Just bought my '09 in late October, and noticed the tranny issues described. Going into 6th gear the gears grind REALLY bad.

Stealership told me that the syncros are bad and they will need to replace the whole trans. I'm assuming this is a common issue - but I do know that my car sat out on the lot for over a year...

 

How many miles were on yours when you bought it?

 

200 - they could have been a rough 200 miles...

 

Heh.. you had/have the exact same issue I did. I hope they give you a better transmission than they gave me..

Looks like they gave you less problems though, I had to fight with Mazda & Dealership for 3 months.

 

Wow. Scary. Just so you guys know my '04 is on the original trans and has never popped out of gear on me...except when I had the synchro saver on it and had some shift lever interference on one of the bolts and it wouldn't go all the way in to gear properly in reverse. Once I removed it, it never happened again. I think something is preventing the shift lever to move fully in to engaged position. They should be able to easily take a look at the boots and anything else and see if there is any external interference.

I wonder if the new '09 tranny has internal hard stops that aren't in the correct location and preventing full gear engagement. Maybe a manufacturing problem where they are not in spec. or the tolerances are too large.

 

Dropped it off today for the tranny replacement. The dealer said that they're going to need to "confirm" the repair and get approval from Mazda, and until then they won't be able to give me a rental.

So here I am, stuck at home, no way to get to work tomorrow other than obtain a rental on my own. Mazda is NOT bestowing a lot of confidence in me right now... I hope I didn't trade in one turd ('07 Cobalt SS) for another...

 

they didn't have confirmation before you dropped it off? so they can just sit on it forever until you have to start bugging the **** out of them. I'd take the car back and tell them that when you have confirmation, i'll drop it off because other wise i Need a car.

 

Wow guys I don't like the sound of that at all. Sounds to me like mazda should be aware of this, because I'd be PISSED if my 2009 rx-8 popped out of gear randomly.

FFS my 1988 volvo has NEVER popped out of gear randomly. So ya, I wouldn't put up with that. straight up.

 

Then you have other kind of problems... like, performance

 

My '09 popped out of 4th once. It has 800 miles (400 when purchased). It freaked me out a little, but it hasn't done it again...so far

 

Incidentally today it just kept popping out of gear, 5 times before I got to highway and the car warmed up (was 50 something degrees today compared to the usual 80+).

Once in 1st, once in 2nd, two times in 3rd, and twice in 4th.

It's kind of weird because it doesn't make any noise, or movement or anything (unless I have my hand on the shifter), my revs will just suddenly climb, or if I'm cruising I won't notice till I push the throttle and it just revs in neutral.

 

My 09 hasn't done any of this yet. Fingers crossed.

 

I bought my 09 R3 with 317 miles and currently have 1100 on the clock. I get a little grind in first gear but it usually goes away after running the car for a while. Never had it pop out of gear but damn if I don't get the "sand whirling around in a tin can" sound from time to time. I plan on changing to redline or royal purple fluids at 5000 miles.

 

That is weird. The one time mine popped out, the lever actually popped out of place. I probably just didn't have it engaged good.

 

You just don't know how the first owner drove the car the first 700 miles and it doesn't take that many miles to destroy the tranny.

I would definitely push to get the transmission replaced but it would depend on the dealership. They could be a jackass about it but if your reported problems shortly after purchase, you should be ok.

Good luck.

 

Seems like it gets worse the colder it is.. another cold day in Florida today, and it popped out of gear 3 times till car warmed up.

 

I have a 09 R3 built in Fed09 I bought in May09 with 18 dealer miles on it. It has 5,600ish on it now and never once pop out of gear for me. Ive done a 1,500mile and a 2,500 mile road trips on it and never gave me any probs with anything. Only thing I can say is that 3rd gear doesn't like to go in as easy as the others but its nothing to noticeable.

 

I wouldn't accept anything less than a new transmission.

 

Well, I got my 09 at the end of Nov with 22 miles on it. It has maybe 1k on it now. It has never popped out of gear, but I do have the sand in a tin can sound when I accelerate... If that is the sound you all are describing, is it when you accelerate or constant? Yeah, Going into 3rd makes me a little nervous because of the "little" extra effort it takes...

 

January Update - I've driven the RX-8 another 500 miles since my last post and it hasn't popped out of gear since.

 

I have never had a car where the gear just popped out while driving it.

 

Come drive mine

 

This is a safety issue and they need to take care of the bad quality or poor design before someone gets into an accident and perhaps die.

 

Stop posting and take it to the dealer!!

It's wrong and needs to be fixed.

 

Sounds like there is some issues with the '09 trannys