Squidward

Sorry but I couldn't find or had difficulty finding this topic on this forum, maybe you can help me out.

Last night, I was sitting at a light waiting for green.. Well when green came on, I couldn't shift into first! It just wouldn't let me, and I was getting a bit impatience since people were behind me waiting.. It was a little embarassing for me.

It wouldn't go into 1st, 2nd or even 3rd! I kept trying, doing it harder and harder until I finally did it about 10 seconds after the light turned..

It hasn't happened the rest of the way to my GF's house and back to my own..

but WTF??? Has anyone experienced this problem? I've heard of the "sticking gear" problem but is this what they're talking about?

It's scary, because what if this happens to me *while* I'm driving.. holy crap that would be bad.

roachman

I saw a thread on this about 2-3 week ago. It was something like the bolts had backed of the flyweel or something like that.

I will search... see if I can find it.

Anyway... Get your car to the dealer ASAP!!!

Roachman

roachman

Found it!

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...hlight=problem

Squidward

thanks roachman! Sounds serious.. I will keep an eye on it today, and if it happens again, I will definitely take her in..

in the mean time, does anyone know if there is a service bulletin out for this problem on the RX-8?

Rudenauer

Squidward,

I sent you a PM. Here in SoCal when it happened to me a a few weeks back, I was told afterward, that my car was the second one the engineers at Mazda Irvine had heard about.

I don't know if it's happened anywhere else, but, it wasn't a one time anomoly on my car either.

Reading about the details of your experience here, it reminded me exactly of my initial symptoms.

GET IT TO THE DEALER NOW!!!!!

Before your stuck on the side of the road and have to call a flatbed, like me.

Wing

I would just like to note, you should be IN first sitting at the light.....


Hope it gets fixed if it's a problem!

tribal azn2

maybe u didnt put the clutch in?

KyngNothing

Whyfore? If you're at a light alone at night, and there's no one behind you, sure, keep it in gear in case someone comes up behind you... but if I'm sitting in traffic, I'm not going to keep it in gear all the time

CraziFuzzy

I've had many cars that had issues getting into first without any relative motion in the transmission. Usually, the best practice is to put it in first JUST before the car stops, so that there is some motion. If you didn't have this weird clutch problem that ha been mentioned, it may have just been a fluke that the gear's were perfectly (not) aligned, and simply wouldn't engage. The transmission is designed to shift while moving, so the synchro will get the speeds of the two surfaces NEAR matched, and THEN they can engage when they are lined up.

Wing

That's worse! What is someone just comes out of nowhere? I don't know, it's always safer to be IN gear, that way you can boot it outta there if need be. Especially worse if you can't get it in gear

Racer X-8

Take it in Squidward. That's just too wierd to be OK. Waiting could cause damage beyond the fix it requires now. Maybe a whole lot more damage, even to yourself!

Squidward

What do you mean I *should* be in 1st? You might be talking about a different issue.

The one I'm talking about is sitting idle at a stoplight, then shifiting from neutral to 1st to proceed with driving.. The shifter does not want to go into the 1st gear position.

I've only had this happen to me Saturday night, and now this morning. But this morning wasn't so bad, it only resisted the first two attempts.. the third attempt it went in..

Do you think this may be a problem with the syncro? If you push the gear into position, there is a midpoint where you feel it allow you to go further into position. I mean you can do it hard and force it in, butit will be notchy, or you can apply steady pressure and it will eventually shift into the gear position..

Does that make sense?

Anyway, my stick couldn't get past that mid-point that one time.. Only after constant attempts did the stick go into gear.

Superfan

It's happened in every car I've owned. It's bound to happen at some point in the 8. I know this is unrelated but my friends Yamaha R6 does it all the time. If you don't down shift before you come to a stop you have to rock the bike back and forth to get it to downshift. Once it took me about 20 seconds to get the bike into first and the light turned green. Here is something else that rather embarrassing. You go to a fast food joint / toll, etc and pull up to the drive thru window. While your getting the food or exchanging the money you forget to put the car in neutral and let the clutch go. The car jumps, you drop your food and the cashier is laughing their *** off. Man that sucks lol.

Squidward

I took it around the neighborhood today around 2pm and could not reproduce the problem. The shifting does feel pretty notchy, but nothing way out of the ordinary for a manual transmission. I dropped into the mazda dealership where I bought my car and talked to them about the problem.

The service advisor eventually took down my VIN and did a search for recalls, but as of now, there are no recall orders for the car in their computers. (she checked up the mazda dealers website, as I watched).

She said without a reproducible symptoms, they might not be able to find out what the problem is.. They bill diagnosis time, but if it is billed with a repair, there might be a problem with getting warranty coverage for that billing. (wtf???)

anyway, I said well then I'll track the problem closely and try to come up with some useful data for them to work with.

I just hope I don't get jacked liked Rudenauer did with his RX8 when his failed on him on the road.

This doesn't look like something easily reproducible for me, and I have a feeling by then I'll be in the same boat as Rudenauer.

It's sort of like trying to report a missing person.. They won't do anything until the person is half way across the country in the back of somebody's van or trunk, or in some lake or wooded area...

Squidward

Yeah I know that feeling... happened to me with my Tercel the very first time I drove it through a drive through, only days after learning how to drive a stick..

5Gen_Prelude

But as others have suggested, get used to shifting into first as you slow down. You only have to be creeping along and it will pop right in. If you want to shift to neutral after that, go right ahead, your syncros will be lined up for 1st gear when you want to go.

Squidward

that'll take some getting used to, but I'll try..

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone.

I'll update the thread if things get worse.

carnut

Squidward:

I've noticed that problem occasionally in all my manual-shift cars over the years. Assuming nothing is actually wrong with the car and the shift lever won't move out of neutral (as in moving to first gear), release the clutch pedal (engage) in neutral, depress the clutch pedal to the floor again, and then try moving the shift lever. This has worked for me every time. Hope that's all it takes for your car and that nothing is wrong. Good luch!

Wing

I do this all the time and have never had a problem, I completely agree.

I have had (in my other car) the gear not engaging and I'm certain it was because I coasted in neutral, I rarely did though.