What does it mean when your 5 speed vehicle slips or pops out of 5th gear when you are driving?
Internal damage to a gear set.
Likely a bad synchronizer. If you want to fix it, it mostly means pulling the trans & overhauling. You can always drive around in 4th!
What if I need to drive over 60 miles per hour on the freeway? I still can’t do this in 4th gear correct?
It wasn’t too long ago that a lot of these little teeny cars only came with 4 speeds, and were expected to be doing highway speeds in 4th gear. In 4th at 60 what are the RPMs (if you have a tach)? Its probably not a big deal.
You can also figure this - if you do the math, how much time are you actually saving by driving 60 instead of say 55? It would take you about an hour/60 miles uninterrupted to make even a 5 minute difference.
You can drive over 60 in 4th, but you’ll see reduced gas mileage. If the rpm on the tach is getting close to 4,000 that’s about my limit.
If a driver has been shifting “clutchless” or perhaps slipping the trans out of 5th gear without the clutch as you approach stoplights that may have caused some wear and now it is slipping out of gear with no pressure on its own.
The tranny is showing its age and needs some internal work or a rebuild.
Rear bearing in the transmission. Take care of it or it’ll cost you more later.