Shamblerock

I find that when I start the car in the winter mornings that after letting the car idle for 2 minutes or so, When I go to shift from 1st to 2nd, it is quite stiff and always produces an uncomfortable engagements. No grinding but as if it bangs in and make a reasonably load "CLUNKING/banging" noise which I can cerrtainly feel through the shifter. And sometimes it happens going in to 3rd but much less of an effect.

However, after the car is warmed for 15 minutes, there is only the odd slight noise occassionally but its not an issue per se.

Brought it in to the dealer. They said they couldn't replicate it . So I instructed them to change the tranny fluid to Red Line MT90 synthetic. They said it wouldn't make a difference but I insisted and was ready to pay. I specifically stated 6 or 7 times "RED LINE MT90". I find out that they put in Quaker State pure synthetic gear oil instead. Paid them nevertheless after some bickering.

So 2 days later and the problem is still there and I am pissed.

Do any of you have the same kind of problem? Have you figured out how to avoid this issue or have had Mazda fix it? What did they do?

I'd love to hear from the guys out in Calgary/Ottawa/Montreal if possible as their temps are usually much colder.


Thanks in advance for your feedback.

MrJynx

Shamble

I have the same problem, 1st -> 2nd gear is pretty tight and i get that "clunking" noise when it's cold. I also noticed that problem doesn't happen for any other gears.


MrJynx

BB8guy

thats how it is on a lot of other cars too...
there's always that "problem" with 1st to 2nd... a lot of my friends have it with their cars...
from an RSX Type S to Mazda3s to Jettas...

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

Sorry guys: not cold enough here :D I did notice a smoother tranny with the Redline oil though

moRotorMotor

I don't drive my car if there is snow outside so I wouldn't be able to answer your question. However, I do notice that it is quite difficult to do the 1-2 shift, especially if the engine is revved higher than normal. I believe I read somewhere that changing to Red Line solved the problem that I have experienced, but not sure if it will help due to extreme cold. It would be interesting to see that Red Line makes all the problems go away. Goodluck with your problem.

MyRxBad

iTrader: (1)

I wish I could help you out on the transmission problem.
Sounds like it's starting to go, or it maybe that clutch problem people were having. How's the clutch engagement in every gear? The higher gears should be less affected as they aren't as small a ratio as 1st and 2nd.
Definately keep an eye on it and if you have a chance. Next time you are at the dealer, get the guy to go out with you in yours and then take a demo out for a drive to compare. Might be worth the 15mins or so.
I can't stand hearing the "We can't replicate the problem!" <-- all that is saying to me is that they didn't care to look hard enough!

herbert

I have the same thing when going from 1st to 2nd when the car is cold. It usually only lasts for the first few times that I shift to 2nd (I have a number of 4 way stops in my neighbourhood). After that it is fine.

Incidentally, my '92 MX-3 did this from day one and still does this. I've always been gentle with it until it gets smoother. It now has 270,000 kms on it, original tranny, original clutch.

Shamblerock

Well I'm a bit releived from hearing the feedback so far. However, the big Clunk/bang sound/feeling can't be right or good for the car. What I might do is video tape the situation and bring my lap top to the dealer so they car hear and see what is going on and can't bullshit me. I've also thought it could be clutch related but I think you would get a grinding, which I don't have. I'll keep watching and report any further developments. But hey, the more people respond to this thread the better idea we have of what is going on.


Regards,

rx8cited

I'm not a Canadian owner, eh! I have MT-90 in my transmission and experience the rough 1->2 shift you're describing when it's cold.

MrJynx

I think the clicking/clunking sound is normal for all 8's. A friend of mine said that is because of the sports tranny. I'm by no means a car guy so i dunno(i love driving tho?)

I read in the "little things you love about your 8" that started up last year or even the year before one person posted something like this

"I like the sound of shifting in the 8, sounds like a gun loading " I think that's the clicking you are hearing..

Another thing I noticed is even in the summer and the engine is warm I do have some issues shifting from 1 - 2 when i'm driving hard. Sometimes it kinda fights me but it's gotten better over time.


MrJynx

Road Runner

I experience the same thing at cold temperatures, for the first 15 minutes or so of driving. The stiffness and clunk are definitely there. I plan on asking the dealer about it at my next service.

MyRxBad

iTrader: (1)

Shamblerock: next time you hear it, note some intial outside temps, so we know what you mean when you say "cold"

Shamblerock

I'm talking +5 Celsius over night in my garage to - 16 Celsius when parked in the outside parking lot for 8 hours while I am at work. It feels more or less the same in both situations.

Enzolor

Same problem. It seems to shift smoother if you delay your shift a little after you engage the clutch.

eg. Hold the clutch for a split second longer, before you shift 1 -> 2

RotorWheeee

Same here . Until it warms up a bit I just pause briefly in neutral as I'm shifting to second . Until it warms up a bit the down shift is slow moving traffic from second to first has to be below about 3km. I'm running Redline in the tran and diff , this issue seems to be there until the car temp gauge is almost all the way into normal running temp.

Shamblerock

Well it becoming rather unanimous that we all have the same issues. I guess its something we have to live with. Thanks for all the feedback.

BlueFrenzy

I haven't experienced the banging noise or feeling of a clunk through the shifter but it definitely is a bit sluggish when doing the shift. Maybe the reason why the dealer can't reproduce it, is because the car is already warmed up by the time they tinker with it, or that it's been in their garage.

That's really silly how the dealership put in Quaker State after being told. I read yesterday here on the forum that a fellow mixed two different types of Redline (MT90 and some other weight Redline). He said that made a huge difference or something.

Shamblerock

BINGO AGAIN.


I'm actually going to make the bast--d change it to red line and buy the oil myself. Mind you, I compared the quaker State pure synthetic 75W90 specs to the redline MT090 (75W90) and on paper they seem to be a little close. Mind you I know **** about which numbers are important but they seem close across the board.

BlueFrenzy

Hey Shamblerock ... I found the thread that I was looking at yesterday. It was by Stealth and he noticed that the MT90 alone wasn't that different. then he mixed the two and went nuts over it.

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...mooth+shifting

Shamblerock

Thanks blue frenzy. I was actually looking at both and got the feeling that the MT-90 was better than the MTL. I'm going look into it better over the weekend.

daddyg

well, i am still new to manual, so my shifts from 1-2 are not consistently smooth to begin with. i still have some problems with the timing between the friction point and giving it gas. i still get the 'double head bob'. hopefully when the weather clears up in april, i'll get more practice.

ChrisP

And here I was thinking I keep forgetting how to shift everytime I start the car on a cold morning!

It does seem possible to reduce or eliminate the clunk by getting the clutch pedal all the way in (ie right to the floor) before the shift reaches 2nd - but I can't achieve it consistently (probably because unless I'm lying flat in the seat I can't reach!).

scoop

The 'double head bob' will go away . . . The clutch on my 8 was very "catchy" and the release point was very close to the floor when I first bought the car. I was forever fearful of launching into the back of an Echo or something . . . After a while it became much friendlier and I stopped noticing the huge difference between the clutch 8 and the one in my other car. The clunk will be reduced if you deliberately slow down the shift, i.e. pop it out of first wait a second ot two and pull it into second. My car was doing it before I put it away. The thing is, my ancient Audi that I am driving daily these days does exactly the same thing. It's just the synchros being slow when the oil is thick, all is fine once things have warmed up. I think this thing in most cases is just "normal" behaviour in winter. Think of it as an analog transmission temperature gauge ;-)

daddyg

scoop- thanks. yeah, i've been trying to slow down the process. i was rushing th e shift and bringing up the clutch too fast. this is my first clutch, so had nothing to compare it to, but since i've tried a few of my friends cars (a 98 audi a4 and a 2001 saab 93) and both seem to have a more forgiving clutch.

maybe it is just me, or that my car still has low km's on it, but it seems that it definitely needs more gas to get it going, rather than just letting out the clutch.

Shamblerock

What I've tried to do for the last few days is to not remove my foot off the gas entirely i.e. in 1st until 3K-35.K let up on the gas pedal just a little (a very tiny bit)and shift almost with normal speed into 2nd at about 2.5- 3K. The result is a much smoother shift 8 times out of 10 with the clunking sound/feel reduced by 80% and sometime 100%. I do the same thing going into 3rd as well. (Kind of like a low RPM power shift Before, I would take my foot off the gas completely thinking that I didn't want to do damage. But at that low rpm, I doubt we are putting much strain on the clutch/driveline or wearing them out prematurely by any significant margin. This new method, I think, is probably better for the car overall since it appears to be less strin on the driveline.

If anyone tries or already does what I have tried over the past 2 days, give us feedback.