5th Gear Grinding
 

I've had my 2005 rx8 for a little over 2 months, and just shy of 3,000 miles which puts me in the powertrain warranty that the dealership gave me. When I shift into 5th gear at highway speeds and sometimes only like 45mph it grinds into it and is slightly resistant to go, but it will go into gear. The dealer I bought from has a mazda dealership as well as the pre owned lot I bought from, I am taking it to their mazda service department this thursday. Does anybody else have this problem, and what should I expect.

Well, it's not a normal problem, so definitely take it in. It may be as simple as changing the transmission fluid, or it might be something more serious. It's really hard to tell.

I would hope its that simple, just a few days ago it just really stopped liking 5th gear, not at low speeds, but my warranty runs out after i've had it for 3,000 miles, and i've had it for like 2850, thank god there, So if there is something major like a new transmission, it will be out of there pocket and not mine, but I won't give to have her till its fixed which would suck

My '07 is in the dealership now getting totally rebuilt because of that exact problem. Grinds sometimes upshifting into fifth and frequently when trying to downshift from 6th. When they took it apart, they replaced everything that didn't look good-they are being surprisingly diligent as I have had problems with this dealership in the past. It is halfway back together and will be covered under warranty. It has 48,000 on it and still has six months of coverage.

Get it in NOW!

Thats bad news, but it's good news that I am still covered for 200 or so more miles. So if they tell me to take it home and come back another day, i initially came in under warranty so it would be covered. I really hope it is something minor and not needing a new tranny though

How'd it work out man?

not too well, my car is indeed under their transmission warranty, however they are saying that within the 3000 miles i have owned it i managed to destroy 5th gear, now that means im constantly going 100 plus and dumping my clutch, and they are saying its wear and tear, so then i proceeded to ask, what does your "transmission warranty" cover, they said, if within about the first week you have your car you have problems, i said what kind, he said if your transmission wont let you put it into gear, they are tossing around a bunch of different words, so the 3000 mile warranty is actually 20 miles, ive had enough of their bullshit, im going to try to sell it on craiglist and be done with them, and hopefully find a similar rx8

I feel like it wouldn't be hard to fight this. Try throwing around the word "lawyer" or "court" and see how they react.

That could shut them down completely to the point that the only communication you will have is through their lawyer.

That is true. I just feel like there should be some way to get them to take him seriously.

You can't take somebody seriously if they can't negotiate or make a coherent argument. This guy obviously isn't capable of handling it the right way, so he'll have his little tantrum and lose his ass getting rid of the car, having just just paid TT&L and eating the markup he so nicely handed to that crap dealership.

Threatening with a lawyer is always an option, but as alnielsen said, be prepared for the negotiation to stop dead because it's all "on the record" from that point forward.

It's a silly chicken shit newb approach if you're not truly committing to legal action, and anybody in the car business has had that said to them ten billion times before.

I bought the car at a nice price so I wouldn't really be losing that much. and as for not being able to formulate an argument, they are saying their cars are covered for 3000 miles but he told me to my face that they wouldn't honor their own warranty because I waited to long. aside from what the problem was they told me they wouldn't honor the warranty because I drove it for 2800 miles, in every form of math I know that is less than 3000. that's a very solid argument

Not sure if you still have this issue, but here's my 2 cents if you do.

I had the same issue since I bought my car used with 85k Miles. I'd imagine my transmission is still the original so I can't compare that to yours, but I had the same exact grinding issue. I changed out my transmission and differential fluids about a week ago and the noise/issue quit immediately. 5th gear is actually the easiest of all my gears now to shift into.

I used Pennzoil Synchromesh for the trans and Royal Purple 75w90 for the diff. I would have likely gone with Redline fluids but nobody local sells those and it was a weekend. The two fluids I used have been more than substantial.

hmm, worth a try, worst that could happen is it doesn't fix it, I would think the dealership would change the tranny fluid, but i will try it

Don't put anything past the dealer man. My sister bought a VW a few years ago and when we got home we realized that is barely had any oil on it. It almost didn't show up on the dipstick! All they care about is selling the car.

yep, don't expect them to change any of the fluids. the tech will likely just drive the car and verify the issue, walk into the parts department and get you an estimate for a new transmission.

if new fluid doesn't help the issue then you likely have a worn or broken 5th gear synchro, it was a common issue in the FD3S when people would miss a shift into third and go into 5th by mistake, the RPM difference coupled with the smaller synchros for the higher gears made them weak by design and prone to failure during mis-shifts.

if it has always been an issue i would push that on them, as you bought the car from them. but i have a strong feeling they will figure the used vehicle inspection would have caught it and they will not assist you in fixing the issue. if you whine and moan loud enough they may try to fix it, if this is the dealerships warranty and not mazda's i wouldn't count on any assistance.

Sam Pappas, if I were at home I would help you fix it. If you keep the car it isn't too difficult to do tranny work, it is just a matter of having a lift. Manual transmissions are fairly easy to rebuilt especially when you compare to automatics.