I just recently bought my 04 lightning yelllow rx8. It was leased, and when the lease was up the guy didnt want it. It was in such good shape the bank decided to keep it and sell it on their lot instead of sending it to auction. The car looks immaculate. I got it for $15,750 with 26,900 mi. I think i got a pretty good deal. I love the car, it's a blast to drive and I've wanted one since I saw it in the original project gotham Anyways I was crusing in 6th gear around 70 and I wanted to pass someone so I shifted to 4th, and the gears grinded going in. After testing it, it seems to only grind into 4th at high rpm- 7.5 and up. Has anyone else had this problem? Now the car still has a warranty, but I'm not the original owner, so when i take this to Mazda am I going to have to pay a fee to get it transferred to my name? If so, how much is this usually? Will Mazda fix my problem?

Thanks
Bret

 

did you rev match?

 

Yes, it just seems like it cant sync up at high rpm. horrible noise.

 

I know this may sound like a dumb question but are you fully engaging the clutch i know i cheat mine some times and dont go all the way and it will grind nasty. Another way to check it is to power shift (shifting normally but not using the clutch and see if it grinds if so then you know you may need to get something replaced or check the pressure on the clutch

 

After I first experienced it I thought maybe I didnt have the clutch all the way down, which can happen very easily when performing fast shifts. Again I got up to speed and sure enough, clutch all the way down-it grinded again. Fortunatly I dont have the car in that situation often enough for it to be a big problem. I just want it taken care of while the warranty is still available.

 

I've seen a few others complain about 4th gear downshifts. You shouldnt have any problem downshifting into 4th or even 3rd as long as you're rev-matching.

I'd take it into the dealer immediately if it's not synching up at all and grinding real bad.

 

Go ahead and take it in. Please get rid of that ugly avitar.

 

there is no charge to 'transfer' the warranty into your name. you're the owner of the 8 and it follows the car (as long as it isn't an extended warranty and then you'd have to look at the details of that).

 

I had the same problem with mine, I bought it with 20K miles and it grinded into second. If you can verifty it, it will be warrantied. It was for me, they tried rebuilding my trans twice and the problem continued and one day it blew and I got a new one under warranty! Hopefully you have less headaches getting a new trans than I did! good luck.