Manual 5 speed jumps out of 5th?

[Elkins45]

The neighbor’s Corolla has to be held in 5th gear or it jumps into neutral. He says 1-4 are fine, only 5th is affected. It’s a 2010 with a bunch of miles so he’s wondering it might be something simple? He’s probably not willing to spend a whole lot if it needs a new transmission.

He knows I mess around with cars a bit and asked me if I could do a transmission swap for him. After I stopped laughing I told him the only way I would try it is if he’s willing for me to completely destroy it. I told him when (not if) I failed I would be willing to take it to the scrapyard for him at no cost LOL.

What’s the most likely failure to cause a manual transmission to jump out of gear?

 

[Dr_Dr3i]

Worn out 5th gear; very common on VW manuals back in my day, especially those with lots of highway miles.

On some VWs, you could remove the driver's side front wheel, take off a cover and replace the 5th gear itself.

Not sure what the remedy for a Corolla is, other than a trans swap with a much lower mileage good unit. Might as well do a new clutch while you're in there...

 

[ceecbtg]

Very usual in Corolla petrol and D4D, "easy" to repair from side cover changing 5th kit.

 

[Rmay635703]

That’s a universal Honda problem, at best needs a rebuild because a bearing/bushing is worn letting things move.

Worst case not rebuildable, in some situations the case or castings are worn

 

[Speedbird001]

My ~89 Jetta did that in 2nd. Started -100k miles only doing it on hard left turns then got worse for maybe another 15k before it grenaded.

 

[JRay’07]

Rounded off clutch teeth on the synchronizer assembly can cause those symptoms. Other possible culprits include shift linkage problems or worn motor and transmission mounts that affect shift linkage operation.

 

[Chris142]

Rounded off clutch teeth on the synchronizer assembly can cause those symptoms.

Huh? Who told you that? A synchronizers job is to make the gears match speed so they don't grind when engaged. They have nothing to do with holding a transmission in gear.

It's likely a broken/ weak spring that holds the detent ball in its detent.

 

[JRay’07]

Huh? Who told you that? A synchronizers job is to make the gears match speed so they don't grind when engaged. They have nothing to do with holding a transmission in gear.

It's likely a broken/ weak spring that holds the detent ball in its detent.

An instructor at a community college who specialized in transmission repair.

 

[ecotourist]

My friend replaced 5th gear on his Honda Prelude on a Saturday morning before lunch. I was amazed. It was under a side cover.

 

[meep]

Me ex BIL had this problem with a similar era Chevy prism (same car). He cut a broomstick to length to prop it in 5th.

 

[Rmay635703]

Rounded off clutch teeth on the synchronizer assembly can cause those symptoms. Other possible culprits include shift linkage problems or worn motor and transmission mounts that affect shift linkage operation.

Which is also a Honda problem

 

[slacktide_bitog]

older Nissans liked to pop out of 5th if you kept your hand on the shifter

 

[JRay’07]

Which is also a Honda problem

If you actually read this thread you would have noticed that VW, Chevy, Nissan and Toyota vehicles have also been mentioned. The basic design of a manual transmission is not unique to Honda.

 

[Rmay635703]

If you actually read this thread you would have noticed that VW, Chevy, Nissan and Toyota vehicles have also been mentioned. The basic design of a manual transmission is not unique to Honda.

I like to quote the 2000-2006 Honda Insight manual transmissions as a good example of why Honda seems to have the pop out of gear issues more often and at lower mileage.

Many Honda 5mt’s have similar or even identical designs to the insight and suffer similar issues down the road.

I’ve owned many manuals and Hondas are the only ones that can start popping out of gear as early as 100k.
I’ve had other cars that go 300-400k on the same clutch never having to touch anything so there is a big difference between models

 

[Exhaustgases]

Constant wear due to loading on the splines, can make a sort of angle that tends to push the collar out of engagement.
Seen it on big truck roadrangers back in the day.

 

[Delta1]

I would check the linkages first, then motor mounts, then suspect the transaxle.
My 06 Saturn has been popping out of 5th for the past 70k miles under light load, but I'm used to it now and it's somehow not getting any worse so I have chosen to mostly ignore it....

 

[KrisZ]

It's not a simple fix. Maybe if you live in Europe where manuals are still the majority of cars on the roads, but not in US.