Warning, the Illuminated gear knobs are very fragile
 

I don't know about anybody else, but I've broken one of these. It seems that all you need to do is look at it, and it breaks. :confused: The wires are very VERY fragile. I took mine off (nice & gently) without twisting the wires, and one of them broke internally. My second gear knob started flashing at me, so I ended up dismantling it, and using bits from both knobs to make one good one!! Brittle wires and 'dry' joints are not something I would expect to find in a quality product. :(

its because they used solid copper wire. so if you bend that wire to many times it will break. I have had mine off about 10 times now. I am just very careful to never bend the wire at all . Just cut the wire off and solder on some new braded wire. Its been talked about here before. That's why I knew its was an issue .. :)

sorry to hear about it. but I would just put on a new braded wire and be done with it. :)


Remember this part is a JDM part not ment for our market. They know the part is not up to US high Mileage standards. so that's why its not offered as a stock part.

Do we know if they plan on improving it's quality?
I was looking forward to getting one but now it seems like it would be a pain in the a$$...

BTW, what are they costing these days?

I paid about $180 for mine, and while it looked cool for one drive after I installed it, it rapidly broke for the reasons detailed above. I know how to fix it, but for $180 I would expect something that at least lasts a few days. :mad:

I'm just going to take the one I have now...cut it up and install bright white leds

when I do it I'll DIY it...hopefully I'll be able to put a tiny switch on it to turn it on and off...I'll use a crummy $10 one while mine is being worked on

The lighted shift knob will be delivered to me next week. I was going to have the dealer do the install... anything I should know about the install to tell them? :)

Before you have them install it, you might seriously consider replacing the wires with the braided type. Trust me on this.

I am not sure how it all looks... will i have to sodder new wires on?

You are better off installing this yourself. its very easy to do. .. and yes just cut the wires and solder on a new braided one.. but if you install it yourself as per the instructions it will not break.. unless you take the knob of allot. and even then you just have to make sure to never bend that wire very tight at all... don't let it twist around the shift lever while turning it .. don't wiggle the wire around .. Heat applied to a copper wire will make it break very fast.


If you do install it yourself you only have to pop out the center cover that the boot is attached to and then you have to take out 2 screws that hold in the ash tray.. the new knob plugs into the ash tray light circuit..

I would think that if you take it to the dealer to get installed it will surely come back broken in some way. maybe not the Knob. but they may break or scratch any number of things installing it.

Where do you live.. Maybe there's a member near you that can help.. This install takes all of about 15 min to complete.

hey guys what kind of bulb is in the illuminated shift nob...I was just thinking how much time it would take to modify the one I had and I cringed at the thought of my girlfriend wondering why I haven't spent anytime with her...

Maybe I can swap the bulb in the illuminated shift knob for something else...I'm not sure where I am going with this but I guess finding out what illuminates the shift knob would be a good start (bulb, led, etc.?)

i think its an led .. but not 100% I love mine as it is.. I just would like it to dim down a bit.

Thew if you like it the way it is then I'll like it so I'll just get it and not play with it

oh could you take a pic of it in daylight and then another at night and post it? the ones from the website don't give an accurate representation, thanks

Thew,

That's a very nice suggestion. I live in San Francisco and I am very "unhandy" so I tend to stay away from DIY's although with help I would give it a try...

bring it down to Santa Barbara :)

during the day it looks just like yours. you cannot see the light at all. Its excatly the same unit except the red light. It does get warm under you hand at night :)

That puts me off for one :mad:

Every time I see pictures of that knob, I can't help but think, "It will be mine, oh yes, It will be mine...." *laughing*

Looks sweet!
Can't wait to get my '05!!

???

I have repaired a few of these and it is pretty simple to fix, you will need some good multi-strand wire and some heat shrink tubing...

Sorry, I beg to differ. I knew this was a potential problem, so I was very careful to follow the directions, and I do not twist the knob. It still broke almost immediatley after I installed it.

Thew those pics are awesome!, I'll just add it to my list (list of things to make me happy and poor :o )

The trouble is, my wires broke at the knob itself. There was no way you could cut and strip the wires at this point as there simply wasn't enough wire to play with. I would think that this is the weak point too, so most breakages would occur here. To fix mine, I had to completely strip the gear knob, and re-connect the wires within the body of the gear knob! And when I borrowed parts from my 'spare', I also noticed 'dry' joints on the solder connections. This would also cause the knob to not work correctly.
In my opinion, the contruction of these things doesn't lend to D.I.Y. repairs when the wires break in arkward places. Really they should be constucted by Mazda with a little more care. After all they are not cheap are they? For the sort of money I paid, I would expect quality...

I had the same problem with mine , it broke at the base so I had to take the whole knob apart and solider it at the circuit board. Then I ran new wires from there all the way to the clip. What a pain for the money we spent on these things.

I have not seen them break at that point, that was caused bay improper installation or handling... Once installed you need to have the wire come straight down for about 1 inch then wrap around the shifter and then tape it well so the wire is supported. You cannot twist the knob at this point as you will stress the wires and cause them to break. Most breaks have happened along the bend in the wire behind the installed knob due to bending fatigue... This can be fixed by replacing the wire along this length with multi-stranded copper wire.

That's what I did. I can only assume that the wires became weak before the knob was installed (as they are loose, and that's the point of highest stress), and you only had to fart in the general proximity of the gear knob to cause it to fail permanently. :D I also discovered some 'dry' joints on the circuit board. This is just bad product. Period.

Question for you guys with the lit knob- is the metallic looking trim piece at the top really metal, or the same painted plastic used in the OEM? Mine is starting to look 'tarnished' on the left side from the plastic wearing down (I like to upshift/downshift a lot : ), and I would hate to put up with that for as much as the backlit one costs.

TIA...