Just picked up the car from Wayne Mazda. All I can say is F**k Wayne Mazda!

I tried to drive as much as possible in 4th gear on the way home. All seemed fine and then it popped out of 4th less than a mile from my house. I decided to go for a longer drive with as much shifting as possible.

It popped out of 4th several more times, but it still happens intermittenly. As I shift to 3rd and then back to 4th, the engagement to 4th feels different almost every time. Sometimes you feel the notchiness of engagement when you pull back into 4th, sometimes you feel the vague/numb/no engagement (can't pull back anymore), and sometimes you feel a slight click into gear (doesn't feel all the way in). In each case, the car goes into 4th gear and you might be able to drive for 5 seconds until it pops out of gear, or 5 minutes until it pops out gear, or it won't pop out of gear at all.

I'm calling Mazda of NA tomorrow morning and raising hell. It's very clear that the dealerships have no clue when it comes to these transmissions. Based on other people's experiences on these forums with some of the 2009 RX-8s, I don't even think that a new transmission would fix the problem nor would I trust these idiots to install it correctly. I am so angry at both Mazda corporate as well as Wayne Mazda right now.

I'm debating trading this in right now and buying a non-Mazda.

Thanks for listening to my rant.

 

Look the issues are really very small, you tend to see online complaints for those who have issues, for every one there may be 200 who don't.

YES, it is bloody appalling for Wayne Mazda to let you car go witht the same issue.

NO WONDER Mazda in North America has the worse customer satisfaction record for Mazda anywhere in the world, and this IS a prime example.

Frankly, the SM should be shot!..not literary.

They should have said to you look, we are having issues fixing this, we apologise, please take your car back we will be in touch, etc, or, don't give the car back.

I am thinking the Dealer did not even look at the info you supplied.

Again, this is very poor, the issue is Dealers do not see enough problems to gain repair experience.

Most "techs' and I use that word VERY loosely are just Grease monkeys...because that is all they do, change a filter, plugs and oil.

Yep, get onto MNAO, tell them all and get it fixed.

I thought Keven (tecnics) worked at Wayne Mazda, perhaps that is why we don't hear from him?

 

Update - 4/8/11

After going back to Wayne Mazda and talking with Manny (Manager in Service), they are trying to correct the situation. Manny set-up an appointment for the regional service manager and engineer to look at the car. He also set me up with a Mazda 6 loaner that I've been driving around since last week.

As far as my RX-8, Manny called on Friday and they are ordering me a new transmission. The new transmission will be here on Wednesday, so I should hopefully have the car back by next weekend.

I'll let you all know how the new transmission works out when I get the car back.

 

Good to see, you should of had an all new tranny in the first place...

I know MNAO Viginia Renesis Reman "factory" were also going into doing tranny re-mans for all RX-'s, according to Sleepy-Z who works there and posted here.

I do not know if they have started tranny re-mans or not.

But yeah, the sad thing is with "dealers" is they do not do enough of them to 'learn' how to do it correctly, even if it is all written before them in Mazda Tech Manuals.

Like rebuilding a rotary, near enough is not really good enough, correct tolerances, clearances and tightening torque is there for a reason.

Good LUCK...!....Again!

 

out off topic sorry....my 4th gear pop off always.....in my first drive day...it is the same issue ?....

 

Is your car a Series II (2009 +)? Is it only 4th gear?

 

yes it is..R3 2010 whit 15000 km.....it juste the 4th gear make this...at 4000 rpm....the first day to today.......

 

Update May 5th, 2011

Sorry I haven't written sooner, but I've been out enjoying my car once again. I picked up the car about 2 weeks ago and the new transmission is working great. No more popping out of gear and the shift action feels great.

Thumbs up to the service manager Manny and Wayne Mazda for finally taking care of me and fixing the problem correctly!

 

Hello everyone, first thanks for being part of this forum, it's because of these communities that diy people like me can do anything without being an expert myself or it being my new job.

05 manual 59k miles, purchased used recently so I have not learned all it's unique habits/noises yet.

It is making a squeak but I wanted to gather some opinions on it. It may be nothing but it may be something, since the car is new to me and I tend to chase down every noise/behavior as part of my process to make sure it's reliable.

So at idle, without the clutch, it squeaks, not loud enough to be heard windows up but easily heard outside the vehicle or windows down. Pressing the clutch in just enough to start engaging it stops the squeak. From what I've read here it might be an idler shaft in the transmission. Transmissions are black magic at this point to me though, so please... forgive me for not trying to make sense of the technical diagrams yet.

So I'm left wondering is this a failure point I need to address or oddly normal operation noise?
And, if it isn't a critical repair I need to make, can I silence or quiet it, short of tearing out the transmission? Maybe a oil additive? (I don't generally trust most additives though)

 

The 04-08 transmission has an unusually (among transmissions) loud sound while idling and clutch engaged, that disappears when you disengage. It should sound like a slowly churning kitchen mixer. If it makes a metal-on-metal squeak that's less good and may point to worn our clutch pilot bearing. Shouldn't be anything in the trans itself, but since this car is new to you, who knows what the previous owner did to it.

If you want to investigate further, start a new thread in the new members section. This thread is 9 years old and for series 2 cars.

 

why wouldn’t it be the throw-out bearing?

It could also be the input shaft pilot bearing

I would generally expect internal transmission noise to be whirring rather than squeaking, with squeaking being external.