I just bought a very nice 1999 Contour SVT with 17,000 miles on it. It has a stiff manual shifting problem on occasion. It seems to be more prevalent after a short drive of 5-10 miles. Typically, when restarting then pulling it into reverse with the clutch fully depressed, the force required to pull it into reverse is abnormally high. Not extremely high, just very noticable compared to normal.
I have noticed that if I switch the engine off, it slides into reverse easily. The other thing that I notice is that if I (on purpose) leave the clutch about 1" or so off the floor, I get the same difficult shift.
Any advice on this issue would be appreciated.
Thanks
