I'd like your opinion, fellas;

- Trans has 36k miles

- Prior to rebuild (Highly recommended Ford synthetic gear oil);

The shifting was very notchy into all gears at any rpm, however there wasn't a a big problem with the shifter going into any gear when the engine is off or when the car is stationary.

- After rebuild (Whatever gear oil dealership used)

The shifting while the car is moving is buttery smooth, now. However, it's almost impossible to get it into any gear with the engine off or while stationary with the engine on. I have to try rowing through a bunch of gears before I can get it into first. I'm being told that it should ease up after a 5k break in period, which I think is bullshit as new cars do not have this break in period or problem?

The dealership replaced gears/synchros on one of the shafts, the master and slave cylinders and the clutch release bearing.

Regardless, I'm going back tomorrow as this is not acceptable and possibly dangerous as it takes me about 10 seconds to get it into first gear from any stop, unless I put it in gear prior to stopping and depress the clutch for the duration of the stop which is also unacceptable.

One step forward, multiple back

Any thoughts?

 

dealership = no surprise

 

What dealer?

Also how much did they charge you? Maybe for what you paid you could have gotten a tranny with low mileage for less...

 

It's under warranty.

Car is back in the shop and hopefully this time Mazda will just authorize a factory rebuilt or new fully assembled trans for the shop to just swap in.

 

every dealership 6-spd rebuild I know of has gone bad, which is why I'm crapping my pants since I just installed one in my car, got it cheap out the back door 6 years ago and never installed it because it has a 0.01% chance of working right, just needs to get me by for the moment so hopefully it will at least not blow up the first time I shift it

 

Got to stay positive about such things. Sooner or later they'll get it right - even if I have to get Mazda NA involved, especially that the car was "Mazda Certified" when I had purchased it.

 

in your case it will likely be taken care of, typically it will be swapped out with a new one

 

Good luck with yours!

 

I'm working on the service tools to rebuild my own, I own five total; two with broken countershafts/gears, two with bad bearings, and the dealer repaired one that I just installed.

 

I have 3 good ones...one with less than 15 miles....one with about 48K miles..the one in my car that refuses to break after about 70K miles...

and one that I have to rip apart that someone who shall remain nameless forgot to put oil in....and they got my other good one

I'm hoping that there is one part in the blown core to finish one that I have apart to fix from another car

 

I'll have Mazda contact you for that 15mile trans if they tell me that they don't have any :D

 

this last one went three full race seasons and then only had a bearing issue so I can't complain about that, it beats blowing off all the 2nd gear countershaft teeth and mating gear assembly. That's $600 just for those two parts. So hopefully the worst is behind me now. It had a ton of internal drag too so having a free-spinning one in there now will feel like the engine gained a bunch of power

 

The tools to measure the drag of the internals for clearance setting?

 

My RX8 felt slightly peppier when I had it back for half of the day. That could be because I had a Mazda 2 for a rental, though.

Got to love launching a RWD car!

 

I bought one that was reported to be stiff for $150. It's going into the car in a couple of months. I'll probably get the present one (bad rev & 1st gear) rebuilt.

 

nothing scientific, just having the two side by side and turning the input shafts by hand at low rotational speed. The friction level has to certainly compound with the high revving capability of this engine

the internals are set with feeler gauges, in this case though the issue is bad bearings which they aren't adjustable; just good, bad, or something in between


.

 

Don't the bearing clearances have to be checked/shimmed as needed? That's what I had to do on my Mazdaspeed Protege trans when I had installed an aftermarket LSD.

 

Yes, but they set the free/end play between the gears, synchro hubs, and bearings. It's not the issue for the gearbox I just took out with the bearing drag issue. In all the gear boxes I've cycled through only one had a grind issue due to one of the 3rd gear synchros breaking and even with that one it was only a minor issue that was ignored before the all the 2nd gear teeth sheared off the countershaft. That gear is integral to the countershaft so it requires a full tear down and replacement, plus it also damages the mating 2nd gear on the mainshaft. I broken about four S1 gear boxes that way previously.

 

Got it. I broke 3 transmissions in my MSP, but I had it for 8 years and had put 200k miles on it before she was passed down to another Mazda enthusiast. Only one break was my fault, however

 

2009 6MT 31K

3rd & 5th synchro rebuilt by Wayne under warranty
Notchy cold shifting, need to shift into 2nd before pushing it into 1st.
normal shifting when car is in motion / after warmup
will change to MT90 after 3000 miles

wish me luck :>

 

Good luck!

 

Got the car back today, finally, and I'm happy to report that it's a success. They've replaced the second shaft/gears/synchros this time around.

 

your problem could be two things. syncro is not stopping the gears when stationary but engine running or your clutch is not fully disengaged when it should be. have your clutch pedal adjusted I would say.

 

It's all taken care of, now. I'm going to put the ford synthetic fluid in there again to hopefully smooth it out as much as possibly, especially when it's cold.

 

guess I have to eat my words after finally getting mine back together and on the road and it working as well or better than any other trans I've ever had in it. Trying something new for oil based on a racer trick; engine oil rather than the usual gear oils. The particular oil I chose is rather unique and the trans is shifting awesome. May throw in some some Liqui-Moly MoS2 additive to make up for the lack of gear oil additives. Otherwise time may or may not tell. They usually don't last long enough for me regardless so I figure there's nothing to lose except one more transmission ...