CodingParadox

My second gear synchros are pretty dead for performance driving purposes (needs double clutch downshifts to not grind like hell and hard 1-2 upshifts don't work about half the time). Driving around town like your standard pansy it works mostly fine, but it's basically no fun to drive anymore. I brought it in this morning telling them it was dead, and they called back saying they can't duplicate the problem. I told them to cruise around at 45mph in neutral and if they can get it into second there I'll give the driver 10 bucks. They said they'd try that out tomorrow.

So, any tips for getting Mazda to warranty it? Either they need to warranty it or I need to get a shop to rebuild it. It's basically worthless for me to drive around now because the 18 year old transmission in my Celica grinds less than this one the way I drive on the street, much less for autocross where half the 1-2 upshifts don't work and blow my run right out of the hole.

Gr. 25k miles on it and the synchros are shot. Really, Mazda? My dad's S2k has seen several times the autocross runs and twice as many street miles as my RX8 has, and it still shifts like new. So lame...

chiketkd

iTrader: (5)

Did you buy your car new or used? My car has 28K miles and zero issues -- and my car is co-driven at each event. Not sure how to get Mazda to warranty the tranny, but getting the service dept to admit there's an issue will be a good first step.

Btw, honey catches more flies than vinegar. If you go in there saying this car is lame, I'll never buy another Mazda...why should they help you out? If you talk about how great the car is and that you would definitely consider buying another despite the tranny issue, that would tell the service dept manager that you're a customer they NEED to take care of.

Seriously, I blew an engine in my former Ford SVT Lightning. My truck was bone stock and the engine went 1,200 miles OUTSIDE of the factory warranty. I was pleasant in my dealings with the service dept and the rep from FORD that called me. FORD covered the entire repair, even though they *technically* didn't have to.

altiain

iTrader: (3)

My second gear synchro was shot at 35k miles. It had gotten bad enough that 1-2 redline upshifts would grind 75% of the time, I took the service writer for a test drive, did several redline upshifts, and duplicated the problem to his satisfaction.

Mazda rebuilt my transmission under warranty. I try to take good care of my dealer (let them do the occasional overpriced oil change even though I prefer to DIY, give them good service ratings, try to be a pleasant customer, etc.) and they take good care of me in return.

mwood

Yep, be nice to your dealer when you bring the car in, take the service writer for a ride, yourself, and just run it up to 7500rpm or so, before pulling 2nd...it'll grind and he'll have to acknowledge that fact...

My 2nd (synchro and gear) went at about 7000 miles. When they pulled the trans apart, they found that 4th had also been compromised. It took about a week, during which they gave me a new Subaru to drive to work, but the trans was replaced and I've never had a problem since...there just seems to be a large number of RX8's that either had bad synchros or bad gear sets.

The good (?) news is you have lots of company...Mazda KNOWS about this issue.
https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-trouble-shooting-95/transmission-issues-questions-48737/