well guys this seems to be my very first (and hopefully last) problem with my rx8.... when driving normally the car shifts with no problems up shift, down shift it all seems normal.

Now with aggressive driving things change a little....1st-4th is fine...but going from 4th to 5th the shifter will go into gear but it will give me a very slight grind...i actually didnt even notice it at 1st, it just felt like the usual snap the shifter does. i didnt notice it till i took the shift from 4th-5th past 7k rpms. (prob shouldnt be doing that anyway)...but the grind was very muc notiveable, it was loud, and it was hard to push into gear.

anything under 5k rpms it wont grind 4th to 5th....i tried a 3rd to 5th at 5k rpms and it grinded slightly.

i am worried as i kno problems like this usually never get better, they get much worse and more costly...id like to 1st of all know what exactly is the problem, can something be done now to take care of this, what kinda repair is used to fix it, and i have an aftermarket waranty, can it be covered under the waranty.

ive had the tranny fluid replaced with RP 75w-90...not the syncromesh one, the one everyone recomends, same in diff gear, prolite flywheel, street clutch, RB clutch line...this was done at a mazda dealership about 2 months ago.. i broke everything and didnt drive hard untill 1k miles.

history of the car, im the 2nd owner, 2004 GT, i bought it at 64k miles in feb, it now has 71k miles, all 15k, 30, 45k, and 60k services have been performed and it has been well maintained by the previous owner and me.

i will admit i do drive the car like i stole it, but i do air on the side of caution, i make sure im not slamming gears and doing high rpm down shifts and the such. i baby it as much as i can.

 

any ideas...i called the dealership and they said bring it in, my aftermarket warranty may cover it they just have to contact them or w/e....now they said they have to do an inspection to see what the problem is, i told them i know what the problem is and there is no need to do an inspection esp since im going to have to pay for it, and since they are droppin the tranny i bet it will be pretty high, plus add on the deductable ill have to pay for he warranty work.

so 2 questions, will i absolutely have to pay for the inspection, is it necessary if i already know what the problem is, cant they get a good assumption of the problem just by driving it.

and 2nd, is it the syncro that is dammged?, my friend wanted to double check the fluid level and check for leaks which we will do on saturday, i dont really think it is the problem since everything else is working great, its only an isolated problem with 5th gear noticed only while upshifting from 4th.

 

sounds like the syncro.

i have the same exactly issue for 4th gear. They're replacing my transmission.

 

im sorry to hear that man, but atleast you will be getting it fixed...from talking to friends and asking questions on other forums it is 90% certain that it is the syncro...next is check fluid level which i will do. im prob gonna bleed the clutch line again and make sure its okay and give it one final shot....i just have to find out how much my deductable is for the repair....

one dumb question assuming im going to have to pay for the inspection and the deductable, can i drive the car the way it is till after the holidays, maybe mid january at the latest...i really dont want to ruin anything for anyone lol...i can still shift to 5th but im just gonna have to do it at a lower rpm, or i can skip 4th to 6th...id hate to pinch pennies but i have obligations ive already commited to, looks like i can kiss that regal GS good bye :-(

 

what else can cause an isolated problem for 5th gear...I'm sure once they start the work they can see wat else can be wrong

 

Honestly I have the exact same problem. Cept I can't seem to shift into 5th without it grinding at any time over 60mph. Anything under that it's a non-issue. Let me know how this works out. I have a brand new engine in the car and a relatively new clutch as well. Let me know how it goes.

 

Try changing the fluid to a API GL-4 only rated fluid. AMSoil has a couple nice ones, I *think* RP has one and I know a lot of people like the Redlline products. Made a world of difference for me over the GL-5 stuff I had in there and cost all of $30.

 

my 8 started doing that about 24000 but the dealer wouldnt fix it said it was my bad driving RP didnt help so i drove it hard until it would grind all the time and then they fixed it.

 

daaamn..i m glad u got it fixed but I don't know how I'd feel drivin it hard to get it to grind worse..I'd feel bad lol.

buy the way guys I do already have royal purple in.

I really appreciate all the concers and help u guys are the best...

I'm worried cause if they see I have an aftermarket clutch and flywheel they might try to say that caused the problem.

I'd hate to see them say my driving caused it. 5th is such an easy gear to get to...its not like 2nd or 3rd where u might switch at redline...I never switched 5th past 7krpms....well I'm gonna hope for the best. I'm cool with the AM at the dealership and his guys put my clutch and flywheel in so he might look out for me

 

which fluid? does it have the GL-4 or GL-5 rating?

 

i honestly couldnt tell you, i bought it at pepboys, they were all the same, RP 75w90 max gear, im 95% sure thats what was on the bottle...there was another that said synchromesh but from what i read on here it was not recomended.


worse case scenario when me and my friend check the fluid we may just drain it all and start fresh again and bleed the line to see if anything is fixed.

 

which bracket
you know what, i want to look at my shifter because ive read through 20 some odd threads so far while searching and some mentioned that the rubber ball on the shifter can wear out while will affect the shifting, but i want to know why its only in 5th at high rpms...oh well doesnt hurt to check.

 

Amsoil makes this:




and this



Redline makes this



and this

 

im on the hunt now,

and thanx mac for the fluids, im thinking maybei should switch from the RP and try somethin else, there were alot of mixed reviews with it when i searched the 1st time, maybe ill try something else.

edit**
something has occured to me, im going to attempt to redline 5th and go into 6th to see if that makes any grinding too, ive never taken 5th past 6-7k rpms cause im usually waaaaaaaaay past the speed limit with that. ill try to do that tonight on the hwy to see if any grinding or anything wierd happens...might give us a lil more insight to this lil problem.

 

Yea I used an Amsoil GL-5 rated fluid, much like the RP you are using, in my trans for a while. I got into a situation, on track, where the trans refused to shift into 4th gear above 7-8000rpm regardless of the amount of efffort I put into it. This continued for a couple of days after that track weekend. Next weekend I swapped out to an Amsoil GL-4 fluid and that immediately rsolved the issue and the trans felt better at all speeds going into and out of every gear.

GL-5 fluids are more formulated for rear differentials that do not have syncros and GL-4s are better for transmissions where you have gears meshing and syncros spining up - in general.

 

i grant you driving hard was not my first choice. but after i hit 40000 and could see the warrenty going out i changed my mind the dealer was very hard to deal with they said that hitting 70 coming up on the turn pike and then sifting into 5th was bad driving even after it was grinding they bitched