8is>enuff

At least I made it home from work. I didn't find a thread that dealt with my symptoms exactly so I thought I'd post this here and seek guidance.

I pulled into my driveway and waited for my garage door to open. Once it did I tried to put it into 1st gear to pull in. At the time I was going ~ 5MPH. It wouldn't go into first so I put it back in neutral and tried 1st again as I stopped - still no go. I tried to go into 2nd and then up to 1st. After trying several times it clicked into 1st.

As I pulled to a stop in my garage the engine started hesitating so I shut it off. At this point the gear lever moves freely but will not engage any gear. I turned the car back on and it idled fine but would not engage any gear. I'm leaning towards something wrong with the clutch or maybe the weld CharlesHill mentioned.

Some notes:
If I push the clutch down to the floor and try to put it into first the car edges forward.
I have 48XXX miles, build date 8/03.
I have the AFE short shifter and redline tranny and diff fluid (since ~15000 miles).
I don't shift hard and don't slam gears. I almost always rev-match my downshifts and occasionally double-clutch.

Any suggestions?

Winning 8

clutch plate spring broke, air in your clutch system, clutch master leaking, clutch slave leaking.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

or the tranny is internally hosed, otherwise it should still be able to force the gear to grind just dropping it in without a clutch

try this, can you get it into gear with the engine turned off and then start it up with the clutch pushed in, or will it just not go into gear no matter what, or does it go into gear and jump forward when you try to start it like the clutch is out?

8is>enuff

I just went out to take a look.

While the car is off I could row through the gears relatively normally. I started the car in neutral (no problem), and tried to shift to 1st gear without success. It felt like it was trying to go into gear but not quite grinding. While running, it would want to go forward every time I tried to shift to 1st gear. The gearshift would not go into any forward gear or reverse.

I shut down and was then able to row through the gears again. I put it into reverse and started the car. It stumbled a couple of times as it started but once it did the idle was fine and I was again able to row through the gears. I even drove backwards a little bit in reverse and then forward in 1st gear. It seemed pretty normal, but I didn't want to push it.

swoope

iTrader: (5)

pressue plate bolts have loosened up. known problem. or clutch master cyl is dicked up. know problem.. tsbs for both..

beers

8is>enuff

I was looking for the pressure plat tsb but I couldn't find it. I don't think one was ever issued. I did see the clutch master cylinder one and have it printed out.

Mazda roadside assistance is on its way. I'll provide an update when possible.
Thanks.

Gambit

good luck man....sorry to hear about this crap

8is>enuff

Thanks Gambit. It's always something.

Abbid I read your thread a long time ago. I hope they don't try to void my warranty, as I've gone over 100 several times on private roads. Your drive home does make me feel a little better. It's good to know that someone has it worse.
I hope the clutch problem (which I'm assuming it is) hasn't screwed up my tranny at all, if that's why you were implying.

8is>enuff

Update.

They called and told me I need a new clutch. I'm more than a little surprised. I've been driving MT's for over 10 years and haven't burned through one clutch, let alone one at 48000 miles. The clutch may have AT MOST four or five launches (5K-7K) in its lifetime, and not one of those has been in the past 15,000 miles.

The odd part is that I haven't felt slipping AT ALL. It seemed a bit harder to get into first from a stop but there was no sign of slippage and no clutch smell while driving.

Two questions:
Is there a way to determine if the failure was because of the pressure plate bolts? (though I'm betting if it is, they've already tightened them up nice and tight).

Is it even possible for a clutch to go out like I described in my above posts and then seem to be in fine working order? I should mention that in addition to moving back and forth in my garage (as described in Post #4), I backed it out and pulled forward when Mazda roadside came to pick up the car. It seemed to engage just fine.

jzrx8

when my clutch went out in my Mazda3 at 20,000miles and 4th car with stick, the car wouldnt move at all. if you let the clutch out and give it so gas the engine would just rev and the car didnt go anywhere. And Mazda voided my warrenty because they said the front tires were to wore and it looked like i had been racing! I will as the tranny guy at work tomorrow and ill let you know what he says.

swoope

iTrader: (5)

there was a vin # range for the pp bolts. abbid might be able to help you with that..

beers

8is>enuff

Thanks Jzrx8 and swoop. I have copies of the PP bolt issue and the TSB for the clutch master cyl.

I just talked to the regional service guy, Jim. Decent fellow. The Mazda service tech at my dealer is out sick for this entire week at least.

He explained that they checked the PP bolts and clutch slave and they weren't the cause of the problem, so they assumed it was the clutch (at the time they thought the clutch wouldn't engage at all, due to some miscommunication on their end). I explained how it didn't seem to be wearing at all and the fact that it engaged just fine before and after my shifting problems. He told me he was going to do some research on my problem and get back to me. I tipped him off about the pilot bearing possibly being out of line.

I'm relieved they haven't taken the hard line on this one, and actually believe he's interested in helping. The problem now lies in the fact that I'm most likely going to have to authorize them to tear down my tranny in the hopes that they find some mechanical failure that caused my symptoms. At that point I'm at their mercy.

He did recommend changing the clutch once they had everything apart anyway - if the teardown is covered under warranty I'd only have to pay parts, and if it's not I may as well put a new one in because there's no point in paying for the labor twice.

They also pulled a CEL from my car. P0442. Something about a purge something or other. So I'm getting a new one of those and a new intake manifold catch tank under warranty. I'm off to research that now.

8is>enuff

No warranty for the clutch. He said the clutch is burned down real good. They're saving my parts so I can take a look at them this weekend. I swear I know how to drive a manual and don't launch my car. Oh well, this was an upgrade I was planning on doing, just not at this point. Damn, I still have my brakes to install and my bodykit should be at the shop any day. This thing's turning into a money pit.

I've ordered these parts - http://www.rx7store.net/product_p/actcomborx8.htm and even notified them of their typo (I wanted to make sure I wasn't actually ordering a clutch dick). They should be here early next week and installed the same day.

Thanks for the help everybody. I'll comment on the combo when I get a chance, in the appropriate thread of course.

Edit: Typo on the website has been fixed. That was quick.

Go48

Might as well go for a lightened flywheel while you're at it.

8is>enuff

Yep, I got both the ACT clutch and Prolite flywheel on their way.

They ruled out the clutch cylinder tsb because it's frickin freezing around here and the tsb only mentions it being a problem during hot ambient temps. I'll make sure they have a look at it while it's apart though. Hopefully we can make sure it alright before they put everything back together.

8is>enuff

Well I'm going to ask for all the replaced parts so I can take a look at them and post up pictures. It won't help me make a warranty claim I'm sure, but I'd like to know what went wrong.

Abbid - I'll definitely have them check to see if the master cylinder tsb applies to me and have them take care of it before installing my new parts.

Charles - My car is at the service center right now. I'm going down there to pick up the parts either tomorrow or Saturday and I'll try to take a look but my car will not be on a lift at the time. I guess I can crawl under it and take a look. I have a flashlight in the trunk. Quick question - wouldn't they notice something like that on the teardown, or at least notice and address it as they install the new one? Either way I'll take a look this weekend.

Also, it's the ACT Street/Strip clutch not the Extreme Street/Strip clutch but I'll double check.

Thanks everybody.

8is>enuff

Alright then. I'll check that bracket this weekend as well. Out of curiosity how difficult is the fix for the bracket if it happens to be broken?

I'll also double check the part # on the pressure plate.

8is>enuff

Don't you go burning through another clutch now.

8is>enuff

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...&page=21&pp=15 Post 310. Its the best I can do.

I'll give my opinions on this clutch/flywheel combo when I get it in case you're interested in it.

8is>enuff

I went and took a look at the parts yesterday. They wouldn't let me take them home because the Mazda service guy wasn't there and the people who were there weren't authorized to let me have them yet, as they said there might be a core charge for keeping the parts. While I know they are not entitled to my old parts, there was nobody there who was authorized to release them to me. I was able to speak with a tech who was familiar with my repairs. He races a Miata and was quite helpful.

Anyway, my clutch is fried. And I mean fried. The friction plate is burned down to the rivets and there's marks on the inside teeth of both sides of the pressure plate. He also showed me the holes where the pressure plate was bolted on, and to my untrained eye it didn't look like there was evidence of any movement.

On an interesting note, one of my clutch springs was broken. Cracked in half actually. The tech explained to me that he had never seen that before. Neither had I. When I asked how that could happen he said it would only happen with several high RPM clutch drops. I explained to him what I have mentioned several times in this thread - that's not how I drive my car. He couldn't come up with another reason. In his defense he was helpful, and we shot the **** about cars for a bit. He runs his Miata at tracks all over the northeast.

I also got under the dash to look for any welds coming undone. I didn't see any separation, but as the clutch and transmission were sitting on the floor next to my car there might not have been enough pressure to open up the gaps, if there were any.

I'll get pictures this week.

8is>enuff

I just got it back. Wow.

This is my first lightweiht flywheel and I can't believe how fast it revs. I haven't really stomped on it yet (I'm allowing a little break-in period), but rev-matched downshifts are now a joy instead of a necessity. Whether this is due to the new clutch or fly or the fact that my old clutch was giving up the ghost I'm not sure. What I do know is my car is a joy to drive now.

The engagement of the clutch is a little low so I'm off to find a clutch pedal adjustment thread.

Interesting side note: When I got my car back it didn't seem like the short shifter was installed, so I turned back around and returned to the dealer to see what was up. They told me it was the same shifter I came in with. I went home and took it apart to see what was up. The green pad was just wedged in between the rubber and leather shift boots and the metal around the hole that goes to the tranny (the last hole, underneath the sticky pad) was bent up slightly. These caused the shift **** to ride higher on the threads. I hammered the metal down and put the green pad back in its proper place and it seems to be back to normal for the short shifter. Maybe a little high but I re-installed it twice so maybe it's just in my head.

I have the parts in my trunk and haven't forgotten about the pictures. I'll snap a few and post them up when I get home. Is there anything specific you guys want to see?

8is>enuff

ACT Prolight.

It's not too light from my limited experience with it. I did bog almost to the point of stalling when I pulled away the first time, but I'm going to blame the low engagement point of the new clutch for that one. After that I pretty much adjusted subconsciously.

The notchyness (if that's a word) I felt shifting into fourth and fifth is also gone.

8is>enuff

Want my old one? Notice the cracked spring on the left.

8is>enuff

Pressure plate

8is>enuff

Both.