If you put my car in first gear with the clutch pedal totally pushed in and rev the motor to about 7000 rpm, the car will pull forward! While I had the car at the track this weekend, I tried launching the car at 7000rpm and burnt the **** out of the clutch because while I was sitting at the light the cluth was partially engaging. My friends and I think it's the throw-out bearing what do you guys think?

 

Are you sure the clutch is not partially engaged all the time? And also does the problem only appear in first gear (even though your gear shouldn't affect this) and at high rpm?

 

It's possibly but I don't smell it burning and it only pulls forward at 7000 rpm. When I launched it at 5000 I had no problem.

 

anybody have any ideas or thoughts?

 

maybe because it's so lightly engaged that at 5k you won't notice the pull? :x

 

So what should I do?

 

It's not the throwout bearing, the clutch is not properly adjusted - although, by now, it may be too late. If it was making a noise when your pressed the pedal or was chattering during engagement, then it could be the throwout bearing.

 

It does do exactly that.

 

It's too late for that, my warranty has been voided for a long time.

 

I agree, its adjustment.
So, dropping (sorry, launching) the clutch at 7000RPM and burning the **** out of it is no form of abuse? What a FH!

 

Why would it act up now after 27,000 miles? I didn't drop the clutch, it did this with the clutch fully engaged, and I never said that it wa or wasn't abuse. What is "FH"? I spoke to a local mazda service shop (not a dealer, this is the only guy I would trust with my car) he says it sounds like the pilot bearing, trust me this guy knows what he's talking about.

 

You still have to disconnect the driveshaft, remove the transmission and remove the bell housing to get at the throwout bearing. While you're in there, you might as well replace the clutch (it's only one more step - remove the pressure plate; which, by the way, has the spring attached). Personally, I'd at least try adjusting first. It's WAY cheaper.

 

Mazda put flexi-pipes which break on the clutch line (for a good reason) and considering it is a hydraulic clutch, have you checked your fluid level to see if you're losing any fluid? I had that happen on my other car (not the RX8) a couple of years ago ... the clutch started dragging, and eventually the clutch pedal didn't work (due to the crack in the pipe getting too large to hold pressure).

 

Whoops ... sorry guys, this thread came up in my recently posted list for some reason.