FirstSpin

This is one of those posts that's going to be difficult to write. Conveying sounds and feels via words is not easy, nor is it always successful.

First, let's just say something's changed. The change was abrupt. Whether it's signficant or not - or how I determine its signifcance, I do not know.

I'm in an 04 8, MT, with about 16000 miles on it. Have not re-flashed or been back to the dealer for anything since I bought the car. Keeping the oil changed and running only high-octane fuel. In short, no complaints (other than the visor thing) and no reason to take the car in.

About ten days ago, I drove to work as normal. Parked the car and it sat in colder than normal weather (just an observation, probably not significant, since cold in Houston isn't cold at all). I went out the the car about six hours after parking it and cranked it up. Thirty seconds warm-up time at most, just long enough to strap in, lock the doors, turn on the lights, lower the wheel, set the radio, and disengage the emergency brake. I eased through the gears as I approached the exit of our parking lot. When I shifted into third, I heard a "mild" grinding noise (not that ANY grinding noise is good) and I thought, "hmmm, maybe I didn't depress the clutch petal in quite far enough". Next time I shifted into 3rd in traffic, I made sure the left foot was all the way to the floor and I heard the same brief grinding noise. I got up some speed and then decided to see if I heard the same noise when down-shifting. 4 to 3 - no noise. The longer I drove it, the less the phenomenon was a grind and the more it became like a bump. Here's where it gets hard to describe. It was in part, a bump that you could hear, but also a bump that you could feel. A little bit of resistance that was never there in the move from 2 to 3. Once again, when downshifting, all seemed normal.

This was a bit over a week ago and I've never heard the grinding noise again but I do consistently detect that "detant" feel when I move from 2nd to 3rd still.

Any ideas as to what might be causing this or how serious it could potentially be? I'm sure I need to take it to a dealer but I'm equally sure I'll get the "we drove it and it seems fine to us" run-around. So I thought if my poor description above "rang a bell" with someone who has experienced this as well, I might be better armed when I head to the dealer to describe the problem.

ezrider55

I would take it to the dealer-- Thats what you have a warranty for. Even if they give you a song and dance at least you have the paperwork to document the problem.

afeldman327

I was actually just thinking about starting a similar thread to illustrate the same exact issue. I get a definite grinding when i shift from 2nd to 3rd that began as the temperature outside got consistently cold. (i live in northern virginia). I'm also considering taking it in to the dealer but reluctant because i'm sure they won't find anything!

Originally i thought maybe i was driving wrong, or not fully depressing the clutch before shifting, but that is not the case.

cas2themoe

Mine does the same, but goes away after the transmission warms. Then I have no problems with it once it warms up. It has to be the cold because in the summer it never did this!

StewC625

The key there is the cold.

You guys should feel my transmission after the car has been parked outside all night in sub-freezing weather (had to do that a few days ago after some furniture was delivered to our house and was in the garage). I went outside to start it - the temp readout was 2 degrees farenheit. In the current weather we have, it's not uncommon for the temp IN the garage to be 25F.

Let's just say that until the car is warmed the gearbox feels like it is lubricated with asphalt.

Only answer is to shift VERY slowly and gently until the gearbox oil warms up. The car is far worse than usual to get into reverse, and each shift is stiff, notchy and unless I shifted with a cadence of "clutch in, wait, lever out of gear, wait, lever into gear", the gears would grind. Once the car and thereby the gearbox warms up, everything is fine again, and that "fine" feeling seems to last about 2-3 hours in this weather after shutdown. After 2 hours or so, everything is cold-soaked again and requires rewarming.

Having lived in cold weather my whole life, it's just a fact of life with a manual gearbox and cold weather. Your car is likely just fine - you just never experienced that before. I guarantee that if you drove my car in its cold soaked state and your only experience is hopping into your -8 with the lowest temp you've ever seen of say 50 degrees, you'd think something was wrong too.

As long as the box works fine when the car is warm, I wouldn't sweat this.

cas2themoe

Thats exactly how I feel because mine works great when it warms up. It's just the cold weather that causes the gearbox to feel harsh. Now if its doing that while your cars gearbox has warmed up, then you may have a problem.

magixpuma

So I also Found out how unsporty the shifter feels when it gets cold. Suggestions learn how to double clutch and never force anything into gear. dc ing is a unfun way to shift but it makes the clutch very happy to shift nice and smooth.

Go48

You may want to change out the tranny oil for Red Line or Royal Purple synthetic oil. Haven't experienced driving in very cold temps, but in general, the syn oil noticably smooths out the shifts.

tania

Yeah mine did the same thing right off the bat when I got it. Took it to the dealer for that, and the rollover noise, and the fact that it's hard to get out of 1st sometimes. They let me drive another 8 and changed tranny oil to a thinner one. (warranty only covers this once) It's been better but will still do it when it's real cold.

Omicron

Still wouldn't hurt to take it to the dealer and have it checked... also, Royal Purple or Redline tranny fluid wouldn't hurt either...

Nubo

Hmm... the 2-3 shift is the smoothest one on my box...

Slims8

In my last transmission, I was having a slight grind into second, resistance going into 3rd, and a whine in 4th. Do you notice a whine in 4th?

crosswound

yea mine makes a kind of whine in slight grind noise in 4th but only when i'm launching the car and my clutch already exploded and i have a new one so it can't be that again hopefully ;p

fizzer

Exact same problem here, when shifting into third in the cold, i get a real bad notchy feeling, sometimes its so bad, i have to back out of the shift, let off the clutch, and go again. In the cold, all the shifts feel icky until it warms up, but 3rd is really bad. Also, when acellerating hard in 3rd, I can sometimes hear a nasty grinding noise coming from my gearbox area.

I've also have a nasty noise idling in neutral, putting the clutch in stops the noise... it sounds like a clanking, and the frequency rises with revs. Reverse has disengaged on me as well... i put it in reverse feels all the way in, start to let out the clutch, the car moves a tiny bit and then POP, GRIND, and the thing is back in neutral without me touching it.

I've signed up for an appointment on march 22nd via my dealer's online reservation thingy (kept getting voicemail when I called them). I'll let everyone know how it goes... but if anyone else gets some dealer feedback on this, lemme know so i can go into that service department armed with some information.

My advice is to take it in... every review on the RX-8 I've read mentions the tranny as an absolute joy to use, slick shifting and positive engagement. Its a large reason as to why I got the car in the first place, so now that its getting steadily worse, I'm taking it in.