First instinct says the clutch is broken and not disengaging properly or at all. If that’s the case, the gearbox internals will be whirring around the whole time the engine is running and will not allow you to select a gear. If the clutch was working properly, you could disengage it, allow the gearbox internals to slow down and this would enable gear selection. That’s – very simply - kind of what a clutch does.

The fact that you can stop the engine (and, therefore, the bits inside the gearbox) select a gear and then restart the engine, also suggests that the clutch is worn or damaged and requires replacement.

Or you might be lucky and this is a simple case of the clutch hydraulics having failed. If that’s the case and the hydraulic system that links the clutch actuating arm to the clutch pedal inside the cabin has failed or seized up or run out of fluid, then you’ll get the same symptoms (because the clutch isn’t disengaging) but in a much cheaper to fix form.

The first thing to check is the level of hydraulic fluid in the clutch’s master cylinder under the bonnet. If it’s low or empty, you may have just found the culprit. Either way, these are sealed systems, so any loss of fluid suggests a leak somewhere. For the record, this model Ford Ranger did have a reputation for noisy clutch release bearings and problems with the clutch slave cylinder, the latter of which could certainly cause a fluid leak.

Ford's popular PX Ranger (sold from 2011 until its replacement in 2022) marked a distinct move away from timing belt technology, but prior to that, the Mazda-sourced engine in your vehicle uses a rubber toothed timing belt. As such, this belt and its tensioners and idlers require replacement at regular intervals.

The recommended belt-change interval for this engine is 120,000km or six years, whichever comes first.

There’s a school of thought out there that says you shouldn’t tow anything heavy in an overdrive gear (such as fifth gear in your Ranger). That’s because the extra load of the trailer places huge stresses on the transmission via the gearing of that overdriven gear.

In the real world, the best advice is to avoid going uphill or into a headwind in overdrive, saving that fifth gear for downhill or flat running where you’re not loading the gearbox too much. You also need to be travelling at a speed where the vehicle is comfortable in fifth, not lugging along at low revs. This applies also to a four-speed automatic with an overdriven fourth gear, not just manual transmissions. Use the overdrive lock-out button to force the transmission back to third gear where it will be happier and less likely to be damaged. Be aware, too, that modern transmissions with six (or more gears) often have both fifth and sixth gear overdriven, not just the top ratio.