You guys probobly remember my clutch issues. For a while my car has been in and out of the shop for clutch/transmission problems. Mazda's fixes were changing the tranny oil, telling me I need a new clutch, that the pedal was fine(needed some lube) then that the pedal was fine(its normal for them to squeak) etc.

Today, in addition to the squeak squeak noise of the brand new throwout bearing, I hear a slight grinding noise when the pedal is pushed in. About 5 minutes later I feel a huge clunk I try to downshift and it wont go into gear. This is in the middle of an intersection and since there is a big *** truck about to t-bone me, I slam it into 1st and barely avoid getting smashed. After this I definately cant shift anymore. I coast off the road into a parking lot and park. At this point the car is in neutral, almost stalls and then jumps up to 4k RPMs at idle.

I call Mazda roadside assistance(what a PITA, god forbid you are hurt or something) and while Im gathering my stuff I notice that my clutch pedal has moved a lot closer to my brake pedal. I knew it was coming, but Mazda techs assured me 3 times that the pedal was fine.

Now Im waiting to hear from the dealer. I blew $800 on a clutch and now there are more problems.

Any suggestions on what to do from here?

This car has been giving me headaches for a while, and this morning I almost get killed because Mazda is too lazy to diagnose and fix it. Pretty pissed at this point!

 

Sounds like your clutch bracket broke.

No warrenty for that.

BHR has a replacement for that.

 

Thats my thought.

But it still dosent explain the grinding noise when the pedal was pressed in, and interestingly enough it went in all gears fine when the car was turned off.

 

You might have a couple of issues running side by side here. Try a search on throwout bearing or similar. You'll find there is is a common noise people have complained about a lot which seems like it may apply to you as well, various folks have found various ways to reduce it, but it is considered a normal noise in MT trannys from Mazda.

I can advise from personal experience that I no such noise in coming from the bearing assembly of the factory 03 build I own, but when I had the clucth redone as part of my first engine replacement I had a horrendous noise coming from the tranny when I pushed the clutch in at almost any speed. After about 1000 mies it went away and hasn't come back since with over 30K miles on the new(er) engine and clutch assembly now.

 

The grinding noise is probably due to the fact that you were not disengaging the clutch completely, or at all.
You can either bitch them up or ignore them and contact Charles R. Hill. He has both reinforced pedals and reinforced\high end throwout bearings.
While i had the pedal welded locally i can vouch for the throwout bearings. I love them!

 

They have had my car for a few days, after calling several times and hearing" we should knof something soon" I was told "we are about to close, we will call you tomorrow at 10 with an update" I wait until 1 then call them. I ask for the service guy I usually talk to and was told" hes busy right now" then "your clutch is gone" I ask if they opened up the tranny. No. I would have to pay for them to open up the tranny. Labor was "about 800 and a OEM clutch 900" Then I was told aftermarket clutches frequently "tears rx8 transmissions right up and if we find any signs of abuse your warranty would be voided" I ask if they checked the pedal -" the what? Oh now you mention that? I'll call you back" I get a call later- "We looked at the bracket- its fine. You can give us the go ahead to tear down the tranny or come pick the car up"

I had it towed to another dealer and we'll see again. At this point it looks like Im screwed.

 

yeah clutch pedal!

 

I dealt with a similar situation a year or two ago.

My clutch blew at ~40K miles and I got it replaced with an ACT clutch and flywheel. ~3000 miles later my clutch pedal fell off. They tried to blame the clutch pedal on my ACT clutch while I blamed the failing clutch pedal for my premature clutch wear. I eventually got the pedal replaced under warranty but my synchros are still shot from driving around with a clutch pedal that only allowed the clutch to disengage slightly.

My interactions with the dealership were horrible and MNAO was no help. I wish you better luck but I doubt you get any goodwill from Mazda/MNAO unless you have a lawyer rip it from the black spot their souls should be - and I guess that wouldn't technically be goodwill.

 

Are there any tell tale signs that this is happening with your clutch pedal?
I get a very small (very small) grind when going 1st to 2nd, but other than that, no problems at all. But with my luck, its something that could happen to me.

Any noise to listen for outside the car? etc?

 

I got a call today saying "whoever put that clutch in didnt know what they were doing, or the pilot bearing simply fell out- but your front input shaft is chewed up because of it and there is no warrant work I can do because this was caused by your aftermarket clutch"

Still no aknowledgemnt of the crooked clutch pedal!

Not sure where to go with this now.

 

There is no way that the pilot bearing would "fell out" without someone "digging it", and most people, when reinstalling the tranny would leave the pilot bearing alone unless its making noises or something.

it is possible that the dude who installed ur clutch last time messed it up. but chances are slim unless he really suck at it.

but

I dont get this part, if its pilot bearing that failed, how does the aftermarket clutch being the caused ? maybe the pilot bearing failed itself and caused the input shaft to touch the engine ? Couldn't that be possible ?

but I guess it sound they they dropped ur tranny down already. so u might as well start buying parts ONLINE (NOT THRU STEALERSHIP), give it to them to reinstall it, and call it a day.

 

this is why i never let anyone else touch my car. i know some people cant help it and dont have the time to do it thereselves but i dont trust stealerships

 

Its also a problem when you buy used cars or get service work done and not checking the mechanics background.

 

If the pilot bng was replaced improperly (without using a factory puller or blind hole puller) it could have been damaged and certainly could cause a problem like you describe. It also sounds like the dealership has not checked the pedal for damage.

Good luck!

 

Get a lawyer after you find the problem and blame mazda for a shotty job. Those guys don't **** with me at dennis Eakin since I know their management and salesmen. If you need help let me know.

 

lawyers are like people .. only they sue for sport

sounds more like a clutch bracket... maybee it should be a recall if XXXXXXXX number of people are breaking thiers

 

A clutch install on an RX8 is something thats a little outside of my comfort zone. But there are very few people I trust to transmission work, and I didnt have much of a choice this time.

I concur. However the best I could do was get a carfax report and have a mechanic look it over(all seemed sound) Unfortunately that didnt tell me that the previous owner probobly beat on the car and/or Mazda did some bunk *** repair to make it sellable.

And the mechanic in question here had tons of good reviews, but apparently not much expierience with the 8(despite his initial claims).

Plus, its not like I was going to be making it to my preferred shop(Rotary Performance)

Thanks again for the replies fellas, Im open to any more possible explinations and such.

 

Yea right, they would rather just blame it on abuse and bolt ons like exhaust, springs etc.

Because this car is a DD for most of us, we must be illegal street racing and beating our pedals into failure!

Im definately done with Mazda vehicles, and Im spreading the word after this. And being in a military town where everyone buys cars, and a lot of friends have asked me what brands to buy, that means a lot(or lack thereof) of business for dealers in this area.

 

yeah maybe it was the catback exhaust that caused it to fail!!! j/k but surprised mazda has not said that yet

 

maybe you just cant drive stick??? just throwing that out there

 

rickjames you should probably quit flaming people that you don't even know. I live near the dude and hes not doing anything to his car that would have caused that ****.

 

Rick James Beyotch!!!!!

 

whoah now sorry i dont live next to him and know everything about him