Help Needed - T56 Slips Out of 3rd

[HotWheelsNutty]

Hopefully someone out there can help me. Just bought my 03 Cobra and I am having a problem where the transmission slips out of 3rd gear when coasting down - little to no load.

I am pretty sure it is the shifter boot that bolts to the floor pan that is the culprit - pulled the leather boot, the inner boot, and the smaller boot on the top of the trans around the shifter and the problem went away. So it does not appear to be an internal transmission problem. The inner boot that bolts to the floor has a very stiff rubber boot - it is essentially brand new and looks like it has enough tension to pull it out of gear when coasting down.

So has anyone else encountered this? Should I try to buy another inner boot and hope that it is more flexible or trim part of the one I have away?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Cheers,
Tim

 

[metaman]

The rubber boot should never cause the shifter to pop out of gear. Is it an aftermarket shifter? If it is then take a look at the stop bolts that are on most shifters. Either remove them or back them all the way out. They are not needed with the T56.

 

[HotWheelsNutty]

It is the stock shifter - so no stop bolts to adjust. I would think that if the boot can generate sufficient force on the shifter arm then it would be possible to push the transmission out of gear, especially under coast down conditions where there is little or no forces on the gears inside the trans.

As noted in my original post - with all the boots removed - upper, inner, and dust boot there were no problems with slipping out of gear.

I still believe the inner boot is way too stiff for what it is supposed to do functionally - keep the outside environment/noise out of the passenger compartment. I will add that my 2001 Mustang service manual has a section on troubleshooting manual transmission problems and the first item covers boots that are too stiff - says to replace with one that is not as stiff.

Just not sure there would be any significant difference from one factory piece to another.

Are there any aftermarket manufactures of these?

Thanks,
Tim