Some transmission/clutch issues
 

So I just bought this rx8 in january from a guy down in detroit and love the thing to death..that is until about a week ago. First off the short throw shifter seems to be making a slight grinding noise when shifting and resting my hand on it. When the car is running without the clutch engaged it makes a rattling noise, when the clutch is pressed down it goes away. I want to diagnose this issue before more damage is done but the dealership close to me wants to charge almost 900 bucks to take the tranny out, find out whats going on, and then charge more to fix it. I just think a transmission shop would be able to figure out whats going on for cheaper but no one really knows to much about this car around here. I sank a bunch of money into purchasing this car and just want it to be reliable. Any help/feedback would be greatly appreciated. Also if there is anyone around michigan that knows a lot about these cars it would be great to have a little local help.

-Jason

You're talking about the Axial Flow short shifter correct? The transmission is just naturally audible with it installed. Make a video of it, would help a lot in this case, probably an 80% chance that it's just normal operation and you're mistaking the "grinding" noise for the whirring of the input/output shafts.

The reason for this is that the transmission is right there under the shifter and the shifter is a direct lever into the transmission and transmits sound into the cabin.

I notice the rattling/grinding noise when bringing the car up in the rpms in first and second gears too. I can feel a lot of rattling in the shifter when doing so. Also the rattling when sitting at idle with the clutch disengaged is kind of scary sounding. I just feel like this car has went from 100% to shit in no time and it only has 43,000 miles on it. The owner before me was an auto enthusiast and wrote for an auto magazine so I don't think he let it fall apart and I haven't really got on the thing that much. Ive owned nothing but sticks so I know its not necessarily a driving flaw. I don't really want to pay the 850 at a dealership for them to tell me whats wrong with it and then pay a ton more for them to fix it. :/

Pull the shifter and check that the bushing at the end is intact...there were some issues with them early in the production...they would break....and then the shifter was really loud