Fiesta poor downshift to 1st

Are there any special tools I need to disassemble the mainshaft assembly to get to the 1st gear synchro? I suspect there may be a spring loaded ball bearing that is part of that 1st gear synchro assembly and that is what is causing 1st gear to pop out of gear sometimes. It would pop out with a bang until I developed a sense of when it would happen and just take off in 2nd.

I would not be surprised if the synchro rings did not show much wear. I could shift into 1st at a crawl with no grinding.

I get what you're telling me. That piece in the picture moves smoothly. No slop. All those external linkage parts move nicely.

I took the transmission apart. Very clean. Very little filings on the magnet. Just about no wear on the parts. Bearings feel good. I noticed that when I moved the 1st/2nd synchro assy back and forth that one of those 3 rectangular pieces (dogs?) did not always move along with the other 2.

I took apart the main shaft assy. I then took apart the 1st/2nd synchro assy. See picture. Those 3 pieces reside inside the synchro hub and are held in place by a semicircular spring on either side. I don't know how to assess how good those springs are.

I had a lot of fun getting the 3 circlips off of the main shaft. Is there a source for new ones?

Try this FoMoCo String...
FoMoCo 7s6r-7c115-aa

In your search engine, you'll come up with the 1-2 syncro - but to find a rebuild kit? Not sure...I get some hits but you'll need to take it from here...

So you know, the teeth do show some considerable wear on the face - and the brass of the syncro gearing took most of the beating and since it was soft, shows the blunting of their edges - so the tranny needs some service but not sure what kind of wear abuse this was - if it came straight from the factory this way or did someone get cute with it and used a far thinner fluid like Dextron LV? Light loads it's - not a bad idea but this is a manual and uses the gearset to move oil to press into the surfaces.

Ford claims there is not a rebuild kit. I don't think there is considerable wear. If there was, where's the filings? Just a tiny amount on the magnet. Would be nice to see a picture of new gears for comparison. The fluid was what ever was put in it at the factory when I bought it new. I am considering buying the 1st/2nd synchro unit as I can't figure out why it would intermittently pop out of 1st on take off. If it stayed in 1st I could apply full throttle and it would stay in gear. I suspect it has something to do with those 3 things in the synchro's hub that are held in by those 2 springs. I did notice that one of them would sometimes not move the same as the others. Maybe something to do with that those springs. I would try moving the shifter back and forth several times and then 1st would hold.

Ordered the synchro unit from a Ford dealer. It is an updated one for my car. I am now on the hunt for the 3 circlips ford P/N E860141S (HR2), E860146S (HR3), and E860303S100 (HR4). forget ford terminology for them.

Its not what you look for in filings, it is also in assembly...



The Ring that the syncro uses to mesh with the teeth was lifted, you don't find filings - more like bits of metal by the or in the magnet by the trans-axle side.

The battering is brass so the magnet wont catch it. You even have rust in there.

This can deform the ring so it "torques off" every time you apply power.

Ford and their wonderful network of dealers take in these guys and send back to several different sites or "factories" that do this rebuild in-house.

Lots of times the transmission is simply inspected and little is done except like the battered tooth of a syncro - they get replaced because the heavy iron of the other gears usually does not show enough wear to need replacement - just refitted.

So you know, Delco and GM are also doing this too to their lineups, so the technology that goes into them, stays with them.

This approach is being applied to many of the 3-rd party networks that offer suppliers their parts. They no longer see the finished product, just their part of the work is what is seen at their shops - the rest is "put together" in a fashion that if they are all the same, and it goes together this way, than all the pieces of this puzzle are going together to work as one unit so it's assembled and the others never see the works of all those other suppliers until you see the finished product.

I'm glad you're finding a workaround - for it looks like in some instances you may need to visit a wreck-yard to pull off their transmission to find viable parts inside them to make it work.

It's why I asked about the Limited Slip Differential - that technology is what many desire in an ST unit - so if you're into sporty things...

In another thread we bash about the topic of changing differential gear ratios to make these things work better. Why? For those ratios are what provides longer gearing in automatics. That ratio is what gives the "auto" the long term gas-saving - but when applied to manual the direct connect conversion generates several issues including downshifting 2 gears to accelerate.

A thread can be found here
https://www.fordfiesta.org/threads/tire-size.9166/post-25442
https://www.fordfiesta.org/threads/...-to-euro-spec-zetec-s-st-line.5602/post-13514

• - there are more about it - look for Differential gear in your search box including long term posts from earlier participants which makes a worthwhile read.