I took my RX8 to a shop to get the following work done

- Removed Calipers (to get powdercoated, never got this done, calipers were put back on)

- They did replace the brake pads, and bled the break system.

- Transmission oil change (manual transmission)

On my way home from the shop the clutch slipped, and I was eventually stuck on the side of the road. The car wouldn't engage in first gear.

It was towed to a Mazda Dealership where they told me I needed a new clutch, flywheel, and master cylinder.

Im not mechanic but does the shop I had working on my car seem to have anything to do with the resulting problem? I'm asking because the dealership charged me 2100 to fix.

 

When you say the clutch slipped do you mean that the car was in gear but as much as you tried it wouldn't go forward even though the engine was revving and it was in gear?

Or...


It won't even go into first gear

 

car is in first, engine revs, doesn't move forward.

 

Did they actually put fluid back in the transmission? Seriously, have that checked. Happened to me.

 

the dealership would have mentioned if there was no transmission fluid

 

Hey dude, go back to that shop and ask what exactly did they do because if the car was not doing that before then your mazda dealership should be involved with this situation and the shop needs to be held responsible otherwise. Check the fluid with mazda again and look yourself. Then also take your car to other rotary repair places and performance places if you are clueless as to what to look for that is wrong in your car because our rx8's are delicate lol. Do this first before you spend $2100

 

Not necessarily. They could be making an assumption.

Your clutch could indeed be completely toast, but the suddenness of the symptoms suggests otherwise.

 

Are there any weird noises from the tranny when you rev it?

Hmm, maybe the clutch just went...

Here's my line of though:

1) the shop probably let the brake system go "dry" if they had the calipers off for that long. This makes the clutch and brakes ineffective since they would have air in them without careful bleeding....

but...

this would only make it impossible to shift. The car would still hold in gear as its the clutch cover and its forks that provide the pressure to hold the clutch disc, not the hydraulic system.

2) Maybe they did forget tranny fluid but generally if your tranny ate itself you would hear a lot more crushing sounds and may be unable to shift into or out of any gears.

so that leaves us with option C,

Maybe they took it for a joy ride and did donuts and burnouts with it.

Unless the car already has 30K+ miles and has a history of burnouts, donuts and off the line racing?

Then that would be the time that those parts normally go then

 

Ok...I don't know much but I always thought you could drive a manual car without a clutch at all...meaning that the diagnosis doesn't fit the symptoms. Or am I just wrong again?

 

Partially. You can drive without moving the clutch, if the clutch is fully engaged. Starting from stopped is hard, but doable. The rest is just rev-matched shifts. If he clutch is disengaged (or worn to the point of no friction), then the power from the engine can't even get to the transmission, so no driving.

When Toyota fried the transmission in my Corolla, alot of it was seized, and I had to drive it about 3 miles through ~20 lights without being able to disengage the clutch, or pull it out of 1st gear. I am surprised I could do that at all really.