No thuds, but occasional difficulty into FOURTH gear
 

Hey All,

I've had no issues with my car but I've noticed something that I would like to get some opinions on.

My car shifts well at low speed, low revs. I can get into 4th gear without issue on the street or on the freeway but I encounter issues when rowing the gears at high revs. At the 7K-9K rev mark I've noticed I sometimes get stuck shifting from 3rd into 4th!! This has happened 5-6 times already, the first few times I dismissed it as user error, but it keeps happening? It is annoying when you are trying to shift and all of a sudden you can't find 4th gear. Like I said, at low revs it seems to go in smooth yet at high revs I "seem" to be encountering some type of block?. I guess I have to find a deserted area to really test it. Anybody else experiencing the same thing? BTW, I have been driving stick for over 15 years.

No probs getting from 3 to 4 at high revs -- but if I am not watching closely I tend to hit 3rd when shifting from 4 to 5. This I do attribute to user error (and the short throw gear box).

IMO the car shifts great when you do it assertively -- when I shift tentatively I can get a little adverse feedback and a little resistence at times.

My experience of drive the 8 is exremely limited have only had a 20 minute test drive. However, I did have some trouble with the 3/4/5 gears. I assumed this was because:

1. It was my first drive in the car.
2. The car was new.
3. The car had been thrashed by the European press the week before.

I also found the cluch bite a little difficult to gauge somethimes.

Hopefully this will all improve with the delivery of my new car.

RX-Late, my car only had 6 miles on it when I received it. So, the stick was a little 'notchy' at first but now it shifts smoothly. It's just lately "the missing 4th gear at high revs" had me wondering enough to post it. I currently have over 2400 miles on the car.

RXhusker, I'll try your suggestion and slam it into fourth. Like mentioned earlier I guess I have to test it repeatedly but shouldn't it shift into fourth without having to jamming (forcing) it in?

Humm - if no other owners report this as a problem I would be straight down to me local friendly Mazda dealership for them to have a look at this. Don't force it too much!!

I had an issue downshifting to 4th from 5th. I took it to the dealer and they test drove it and basically said it was user error.

My issue was I was downshifting too diagonally and not able to get it into gear cleanly, so when I downshift now I bring the gear shift over and down. I was used to the stick in my VR6, which has a little wider shifting pattern.

As far as your issue I have read on the forum of a person with a similar issue and it turns out they had a loose bolt in the pressure plate, take it to the dealer.

well, gee...i thought i was the only one and just attributed it to driver error...but yea, 3rd to 4th has given me problems in the past although at mid-revs to high revs...it seems to not want to slide in gear...know i don't power shift from 3rd to 4th and i just take it easy and let it slide into place...power shifting into 4th doesn't work too well for me

I didn't say I JAMMED it -- just that when I shift tentatively I feel I get some resistence and when I shift more assertively (confidently -- quickly -- mildly more forcefully) I get a smoother response/feedback.

Just took her for a short drive over lunch and didn't feel anything unusual with the 3 to 4 shift. Focusing on the shift feel really makes me notice how much smoother and precise the shifter feels now (after 1200 miles) than it did during the first 600 or so miles :D

Just curious to the few owners here.

I did a 'quick' test drive (only about 5 minutes since dealership was closing). However, I never got above 4th gear. I was up to the mid 70s and did not see a reason to shift to 5th

How many people are using 5th and 6th? And how does the car respond without downshifting?

Thanks.

I've not had the problem going from 3rd to 4th, but ONCE when I revved 1st to about 8500 and then tried to shift to 2nd, it would not go in gear. I mean, my hand came flying off the shifter - it was determined I wasn't going to get into 2nd. I ended up having to shift to 3rd real quick.

That's only happened once. Now, when I run 1st up real high, I very assertively shift into 2nd, and I haven't had that problem again.

In the UK we'll need to use 5th and 6th 'cause the damn fuel is so expensive and I would like to get mid-20's fuel economy.

I wonder if you're beating the synchro? That wouldn't be good. One way to find out would be to compare the resistance to when you try to flick it into gear with a slow deliberate action. What happens if you maintain revs as you switch gears versus letting the revs drop as you dip the clutch? How about a 4-2 downshift? (watch your revs!) What if you double de-clutch: dip the clutch to get out of 3rd and then dip it again to get into 4th?

I don't have my 8 yet - so where's the bias in the shifter? By this I mean, if you put it in neutral, does the shifter align with 1-2, 3-4 or 5-6? One thought is that in the "excitement" of the 3-4 upshift you're catching the edge of the gate. This is more likely to happen if the gear lever naturally wants to align with another gate.

If you can consistently demo the shift resistance I'd take it to the dealer. If it's bad synchro, you don't want to let it get worse before dealing with it.

Yeah, that's what I'm doing I'm shifting the same. Remember that it shifts fine at normal revs with no problem. Just a handful of times, at redline, I try to shift down to 4th.. and I'm "what the f**k?". It won't engage, I lose speed, and then eventually get to go in. I don't want to blow this out of porportion, it's happened a handful of times and I want to really test it. But I thought I was being forceful to begin with, if I find time I'll play with it tonight.
This is interesting, RXhusker thinks I may be shifting to tentatively and BRx8 is experiencing problems with power shifting. If I had to describe my shifting pattern (all subjective) I would have to tend that my shifts are brisk and direct, more forceful than limp wristed. So, maybe I need to slowdown, but that kind of defeats the purpose of redlining between 3 and 4 to keep the revs high.
Lot's of good advice here thanks. This thing rev matches, downshifts from 4 to 2 without issue. The bias is at 3-4 and as stated above it shifts fine into fourth at low revs. I will try to find a stretch a road to test this out, maybe I'm hitting the shift gate as you mentioned since there doesn't seem to be a flood of personal accounts repeating the same issue. ;)

[QUOTE]Originally posted by brothervoodoo
[B]RX-Late, my car only had 6 miles on it when I received it. So, the stick was a little 'notchy' at first but now it shifts smoothly. It's just lately "the missing 4th gear at high revs" had me wondering enough to post it. I currently have over 2400 miles on the car.

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I have 3000+ on mine and have the 3 to 4th difficulty. Also, I seem to have trouble going from 5th to 6th - on occaision it goes down into 4th! I'm not that comfortable with the shape of the shifter, so will switch it out for a round MOMO.

I was reading on some performance driving website about how you are suppose to be gently (not slow) just gentle with the shifter. Don't PUSH on it at all, use your wrist on 1-2 and 3-4 shifts and NOT your arm to do the shift, if you use your arm you are putting too much pressure on the shifter. Use your arm on the up motions 2-3 4-5, or when downshifting.

I have not had a problem engaging any gear yet, it seems to go in easier the more gentle I am, but it is harder if I am slow about it and let the revs drop too much.

I have yet to miss a gear either, I just push or pull gently as needed and the shifter picks the right gear, I don't try to angle anything except for 5th.

This may be "simple-minded" but the 8 tranny is the same as the Miata 6sp with an additional syncro on third gear. The gate is spring loaded so that when you are in neutral, the shifter sits directly between 3rd and 4th. That shift should be straight back with no sideways pressure. I'm sure most of you know this but for those who don't...

I have experienced this problem to. I believe that its my driver error. 4th gear has always been bad for me, even in my S2000.

I did played around with it some more last night and I noticed the following:

For me it seems to shift into 4th gear easier from high revs (at redline or close to) if I slighty elevate (pull up) the shifter while I'm making my motion. It seems to engage much easier than just going straight back, I slightly lift-up and then back? Does this make sense. I still don't know if it's me or the car, probably me, if no one else is having problems.

Interesting that lifting up smooths the shift action. I suspect that you're not running into a synchro problem, but more of a mechanical linkage issue. It's possible that with normal wear, this resistance will go away. One test I'd try would be to experiment with the 3-4 shift with the car stationary and not running. Can you detect a noticeable resistance in the shift mechanism when you move the lever from 3 to 4 (you'll need to put the clutch down)? Then if you lift the lever up, does the resistance go away? Try this for other forward backward shifts 1-2, 5-6. Do they feel different? Are you inadvertantly pressing down on the lever when you shift? What happens if when shifting from 3 to 4 you pull back with your fingers on the side of the lever facing front of the car (rather than gripping the knob like, ah hum, a door knob)? Since the lever is 3-4 biased, you should only have to pull back and not worry about lateral motion. Note for 2-3 shifts, if the bias is strong enough, pushing forward on the "rear" of the lever will cause it to naturally slide over to the 3-4 slot (unless you're really fast). OK, so you've been driving stick shift for many years, so you already know this.

Anyway, if you can reproduce the balkiness while stationary, I'd get a mechanic to look at it next time you're at the dealer. They might have some thoughts about how to fix the problem. I wouldn't tend to blame yourself. My current car balks on 2-3 shifts because of a weak synchro, so I've learned to either live with the gears crashing if I'm accelerating in earnest or to slow my changes if not. It's a pain. You shouldn't have to live with this in a new car. I'd run it past a Mazda mechanic.

Major Problems with 2nd gear
 

I have had major problems with 2nd gear, primarily when shifting from 1st to 2nd, but on a few occassions also when downshifting. It is VERY difficult to get it into gear and I have to force it really hard. This happens not every time I shift, but at least once or more every time I drive the car.....and I drive the car as much as possible! :)

I have also had a few times where going into 6th gear was jammy, but I am attributing that to user error, going from 5th to 6th is still a bit of a challenge for me. (when I first got it I was hitting 4th a lot)

I have taken it to the dealer - and they did find the same problem others have posted about, loose pressure plate bolts, but that did not solve the issue. Rolling out of the dealership, I had the problem!

I am taking it back in tomorrow and if they find anything else I will let you know. I'm also going to test the dropping-the-revs theory and see if I can find a pattern.

Re: No thuds, but occasional difficulty into FOURTH gear
 

I had similar problems and they continued to get worse until I couldn't get the car into any gear. It turned out that the clutch was fried. If you want the full scoop head on over to this thread.