Razz1, you should delete your post to save your name.

Could extreme heat cause a fluid breakdown such as this? Man, I've seen too many posts where Mazda seems to think that any major failure is proof of abuse. I hope they figure out what the problem is.

I don't think so.

Actually I was tired. We call it the intermediate gear box. I was thinking of motorcycles.

We know the gear box uses grease, that's why Mazda said it should be thick.

I consider the flywheel and clutch part of the transmission and they don't run in grease.

The gearbox runs in fluid, not 'grease', and is often no thicker than motor oil, certainly not identifiably thicker just by looking at it; it's generally in the range of a 5W30 motor oil. The available viscosity choices are very similar and it certainly wouldn't be described as "thick".

80 to 90 weight is a big differance. And you can tell by looking at it.

Gear Oil Viscosity and Motor Oil Viscosity are two entirely seperate scales.

A 75w80 Gear Oil is roughly equivalent to a 5w30 Motor Oil.

And that brings up another issue -- the dealer claims that Trigger switched to a "racing fluid" because it was thin and watery. But higher performance transmission fluids are a little bit thicker than regular fluids. Fluids that were too thin would be counter-productive to fast, smooth shifts.

So then, what would cause the viscocity to brake down that fast.

Hell Iv'e seen motorcycles with over 100,000 miles on their grease (80-90wt.) from the gear box and they were not like water.

UPDATE**** they called saying that the clutch was burned? and that the whole transmission assembly will have to be replaced from something broken, and that mazda will send someone out tomorrow to review the dmg to see if it will be covered by warrenty or not. . thing is... i don't know.. i have never had any signs of the clutch wearing out or anything like that... im fighting this untill the end.

Good luck, I know you drive it hard but clutch still should be in good working order unless you drag race it. By the way you never told us how many miles are on it.

Might be a good time to go with an RB flywheel and Center force clutch.

Or go with the Mazdaspeed parts.

If you need cash because it's not under warrenty, go to Reliable Rotary. in Santa Ana, AKA Fast Freddies.

10 months old car with about 18k miles on it

FYI- The W does not stand for weight, it stands for winter.

This is why I'm wondering if gear oil can break down in viscosity from excessive heat and/or friction inside the gearbox. I imagine it would explain the fluid being black, I just don't know about "watery".

Man Sam, I hope you took some of those mods off.. they'll assume you've been pushing the car pretty hard... thus screwing the clutch. :P ACK!

damn i have the same problem you having triggerx1 exact same problem and im goin thru the exact cituation. mazda said no cover on my tranny with the excuse of abuse my car has 7921 miles and right now the only way to try to get your money or your car fixed its by lawyer. lol

PS my car came out to 46,000 after all and i mean all the options plus xtra warranty


excuse me but you car is the same as mine, i got 9 months with mines almost 8k miles and like i said before i have the same exact problem, maybe its something wrong with this build????

I always wonder the dealer side of these stories.

Hello All,
You can read about my trans fix here: https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...0&page=2&pp=15

I have a theory. The pressure plate is braking and not allowing the clutch to fully disenguage. This causes the engines energy to be carried into the trans, even tho the clutch petal is pushed. Hence gears are being stripped.

the carfax on my car shows August 2003 was the first time it got to the dealer. i dont have my car with me so i cant have an exact date.

ok so i just checked my vin number and yes my car is in the list of cars with problems. another point for me. now do you think i should bring this up to mazda ??

Sam,

This sucks man!

I hope the dealership doesn't try to screw you on this one. :mad:

Keep us posted plz.


Good luck man.

just a tip
 

I've read a lot about Mazda and there void warranty issues. And I think it is bullshit. I used to work at a Volvo dealership as a tech. There is a lot of politics involved for warranties. Here are some rules of thumb

#1 - no tech wants to fix anything under warranty because of the flat rate time. (Basically manufactures don’t want to pay mechanics for time spent).

#2 - before any service writer or manager helps you with anything big warranty wise they look at several things. Has this guy ever done any services? Has this guy ever gotten any pads replaced here? Pads and services pay out the ass. They change like 1.5 -2 hours for pads but only takes techs 15 min tops.
(To sum it up if you didn’t spend lots of $$$ then they don't give a shit)

#3 - Mechanics get paid for how much work they do so they will find anything wrong with you car they can.

#4 - Service writers get a commission on how much they sell (parts and labor wise)

#5 - Service writers get big bonuses from the manufacture for good surveys. (Basically when some one calls or sends you a letter asking you how there service was) (They car a hell of a lot about that)

#6 - I know for a fact that ford owns the USA branch of Volvo and Mazda. And well to put it nicely, they don’t give 2 sh*ts about the mechanics or service writers. Which means they don’t get paid good. Which means they are going to come after you to make money.

#7 - If it’s under warranty then they most likely are not going to fix anything properly (cut corners to save time)

#8 - Every 1 at the dealership thinks you don't know anything about automobiles so they will lie to you.

My recommendation for any one taking your car in for service.

-don't b*tch too much, but make sure you do it once a while to keep them on there toes

-The service writers car a lot about the surveys, so if they think you will give a bad one they will bend over backwards.

-If they give 1 problem about anything from wipers to breaks report them to the manufacture and let them know your going to do it.

-If they will not do something find a service bulletin on it?

-If they think you’re an asshole they will make sure everything will stay perfect.

-It never hurts to bring in doughnuts once in a while

And to the question at hand

- They do not want to check if it was miss abused. They already think it is. Take it to another dealership. Most manufactures will mandate a break down because they know there is a problem with there transmission and they can't make new ones fast enough, so they try slowing the process down. They put the responsibilities on the tech so if he replaces it under warranty and the manufacture thinks its not, the dealership pays. I have seen first had these things. Including the black watery Trans fluid. That does not resemble you changing the fluid to the wrong brand. When the fluid looks like that it means one thing. The Trans had a defect and is broken now. It does not mater what kind of trans fluid you put in there or how bad you abused it it should not look like that.

And the funny and hilarious think about all of this is they know it’s a bad Trans and it’s not your fault. But they don’t care.

Just remember 1 thing; you spent 30 k on a car that they will not back up. This car broke within 2 years. What the F*ck did you spend 30 k on.

If you want anything under warranty you have to play your cars right. Hell I got new wipers, new tail lenses, 2 alignments, and new brake pads under 8 k miles under warranty.

Do not let them shaft you. If you say yes they will

mazda pays the dealers the same rate that the customer would pay

Leave it at the dealer for XX days in your state and lemon law it.

yeah they do pay the same rate, but less hours. There are 2 ways mechanics can get paid. Hourly or flat rate. Hourly means just that. You gat paid per hour and not how much work gets done. Flat rate mean that the mechanic gets paid for how much work gets done. They have an average time for how much a Job gets paid. ex. for a transmission job it might pay 10 hours. That means if A mechanic finishes the job in 8 hours he still gets paid for 10 hours of work. Thats pritty good. But if it takes him 12 hours he still only gets paid 10 hours. That means he works 2 hours for free. Same with brakes. F pads pays like 1.5 hours and only take 15 min to do. Now what manufactures do is if the same trans job pays 10 hours then mazda will only pay like 6 hours. This is on every warenty job. Manufactures think if the machanics work on these cars all the time then they should be able to do it faster. Which is bullshit. Yes the manufacture pay the same amount of money but not the same hours.

Flat rate guys are experianced mechanics
Hourly is the guy still learning the bussiness.(because if they wher flat rate they would make no money.)

But warranty only requires to flag half the actual time to get paid for full job time.

(except diagnostic time)

lol i havent seen my car for 2 months almost, im getting desperate im thinking i should just take the hit and fix it. my car was parked all winter and the summer gonna go with out him
life its not fair sometimes, but i keep seeing things here and i definally dont want to let them win.



what should i do.