicle to a transmission specialist who will be able to – hopefully – diagnose the exact cause of the harsh downshifts and do something about it.

If you talk to automatic transmission specialists, you’ll soon be told that it’s impossible to over-cool such a gearbox. An aftermarket transmission cooler is designed to work in conjunction with the vehicle’s standard transmission cooling system, so disabling the standard cooler is probably not a great idea.

The problem with coolant entering the transmission is not an unknown one with some Ford (and other manufacturer’s) models and occurs when the standard cooler fails, allowing coolant into the gearbox and destroying the electronics and the gearbox hardware in short order. Unfortunately, this is a design thing rather than a maintenance issue, so the best thing you can do is service the vehicle regularly and make sure that the coolant is changed regularly. Even then, however, swarf from the production process (according to one theory at least) has been known to circulate through the radiator and cause damage to the piping that forms the transmission cooler. A radiator clean and flush might help stave off this process.

If the manufacturer of the aftermarket cooler you’ve fitted can guarantee that the unit will cool at least as effectively as the standard unit on the Ranger, then you might consider disconnecting the standard cooler. Even so, you’d be wise to keep an eye on transmission temperatures, particularly if you tow anything or travel at high speed in high ambient temperatures.