I was in Iraq for 15months and when I returned I drove my 05' rx-8 for like two weeks then it started grinding into second anywhere over 4000rpms. I took it to Dennis Eakin Mazda here is Killeen Texas. They told me that my syncro was shot in second gear and that it was coverd under my warrenty but of course the clutch assembly was not. I had them fix it. It took them over a month to get my car back to me and I drove it very carefully for about week. one day after that first week I tryed to accelarate on to the highway and low and behold it grinded into forth gear. I took it right back to the same dealer to find out that they rebuilt the tranny and instead of doing at the dealer ship they were outsourceing the labor to some ran down mom and pop garage. Well i made them fix the work. Come to find out that when the shop had my tranny apart they took the bad 2 gear syncro and put it in the fourth gear slot supposidly all the syncro are all identacal and this kind of mix up happens. It took about a month and a half to get my car back this last time. It has been about a montha nd the car is grinding into 2nd again. I am highly upset about this and am ready to just trade the 8. I love the car but can't keep having the down time cause the car is always in the shop. Give me some time and I will have the info you need for ie VIN and stuff.

 

Dealer where warranty work took place:
Lee Johnson Mazda. Kirkland, WA

Warranty work done: Customer States:
"Transmission grinds 3-4. Inspected and duplicated concern. contacted dcsm and was told to replace transmission assembly. orders and installed new trans. roadtested and operation properly at this time."

Date of work: 10/23/08 is on the work order. It really took a couple of months.

 

2nd and 5th gear grinded on my car since about the 10k mark. Got progressively worse as I went along and seemed more prominent after I switched to RP fluids.

FULL transmission replacement at 29,000 miles.

 

Thanks for serving our country. What service? Glad to hear you back.

 

Jedi, do you currently use a different transmission fluid, other than stock?

 

He's using Redline MT-90.
I'm using Redline Heavy Shockproof. It's 75w250 rated.

 

nice, thanks for the info, i have bottles of redline that i will put in after i have time to go to the dealership to get my car checked out, hopefully in two mondays, after all my stupid senior APs are over.

 

correct: I'm running Redline with ZERO problems so far. ***knocks on wood***

 

I ran RP last year but didn't like the notchy feeling I got so I went back to OEM fluid.

 

^^^ good, because dealerships in my area are denying warranty work with synthetic transmission fluids. (RP is pretty easy to recognize)

 

The purple tint must give it away

 

had the tranny replaced at 17,000 or so and that was under wro.they said there was metal shavings mixed in the trans fluid and covered it.they also said mazda wants the trans back to see what went wrong.since then i had the clutch,pressure plate and throw out bearing replaced because the pressure plate blew apart and ruined the clutch.they also took a good look at my flywheel and gave me the thumbs up that i had not been a ahole and racing it but drove it like a sports car! now i'm at 52,000 out of the wro but no issues with the tranny.been a few times 2 or three i really gave the car a run for the money and got into it to feel the thunder of the beast and chirped every gear leaving out 6 gear because i was getting to the end of my personal run at 155 and said i am completely satisfied wit my car and just drive it a little better than normal.so saying all this tells me you can do your homework then go out and play but don't take anything for granted. this car will do wonders for you but respect it's limits and warnings too!

 

alright- just got the call from mazda today. They have had the car there a week so far and after taking the tranny apart and realizing the second gear synchro was trash along with second gear and the 1-2 shiftfork they decided to bring in a "corporate rep" to analyze the repairs. Their (mazda service not corporate) response was a simple "as i feared, we are not going to be able to cover it under warranty." I ask why and get "well due to the modifications and the fact that the car has been wrecked and repaired"

So.... my bill is 1750.00 roughly and im now a week into having the rental car which will probably be at my expense too.

so what to do now? i cannot afford almost 2k for a new 2nd gear that should be warranty repaired. And its going to be really upsetting after seeing all these other people having no problems getting a brand new transmission. Now im "lucky" to get a cheap rebuild....

 

^^^ My 2 cents.
First I'm in the same boat, Terd to 4th grind (yes I said terd) over 4000 rpm
I've just recently started to scope out my options for a transmission replacement/rebuild.

- RX8 2005 MT with 47,000 KM or 29,000 miles
- Past the 3 year guarantee
- Location Orangeville, Ontario, Canada.

The deal my Mazda Dealership offered me is this:
1) Overhaul kit for 1000 cdn
2) Factor Reconditioned transmission for 4000ish cdn (installed)
3) Or for 1800 cdn for a used transmission from a wrecker that has a lifetime warranty. If it ever breaks again you get another one, and if that one breaks, you get another one and so on. I believe you only have to pay 400 cdn for the labor to install.

I believe that option 3 looks like a really good deal, please provide feed back for me to help make a decision.
However G3tR I don't know if this will be available to you as I think it's an arrangement with a local auto wrecker, but I'm not positive <shrug> might be worth checking out?

Quick history of how I got here:
1) Little over a year ago, I changed my transmission fluid with RP and the grind started happening that week. This was before Ray installed my nitrous kit.

2) Coincidence I don't know maybe it was going anyway. I did some immediate fluid changes with cheap transmission fluid from Cdn Tire to try and flush the RP. Then ran with Castrol 75w90 (I think, need to go out to the garage and check). The end result was the grind was still there but had moved up in rpm range. Only over 5500 rpm

3) Recently the grind has become more noticeable and occurring lower in the rpm range. Hence I started spec'n my options.

4) I came here from this thread https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-trouble-shooting-95/3rd-4th-gear-grinding-two-questions-129023/page3/

5) So I've put MT90 as a Hail Mary play in hopes that it might fix things. I thought wtf for 35 cdn and 30 minutes of my time why not try before I commit to a couple thousand dollars in repair.

 

WCS, why is Mazda not covering it under warranty? This is definitely part of the powertrain, which should be covered for 5 years/100k kms. I would fight for warranty coverage on this one.

 

I don't see that you have any mods in your sig that would affect the tranny so I would tell them that it's bull. As for the car being wrecked and fixed when was this done? Was is fixed by the dealer? What was the accident? Their just trying to back you into a corner, don't give into them. They ahve nothing to lose by trying this, you either go along with it or yor don't. Sending you a PM.

 

try a heavier oil --a 75/140. It takes a little longer to warm up but it may surprise you. i run one quart 75/90 and one quart 75/140. i did not have grinding but i did have bearing noise---really helped mine. on the royal purple---only use max gear never the syncro stuff.
olddragger

 

oh by the way --if your 1-2 shiftfork is bent--they will consider that evidence of abuse. it is a weak fork but under granny driving it will not bend.
olddragger

 

Changeing out the fluid will not fix the problem but just hide it. You may do more damage then good in the long run. I suggest you get it looked at, even if you have to pay for it yourself it's better to pay now then more down the road because the problem got worse. Though I am not an expert and it could be that the oil was the to thin or thick or whatever. Good Luck

 

4 reasons:
1) IMO Mazda does not care about their customers
2) They told me it is only a 3 year warranty. (I'm trying to find my papers, I thought I bought an extended warranty)
3) I have nitrous
4) I have nitrous

These guys have refused to service my car even before I had nitrous on it. Then it only had the RB Revi, RamAir, Flywheel, ACT Clutch and Pulleys.

<shrug> I'll try again, they do have a new Service Manager.

 

I can see them using the aftermarket clutch as an excuse.

 

In my experience Mazda has been incredibly fair on warranty work and I never had a problem despite autocrossing the car. I think top 4 reasons why they aren't covering your case actually goes something like this.

1) You have nitrous
2) You have nitrous
3) You have nitrous
4) You have nitrous

Think about it, if you were a car manufacturer would YOU want to cover that? The components in the car weren't designed to take another 50-100 extra WTQ for extended periods of time.

 

I agree with you on the nitrous issue but not on MNAO being far. They have tried to screw many owners as can be seen by the various posts. Yes some did have aftermarket parts that warranted the denial of warranty work but many others did not.

 

just called them again. Now i get a "well looking at the inside the parts were not failing, so the transmission or parts will not be covered because of a "failure". "

Then told that sorry i cant talk to anyone else there, that's just the way it is....

 

Not to rag on your age, but all they see is a 21 year old kid. You have every right to talk to the regional service rep or whoever said your tranny is not covered. You have every right to get a written detailed explanation of why they won't cover the tranny. Ask them for name, phone #, e-mail and address (where certified mail can be sent) of the person that is denying the work. Then ask for a detailed explanation in writing from the service manager why it won't be covered (a simple "parts were not failing" will not suffice) If you must, ask to speak to the service manager at your dealership. The whole time being calm and courteous. Then call the MNAO customer service line and tell them your story. If you sit back and do nothing then you reaffirm their position of you being a 21 kid.

Not to say that you being 21 you are a kid, but that's how some peiople see it. If you were in your 30's they may act a totaly different way.