mrl84

yeah that would be bad lol

and thanks!

pistonhater

Well,

This morning I dropped off the car at the local dealer.

I've been noticing some tranny issues over the past several weeks. I've read like 4 hours worth of threads and couldn't really self-diagnose. Needed to get an aligment and the tires rotated, so decided to ask them to check the tranny as well while in there.

So what happens is that at times I hear a rather noticeable 'clunk' sound when putting the car in gear from a stop. The driveline sort of 'jerks.' The tranny goes in gear well, I do not have to force it at all. But the noise is there, it happens whether the tranny is cold/hot.

Some people in older threads say this is normal Some people say that's the way synchros behave on these trannies. I don't really know. When you read the old thread on tranny issues you find all kids of theories. Again, no grinding, no need to force the gears in....just noise

I really hope my tranny is ok. Perhaps all it needs is a flush and new oil

mrl84

^ mine does the same thing. it got quieter after i changed my fluid last spring, but its getting back to its orginal level again. its loud enough to hear from the outside of the car as i have seen pedestirians look at me/my car when i put it in first at a stop light...

mrl84

thought id share this little story here as it has to deal with our car looks...

saturday night I had to take my fiancee to the ER (shes fine now so dont worry about that). i pull into the ER drop off area and jump out to help her get out of the car and the security guard/attendant guy (guessing 70+ yr old) comes over and says "Wow, thats a great color! never seen one like that before!"

i say "thanks, can i get a wheel chair"
"yeah they are up there" points back to where he was next to the door...
i go get one while hes walking around looking at my car.

i come back with the wheelchair open the door and help my fiancee into the wheel chair and the dude comes over looks in side and says "Wow that looks great! what a great interior too!"

over my sholder as im wheeling her in i say "yeah thanks" took her to the counter got her set with the nurse, go back out side to go park my car and the guys still walking around looking at it. as im getting it to go park it he says "thats a really nice car."

normally im for talking to people about my car but, dude time and a place, time and a place. ER drop off not exactly the best place, while im trying to get my fiancee into the ER really not a good time.

pistonhater

What you described is exactly what I experience in my car. But I don't think mine is as loud

Interesting enough, your response confirmed what others said in older threads; meaning, seems to be normal, and fluid change 'might' help - at least for a while. I'm afraid that's all they are going to do at the dealer anyway.

I really find it hard to believe something like that can be normal though. Maybe is a design issue that affects these trannies. But I've driven manual all my life so far and I've never experienced something like this before. It's really odd.

First of all, glad to hear you wife-to-be is feeling better.

But the rest of your story is funny!! Hello, we have a medical emergency here!! I guess the guy was really turned on by the car, lol

Well...the 40th is a really beautiful car. Most of the time - BTW - when I get a compliment on the car is about the interior.

pistonhater

well, as I had suspected, they didn't find anything wrong with the trany at the local dealer. The idea came up about changing the tranny fluid. But I decided not to do that at the dealer because I want to buy Redline MT-90. I love that stuff, been using it in my truck for years.

mrl84

yeah i put redline in my trans and dif last spring. it was relatively easy, just busted some knuckels geting one of the plugs out and half way thru the change on the dif the cheap hand pump i bought stopped working correctly.

usnidc

Glad yours is ok.

I dropped mine off last week at the local dealer because the 4th gear synchro was grinding every time I tried shifting into 4th. They have the tranny dropped and waiting for Mazda to approve the warranty claim to replace. it has about 32,000 miles now. the synchro started getting finnicky at about 28,000 miles so I changed the fluid (Lucas Oil synthetic 75w90). that helped some until about a 1,000 miles ago when it started getting worse quickly.

Sometimes mine would do the "thump" when shifting into gear from idle. My understanding was that is the synchros, etc. loading up after not spinning. A good fluid will lessen the shock/noise of that.

pistonhater

haha, those cheapo pumps suck big time. I need to get a better one myself,lol

It's way easier to change the tranny oil in my truck which has 5" of lift and big tires. Don't even have to jack it up

Hey man, sorry to hear about your tranny. Hope the downtime will not be too long, and that your car will be ready to roll soon. Are they going to replace the entire tranny or just the synchro?

So your understanding is that the 'thump' or 'clunk' sound is normal based on the sychros loading after not spinning for a while. I guess I need to come to the conclusion that's something normal on these trannies.

I just hit 20K miles on the way to the dealer. Need to drive the car more!! LOL

usnidc

Got a call from the dealer last night. I'm getting a new tranny under warranty. They said Mazda first wanted them to just replace the synchro but there was enough other stuff too close to being out of spec that the talked them into just replacing the whole thing. I hav 32k on it so I am having the replace the clutch,pressure plate and throwout bearing while thru gav the tranny dropped.

usnidc

Sorry. Posting from my cell phone. Clutch is being replaced while they have the tranny out so they are not charging me any labor for the clutch.

mrl84

^you should get a light weight flywheel while the trans is out too.

EricB

iTrader: (7)

^^*******, they are replacing it ALL?!?! im willing to drive to virginia to have that done.

my dealer said that the throwout bearing noise was "normal" no it aint, my 09 didnt have it and my friend 05 and 06 doesnt have it and they are at 100k+

im getting some grind, where you can hear it sometimes going into 2nd or 3rd. i dont know about anyone else but as a joke in a parking lot waiting for a friend i just clutch in and move it from 3rd to 4th a couple times. people 50ft away can hear it. very noise transmission.

on other news. my springs. it basically costed me $570. I should have either saved $130 for tein basic coilovers or gone to a different shop. They never charge my flat rate and always charged by the hour, the work should have been $225 for the 3 hours they worked on it. Instead he decides out of nowhere that he wants to charge a flat rate for it, even though he billed me for it taking 5.2 hours.

its a scam, its like i tell you painting youre house will take 50 hours, at $100 per hour using a paintbrush. You do it in 30 using a roller and still charge for the 50 hours. pisses me off to no end. im never going back there.

here is the thread where i discussed it.

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...49#post4260249

do you guys recommend any good shops nearby with a decent rate around $95 an hour?

pistonhater

Great man! Glad to hear you are getting a new tranny under warranty. I guess it paid off to be without the car for a while.

My thoughts exactly!

usnidc, perhaps you don't have the money, but if you do.....get a light weight flywheel!! I've driven an RX-8 with a light weight flywheel before, and the difference was significant.

It is not that you are going to gain hp. Rather, the response of the clutch and acceleration will feel different. I am definitely going with a lightweight flywheel whenever I get my tranny down for whatever reason.

Ok, you need to know the noise from the throwout bearing is actually normal. It is more noticeable in some cars, barely noticeable in other cars. You will not get any dealer to do any warranty work on your tranny because the noise you hear from the throwout bearing. Having bad synchros is a totally different animal.

I just read your thread about the spring install and posted a comment there. But let me say it here too. I do not think you got ripped off at all. I think your mechanic 'friend' simply changed his mind about how to bill you at the end. But he did not ripped you off. He charged you what that type of work usually costs. At times mechanics will cut you slack because they know you. Why didn't he do that this time around? I don't know. Maybe he's a little broke lately

I understand you want to do all the work yourself. I do too. I enjoy working on my car and my truck. Not only saves you money, but it helps you learn more about your car. Don't feel bad about taking a long time to do the work yourself. Who gives a **** about that?

In trying to save you money and grief, LOL, I advised you before to simply remove the factory COs at home, and ask somebody to drive you to a shop for the spring installation. I guarantee you the mechanic would have charged you less money for that.

Don't take this experience as a loss because it is NOT. You tried but couldn't complete the installation at home. Guess what, you are not the only one. Second, again, the mechanic did not rip you off. Now your car is lowered as you wanted and you learned a little more about working on suspension system.

Enjoy the ride!!!

EricB

iTrader: (7)

im just afraid that im going to blow my shocks now. lol... 2inches is very aggressive.

anyway, next time i go there if i go there ill be upfront and ask if he is charging by the hour or a flat rate. I unfortunately might have to go back there to do my brakes.

i need done soon:
coils plugs and wires(i can do this myself)
new rotors and pads
progress sway bars(i can do this too)

enjoy the pics
Sprint Springs on 40th anniversary Bilstein shocks




Rear


Front

pistonhater

That's very aggressive But it look cool from some angles The rear wheel looks quite sunken into the wheel well - perhaps because of the aggressive drop; could be the camera angle I guess wheel spacers could take care of that.

But 'cool' gets expensive eventually. It's very likely that you will blow your shocks. So start preparing for that And when that happens...don't drive the car to the shop!! Again...and again...just remove the COs at home and ask the guy to install the new shocks. Then you put everything together at home.

You could probably do the pads and rotors too. Have you ever done that type of work before? It's not difficult at all, but the rears can be a pain sometime. But if you are not sure, then do not even try, LOL.

J8635621

iTrader: (10)

Why ask the guy to do any of it for you? That's all easy, easy stuff (if he actually follows the DIYs and does more research).

pistonhater

well...considering his most recent experiences...that is not a bad option.

But it's a matter of convenience too.

Romboter

I rashed for the first time and I'm very sad about it
I'll be searching for a replacement, it will bug me all to hell if I don't.

EricB

iTrader: (7)

^LOL.... a replacement rim? a R3 rim from mazda costs like ~$1400 each, Normal S1 series rims cost ~$650 each. Just bring it to a wheel place and have them refinish that one section. Eazy peezy lemon squeezy

pistonhater

any updates about your car?

pistonhater

Give it some time, you'll get used to it

Mine are all messed up. Previous owner's fault.

You can get that repaired. Most wheel repair places charge around 100 bux per wheel.

usnidc

yes, got the car back last week. Tranny replaced by Mazda under warranty. I paid for the parts for a new clutch, pressure plate and throwout bearing and the dealer installed them for extra no labor charge. I thought about doing a lightweight flywheel but it just wasn't in the financial cards at the moment.

Everything seems to be working great!

pistonhater

awesome news!! Glad to your your 40th is rolling again.

Good idea to take care of the clutch since they had the tranny out. Maybe you could do that lightweight flywheel in the future when you plant the money tree, haha

EricB

iTrader: (7)

that wont work, the Rx8Virus kills the tree's root system in the soil before it blooms currency.