Someone please remind me why I keep this car? It's higher maintenance then most of the women I've dated.

So the very next day after I replace my starter and drop in a new battery (thanks to Rxeckless, Scootish, Thief btw), my bloody transmission starts giving me ****.

For whatever reason, I'm having a hellva hard time shifting through the gears. I find if I shift at about 4k RPM (for 2,3,4,5 gears) it doesn't give me any grief. If I go above or below that by about 1k RPM the tranny just seems to block me from shifting. No grinding, or any other kind of noises.

First gear also seems to be odd even from a stand still now. It will eventually go in, but it's very notchy, and requires more force than normal. Also, it almost feels like I have to till the shifter slightly to the right to get it into first.

I'm trying to figure out what the hell it is... could be the shift forks, I guess in theory it could be the synchro's... hell... maybe even the fluid (though I doubt this, the onset was waaaay too fast and it's already been colder out then what it was when this first started happening). I dunno... I'm just pissed at that damn thing.

blah. the bitch is going into storage soon anyways...


... gives me time to save up to fix it. Damn it. I both hate and love my 8.

 

When I had my Series I, Scarborough replaced my transmission under warranty. Don't know if you still have warranty but a number of transmission have been replaced.

If you don't have warranty and need a transmission get the Series II transmission, a much better product.

 

chris, what fluid do you have in there? mineral base or synthetic? I know what you are saying about the onset happening so fast it seems unlikely that it would be the fluid but the fact that ALL gears are affected seems like it could be that...

also, bad syncros typically give you a grind when you shift. bad/wrong oil is normally the cause for being blocked out of a gear. BTW, i noticed this with my transmission too about shifting at 4k. and the best i could figure it is that if you are always shifting at the same rate/aggression, shifting at 4k was like an accident rev match. the transmission takes X amount of time to spindown when the clutch pedal is depressed. So i just kind of thought if you are always shifting the same gentle way its just the right amount of time for the transmission to spindown enough on its own to create a nice effortless shift.

chris, i really hope this turns out to be no big deal...fluid or something. mineral based oils can suffer PERMENANT thickening due to cold temperatures.

if you need any info or anything, PM me man. I know exactly how it feels to have high maintenance car stressing you out....my honda is treating me well so far. haha.

 

Its unfortunate to hear you're having trouble with the tranny.

I had the tranny fluid replaced on the Miata at the 72k mark. They supposibly went to synthetic. Even though its suppose to be better for the tranny, I found it more difficult to shift when the car is cold. I have to get to operating temperature before the tranny starts to behave normally.

If this keeps up, I'm going to ask them to switch it out back to mineral.

Its possible they used the wrong type of fluid in the tranny too... but they seem to be on top of things when it comes to servicing the car. So we'll have to wait and see.

Hopefully its a fluid thing and not something more severe.

 

There is a new thread around here, somewhere, which discusses a couple bolts on the shifter tower of the transmission that may have come loose on their own. It is said that re-tightening them helped the author to regain his silky smooth shifting.

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tech-garage-22/simple-thing-do-improve-shift-quality-207616/

 

Greg... thanks I'll have to take a look into that.. hopefully it's that simple

Charles: Thanks for bring that up... I'll look into that as well.

 

You have the AFE SS?

 

It does tend to make feel it worse but I believe he's running stock.

Doug & myself will be doing a diff & tranny fluid swap early in the spring your welcome to come up, have you ever swapped your fluids and going to synthetics like Redline MTL really helps.

360ricky is still lurking on the the 8 forum every once and a while

 

It's stock...

I'm running Redline... was swapped out last fall... it's weird... it drives fine as long as I shift at 4k... first and reverse are sticky... I'll try tightening up the bolts around the shifter this weekend... see what happens..

 

Your clutch pedal bracket is f-cked. The clutch engagement is very sensitive on this car. Shift quality goes to hell if the pedal is off by even a tiny amount.

 

This is a possible cause as well, is there lots of side to side play in the pedal as the clutch piston may not engage fully, which would explain first and reverse. I had that problem before I put in the brace. Also if you have some tranny/diff fluid (or some sort of light gear oil) disassemble the shifter and lubricate it well with it.

 

ah yes, the clutch pedal bracket is a good point. check that out. dont worry about feeling for play, just get a flashlight and laydown in the footwell there and have a look at it. when they are broken/breaking its very obvious.

have a look at the spot welds (i beleive there are two of them, one on either side) and the points where the 4 (or 3? its been a few months since ive replaced one, cant remember off the top of my head) nuts hold it down. If this is your problem chris, i've got you covered. I have a welded pedal assembly. if you end up needing it, let me know.

 

Yeah... I don't really think it's a problem with the clutch... but I'll add that to the list of things to check out and will let you know. Will likely dive down and check in the next few weeks when I start beating on the thing with a hammer (doesn't that fix everything?). In any case, thanks Greg... I'll let you know.

In any case, the car's been put away for the winter... so if it's none of the things listed above I'll deal with it in the spring I suppose. It's kinda weird 'cause the issue seemed to be slowly working itself out. The last few days of driving I was able to shift at 6 and 7 thousand RPM without too much grief.

 

Exactly, your pedal bracket is shifting around. Trust me on this one.

 

Okay.... Greeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeg? :D

 

What beater did you end up picking up for the winter?
________
UGGS

 

lol, if you need it you got it mate.

 

Thanks G!

Rick: The red rocket.

 

i have a spare clutch pedal with bracket and all. i have a used stock one and a broken/fixed re welded one.

 

*sniff*... I can feel the love... and it feels moist.

Thanks gents... I've followed up with Greg and he's been gracious enough to provide me with his. At this point the car's in storage and I'm not going to touch it until the spring... once that comes around I'll attack this issue in full force (I'll be completely sick of public transit by then).

Thanks again folks.. now I remember why I own a rotary.

 

these cars would be unbearable without the support of these forums.

 

True!

Then again, I end up worrying about all the crap that might happen!

 

my issue is i'm now ahead of the pack with 160 000km, i'm running into problems that aren't well documented with good solutions and detailed diy threads showing in detail how to apply the fix. maybe its time to trade in for a 2008 lol

 

haha... yeah... I hear ya. What kind of things have you run into lately?

My SSV is starting to tick up a storm as well... will be looking at Darkbrew's thread next year for sure. At least i've come to terms with public transit.

 

How do you know your SSV is sticky?