Lost 6th Gear tonight
 

I am very gentle with my gear box. I have never had a problem with gearboxes and have put over 200000 miles on several of them. My 8 has 1800 miles and I went for 6th tonight and it did not go in. I shift soft, so I thought I missed the gate. I pulled again and it did not go in . Since I have seen this problem on this site, I am not going to try to force it in gear. I will let you know what mazda has to say and do. Other than the 6th gear problem, I have had no problems and have thouroughly enjoyed this car. It is great to be back in a rotary street car.

John

Bummer man, at least with 6th gear there's little chance the dealer will try to claim it's due to abuse.

The dealer knows how I treat my cars. The GM bought my tradein for his wife. I do not think I will have a problem with abuse.

John

It's happened before. It just needs adjustment

No it does not need adjustment!
My 6th. went out at 1000 miles and after tearing the thing apart 6 times (yes 6) they replaced almost the entire gear-box.
It took almost 3 weeks.
Good news is that the noise we hear when we let the clutch out in neutral (throw-out) is gone...now quiet as can be.
John if you need help my dealer now is expert at this problem.
This has happened several times.....weak link

The Baller

Just took it by Mazda. When the service writer got in, He was able to go into 6th gear. He put it in without starting the engine. I don't know if that is why he was able to get it in or not. I left with it working. I am guesing it is a loose bolt. I will bring it back when it fails again.

John

This happened to me too this past week.. I tried going into 6th and it was like hitting a wall. Wouldn't go in. I just patiently kept gently trying to engage it and it finally took. It now goes in and out smoothly again....

Baller,

DId they give you a reason why yours failed?

This is weird, but I get that symptom on my 4th gear sometimes. But it is usually when I'm shifting 1,2,3,4 fast.

On mine 6th. gear siezed up and has on several others.
They (Mazda) were just replacing with a new transmission but now they are fixing them.....and I must say it works better than it ever did with no noise!
So if your dealer says that the throw-out bearing noise is normal he is being lazy, when they fixed my 6th. gear they fixed the other problems we all hear about.

The Baller

I havn't had any problems with it....but it is a little tricky to shift into Reverse sometimes....

hey john,

whats the build date of your car????

beers

I don't think they think it failed. the first time the service writer tried 6th gear, it worked for him. His first attempt was with theengine off. I did not try that. I suspect the lockout pins used to prevent you from going into more than one gear at the same time. My build date is Aug of 2003.

John

the logic is strong, hope you are right.

thanks.

beers

hmm, when I let the clutch out all the way at idle I have a loud whirring noise. That would not be the throw out bearing but the transmission. Do others hear this?

Also, I believe that the only thing the service writer proved by shutting your car off to get it in gear was that the shifter works and it does not need adjustment. The problem then is that while the tranmission is turning/spinning, you are unable to engage 6th gear - seems more serious to me.

I hear a whirring sound only when i downshift and the revs aren't close to even. I mean like I am slowing down, and it is very smooth, it doesn't make as much noise if i rev match. My 2nd gear has a problem. It only happens on the 1->2 shift. It is very notchy and hard to get in, especially at high rpms. When the car is off and i try the shift it goes in without a problem. None of my other shifts are like this.

I bought a demo with 4800 miles on it. It has 5500 miles on it now. I have run through the gears on really strong acceleration with smoothe positive shifting at about 7500prm. No problem.
BUT When idling out of gear and clutch out it makes a noise.
What is the noise?
I have to get the airbag recall and the heatshield recalls done, do you think the service dept should look into the noise?
Dave

I have had all three gen rx-7s, two M2 Miatas, and this rx-8. All of my Mazdaz have had the same whine,except in forth gear for the 5speeds and 5th gear for the 6speeds. 4th and 5th respectivly are where the gearbox is a one to one ratio. the input shaft and output shaft are coupled directly together in those gears. I suspect the whine comes from loading the gears, or the bearing between the input shaft and the output shaft.

All of them have eventualy made a noise from the thrust or throughout berring before hitting 15000 miles. I replaced one and it did it again. So the others I never changed. Several ov my cars had over 160000 when I sold them with the factory berings still in place.

I am on day 2 and it is still going into 6th gear.

John

<zooms up in an auto-RX>

Hi! Trouble with your manual transmissions?

<zooms away in an auto-RX.>

Ka-Smash! *sound of breaking glass*

Whoa! Who threw that?

*mumbles to self* Geez...these days some folks can't take even a little joke.

Actually I heard the auto's are the main cars having the flooding problem. I don't know if it is the auto's or drivers cause I would think that most drivers w/ a lot of rotary knowhow would buy a manual.

Hi John, I'm not sure I understand what you're saying regarding a gear with a ratio of 1:1 meaning that the input and output shaft are coupled directly. As I understand it, the method of torque transfer between input and output shaft is the same for all gears - it's only the relative diameters of the gears on the input vs. output shaft that change. (except reverse of course, where there's an extra gear).

I am not positive about the 6speed but the 5speeds fourth gear shift fork actualy slides a locking ring from the output shaft onto the input shaft. Therefore all the torque is transfered from the input shaft to the output shaft. all the other gears are spinning, but none are engaged to the output shaft.

John

Well, the other gears are always spinning regardless (except when the clutch is disengaged)

What you suggest engages 4th gear would seem an unnecessary complication to me - why not just have 4th gear activate off of the same shift-rod/collar as 3rd gear and connect two gears of equal diameter? It may cut down on frictional losses - that's the only reason I can think of. Am I missing something here?

It eliminates a gear and reduices friction as well as rotational mass.

John

I am looking at the 6speed schematic on mazda competition's website. 1&2, 3&4, 5&Reverse each use a comon shift fork like a 5speed. 6th gear, however has it's own shift fork. Therefore shifting from 5th to 6th is NOT moving one fork, but moving two forks. This magic is probably where the problem is occuring.

John

That's interesting.

I'm curious as to the engineering reasons for that. Maybe I'll post in the Tech Garage and see if any of the gurus there can shed some light on this.

Thanks