cas2themoe

I've posted before about the clutch in the RX8. I have never raced the car on the track but have taken off with a slight clutch drop(3000-4000RPM Drop) and 9000RPM gear switch here and there. But thats about it. I say most that own a RX8 do what I do. I really do baby my car!

My problem is when I'm in First gear and at low speeds (3-10mph) and I engage the clutch fast, I hear clank noise. It also does it when I back up and then engage the clutch. But every other gear and when I have it above 10MPH I never hear it. Is it because I'm engaging too fast?

Does anyone else hear this? I know the warranty for the clutch is up I think at 1 year or 12,000 miles. Well thats what Mazda Corp says........

What do you guys think this is? Any help would be great!

Charles R. Hill

iTrader: (7)

Take it into the dealer. There was another member with the same problem who suspected a loose PPF. He never found out exactly what the problem was but they fixed the noise.

CRH

bigblockbeater

a lot of us have had problems. myself included. i had to get an attorney involved. take it to them and make sure you get documentation of your visit.

Charles R. Hill

iTrader: (7)

I now remember what the problem was on several vehicles-the flywheel bolts were loose and causing a clunking/rattling/creaking sound on engagement.

CRH

cas2themoe

Thats what I believe it is. I know the Through-Out bearing have been out ever since 100 miles were on the car. But everyone said it was normal so I didnt think anything of it. I have almost 11,000 on the car so I need to get this checked before 12,000 miles or 1 year hits so my warranty is still good for the clutch.

cas2themoe

Well what happened? I may have to print this out and show them. I hate dealing with **** like this. Your clutch, Fly wheel, bolts or anything of that sort shouldnt be going out at such an early time.

SE3PO

exactly. there is no reason why we should have to have threads like this when we just got our cars. I don't trust the transmission in this car. With all that people have had go wrong I begin to wonder when my time will be. I love my car but that is always lingering in the background for me. Do any of you guys feel the same way?

SE3PO

12000 mile warranty on the clutch.... wow Mazda has faith in that part of the car don't they?

RX-Nbg

I'm reading around here quite a lot and understand that very many of the RX-8 owners in US have severe problems with their clutch and/or tranny.

These problems are totally incomprehensibly to me, because in Europe (as for me in Germany) such problems with the 8 are unknown. All you can hear are a VERY FEW complaints about a little grinding now and then. No damaged trannies, no exploding clutches. And remember: There is no general speed limit on the German Autobahn!

As I strongly assume Mazda uses the same trannies and clutches in Europe and the US and I'm sure they are not worse as these of any other car. So what are the differences to cause you these problems and us not?

The driving habits? The fact that automatic transmissions are the exception in Europe and manuals are the rule? Hence a better feeling there for the manuals?

I don't know and I really wonder.

Tell me your ideas!

Go48

If you are basing this statement on the complaints posted on this forum, your premise that "..very many of the RX-8 owners in the US have severe problems..." is not statistically supportable. Those with problems post, those with no problems don't. How many posts have you read that report no problems with their transmissions? How many RX-8's have this problem versus how many don't? How many RX-8's are on the road in Europe versus the US? Without that kind of data, your statement is a subjective judgment based on very little data. There apparently some problems with the transmissions/clutches, but your characterization of it is misleading and cannot be supported by the anecdotal data on this forum.

This sounds to me like yet another somewhat disguised, self-serving, US-bashing statement from oursmug cousin across the sea. You seem to be saying: We drivers in Europe KNOW how to drive a manual transmission, but you in the US don't, so that's the "problem"? If so, I don't buy it.

Gomez

It's simple. I've said it before, the car is too cheap in the US. Too many 16-30 year olds are driving it like they stole it. The average Australian wage is about the same as the average US wage, but the car costs over $43500USD here. For the cheapest variant....

The more you pay, the better you look after something. And the more expensive cars are the domain of the better off financially.....ie, older drivers.

fizzer

16-30 year olds?!!? That's quite an age range to be generalizing driving habits. Sure maybe middle aged men and women are driving 8s like an oldsmobile, fine. But I would argue that there is a huge difference between the maturity of a 16 year old and an 18 year old and a 25 year old. You can't just lump them all together and say that everyone younger than you drives irresponsibly.

I would also like to point out that the RX-8 is marketed as a sports car, and when driven as such, should be able to take it without performance degredation. I drive my 8 in a spirited manner once and a while for sure, but at 5800 miles, I would think the tranny would hold up slightly better than my previous car, a honda accord with over 100k miles on it. As of now, I'd rather have the honda transmission back, it was slicker shifting than the Rx8 is now with 20 times the mileage!

Now, I'm only 23 years old (obviously a horrible driver), I've driven manual transmission cars for 8 years, and never have experianced such rapid transmission quality degredation. I don't drive my 8 like a buick, but I do baby the car and am never hard on the tranny.

As was mentioned previously, think about the hundreds (thousands?) of 23 year olds with 8s that have not had tranny problems. Clearly, there were an above average number of 8s that shipped with bad trannys. Please don't make this an issue about people that are different than you breaking thier car's just because it hasn't happened to you. "Oh the americans are hard on thier cars, they have too many automatics and don't know how to drive stick... those young whippersnappers drive to crazy and break thier cars." Gimme a break, stop whining, and grow up.

guy321

Thank God i'm 31

I think your limits should be set to 16 - 23.5 :D

guy321

Other cars have problems with thier trannys too.. when I was getting my shift forks replaced, I did some research and G35 owners were having rebuilt trannys and bent shift forks also.

Dejavu?

http://g35driver.com/forums/showthre...tranny+problem

http://g35driver.com/forums/showthre...tranny+problem

fizzer

Yeah.... but those cars actually have torque so tranny problems could more easily be attributed to driver abuse

PS - don't get me wrong, I much perfer my redlike above 7k over low-end torque

guy321

Our cars may lack power per revolution of the engine, but the fact that they rev higher could also be attributing to driver abuse. I think a launch from a torquey engine at 3k is much easier on the tranny than a 7k launch in our car...

Gomez

I can go with that. Still, the problem is with the drivers, not the car. Not 100% of the time, I make allowances for the odd manufacturing defect....but 90% easy.

The car is just too cheap over there, if Mazda made it 10 grand dearer the gearbox/clutch problems would all but disappear. So would their RX-8 sales, I know! 300 million people have market power, be happy that spare transmissions are cheap too!

Gomez.

guy321

I tend to agree, thats why I pointed out that other cars G35 for example, have problems also. However, I feel it's a combination of factors, not one or the other.

grapes

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gomez
It's simple. I've said it before, the car is too cheap in the US. Too many 16-30 year olds are driving it like they stole it. The average Australian wage is about the same as the average US wage, but the car costs over $43500USD here. For the cheapest variant....

The more you pay, the better you look after something. And the more expensive cars are the domain of the better off financially.....ie, older drivers.
Gomez hit it right on the nose, i can't believe how many posts in the past year talking about how to shift i've never driven a standard tranny before. as far as the price point thing $50,000 aus. is not uncommom to pay for an 8, the car is a cherished piece of fine machinery. Very few people have sold their cars in Australia. Just look at ebay 20-30 car for sale, going to buy a EVO or WRX when i sell this thing. The RX-8 is a great car, lets not diminish it's value anymore.

G8rboy

I agree with you- there are some small percentage of actual manufacturing problems (pressure plate bolts backing out) in some of the early trannys, but I think 95% of the failures are from abuse. I too see so many kids getting the RX8 as their first car and beating the **** out of it, dropping the clutch at 7k rpm to try and beat their friends in a race. I think Mazda could have chosen a stronger tranny that would handle more abuse, but if not abused, I feel comfortable that my 6MT is going to last a long, long time.

Gomez

Mazda sell 2000 RX-8's a year in Australia.....so we've got about 3000 here. I've never seen an Australian report of a transmission failure. I've know of one guy who's had a clutch issue. There are plenty of Aussies who post on this forum.

Charles R. Hill

iTrader: (7)

3P I don't feel the same way regarding the strength of the transmission. Last year there was talk about Judge Ito wrecking two or three of his transmissions while running 14's in the 1/4 mile. That got the fear started. Then I installed nitrous and people kept telling me that I would break my engine and break my trans. I figured, if anything, I would lose my differential, first. I based that thought on the history I read about the FD. (SR Motorsports' Ray Lockhead didn't help matters much when he recently mentioned to Sport Compact Car mag in the feature spread on SR's RX-8 that the factory differential is known to break when power levels exceed the factory levels, or some statement similar to that.) Let me tell you the abuse I have subjected my Renesis/RX-8 to and you tell me if there is are inherent weaknesses.

1) When I talked about installing my nitrous system last year, I was cautioned by those who know the rotary much better than I that any detonation would cause seal failure. During the testing/tuning phase of my install my Renesis experienced loads of detonation from time-to-time. I was smart enough to get off the throttle when I heard it but the point is that the seals are still intact and the car runs better than stock.

2) With my nitrous system in operation I have, on a couple of occasions, accidentally run into the fuel cut during unexpected losses of traction. This was said to be a sure engine-killer. Again, my engine still runs great.

3) Right around the time I got the nitrous system sorted out was when Ito was losing his transmissions. That led people to caution me about my trans. My specualtion was that if we launch our cars at reasonable RPM's and not the redlines mentioned by the magazine guys we should be okay. Also, "bang-shifting" is not what the factory trans is made to do. If we actually avoid trying to shift gears quickly and, instead, shift in a very relaxed manner we will discover quicker shifts to be much easier to accomplish. Both of these approaches have worked for me as I am now running steady 12.7 in the 1/4 mile and have never had a hint of tranny trouble. When I stopped trying to yank the shifter from gear to gear and developed a more refined approach I found my shifts getting very quick and almost sequential in nature.

4) I thought I might experience some differential trouble when I get to the high-11 range but I am much more confident and here's why; since installing my R.B. swaybar set I almost never get wheelhop. There has been an occasion or two where I did experience wheelhop with the nitrous armed. On those occasions I TRIED to break my differential by keeping the throttle to the floor as I figured that was the time it would go, if any. Guess what? My differential still works as it is supposed to and the car is still very reliable. Enough that I drive it in any weather as long as there is less than a couple inches of snow on the road.

5) With my 9 lb. flywheel it is possible to accidentally hit gears that you didn't intend. I found that out the hard way at 80 mph. Shifting into second gear at that speed causes the engine to hit 11,500 rpm. I have done that twice and the engine ain't complaining. Not that I wanted to do that but this engine has forgiven me my idiocy on many levels.

My point is that there are all kinds of stories and, yes, there have been some problems with clutches out there. However, I have experienced none of those things that people predicted about the RX-8 as long as I treated the car with respect and maturity. Even during the times I didn't, the car cut me some slack. It is my belief that the RX-8/Renesis are very durable and capable if we are intelligent in our driving.

Those are my thoughts and feelings, anyway.

CRH

fizzer

This talk about clutch-drops is complete BS... I've NEVER dropped my clutch. I don't drag race, and I know how to drive a standard damn well. Also explain to me how abuse could possibly lead to reverse gear disenganging by itself on me.

Do some people abuse the 8 and break stuff? Sure, but I think the VAST majority of tranny complaints you're seeing on this board are from responsible owners (regardless of age/experiance) that are having honest manufacturing related issues.

And car cost factoring in? BS... I was a valet for 2 years and you wouldn't believe how many 30-40 year olds would be pulling in with ferraris that they 'drove like they stole them'. Don't generalize , it makes you sound ignorant.

rxeightr

Charles,
Very insightful response. I remember the Poll on how long it would take for people to start breaking things after installing their turbo. Unless I missed one BAS with his PPF loosening (possibly?) is the closest we have heard thus far.

I will make sure to watch how you shift when we get to Road Atlanta next week. I want to see how your shifting is different than mine. It is routine for me to 'get some rubber' when shifting into 2nd & 3rd. I didn't say much, just a little squak or chirp.

SE3PO

well charles that does make me feel better. especially since I am not driving hard. I didn't buy the car to get "kills" on the road. I am glad that you have taken it to extremes to get a good feel for what it can do. Does nitrous have any severe long term effects?

3p0