Car dropping out of fifth gear
 

Hi everyone,

I drive a five-speed manual 2005 Accent and after driving on the highway for 15-20 minutes, the car drops out of fifth gear. If you put it back in fifth, it drops out 1-3 minutes.

Any ideas on what may be wrong?

In the meantime, before I get it fixed, is it OK to drive on the highway in fourth gear for periods of up to one hour? It seems like at 60 mph in fourth gear, I'm at about 3,500 RPMs.

As background, I had the clutch replaced about 8 months ago due to an unrelated issue. I have never had this dropping out of gear issue before. It just started a week ago.

Thanks for any help or advice you can offer.