...Searching for "shift" / "shifting" brought up damn near every post ever made, so I apologize for the repost, be that the case...



My question is this:
Are there RPMs in which our syncros are more inclined to line up without delay? I swear, after 8000rpms I feel like I'm trying to push a square peg through a circular hole - particularly when going from 1st to 2nd gear. 2nd to 3rd isn't quite as bad, but once again I feel like I'm forcing the car to do something it doesn't really want to if I wait until 9000 to upshift.

Recently I've noticed that shifting from 1st to 2nd @ 7000rpms can be done with a mere flick of the wrist. The resistance from the gearbox at 7k is comprible to that of an arcade racing game - almost non existant! The "sweet spot" for 2nd to 3rd seems to lie just a little higher than that


Are these shift points of minimal resistance just a unique characteristic of my car created by my driving style, or are these "sweet spots" something all of our trannys share? I ask because these light-speed shift-spots are addictive, and I'd like to know how much self-control I should approach them with, ya know? If it's a part of the RX8 design, then I think 7100 is my new favorite number If it's just an oddly-worn-in characteristic of my car, then I need to stop treating my car like it's the Mach5...

 

Sorry, but I didn't notice any such problem on my 8.

 

kinetic, how many miles do you have on your trans?? maybe its time for a fluid swap.

 

You should not be feeling that kind of resistance with your trans. You should take it in to get it looked at.

 

I've been taking it in since I bought the damn thing and they tell me time and time again "that's just how the transmission is"

I bought her with 47000mi, she now has 71000.
She's just as bad now as she was then - no change for better or worse.

When I took it in for the 60000 checkup, I took it to MazMax & not the dealer (MazMax is one of the most reputable rotary specialists in Houston). They agreed with me right off the bat and said the tranny was **** and switched me over to synthetic fluid. It didn't help at all.
I took it back to the dealer and explained to them that *THE* rotary specialists of Houston said my tranny was ****. Their response? "that's just how the transmission is"

Ever since that bullshit I've made sure to shift as hard and as fast I can possibly can every time. (To give you an idea of how rough I am, I'll post pictures of my driving gloves when I get a chance - I've had them for less than a year and the right one looks like it's served a tour of duty in Iraq, while the left one still looks new.) My 4th gear syncros are almost completely blown, 3rd is starting to follow, and 5th has just recently started to feel a little "notchy." I have 29000 more miles to **** that tranny up beyond repair & get a new one for free.


But, despite my "unique" situation, I've seen many MANY posts from different people about how 2nd gear puts up a fight - until MazMax said something about it, I had assumed that everyone here was grunting when shifting into 2nd...




...now I'm confused...

...and worried... well... more worried....

 

i feel that with mine its gets harder and harder to shift as the rpms increase. at 9000 i feel like i have to force it in. mazda has told me the same thing, thats the way its supposed to be. i only have 7500 miles on it so i dont know

 

oh, I dunno if it makes a difference, but everything on my car is bone stock and it's an '04

 

I have the same problem but 5th gear. Everything is smooth shifting up until 5th which takes a little extra umph to get it in gear.

I have the Richard Paul SS though, so that may be part of it.

 

1st to 2nd is harder to shift at higher rpms but could mostly be solved by giving it a bit more time before i let the clutch out in my case. I think its just a characteristic of a high rpm engine and its gear ratio.

 

^that's true. because 1st to 2nd gear has more of a percentage drop than the other gears, i tend to have to let out the clutch slower.

 

I inclined to say that it could be a clutch issue. It sounds like your clutch may not be disengaging completely. There is at least one TSB for this kind of issue.

 

So you're saying that your warranty will allow you to destroy your tranny and they'll just replace it. I don't think it'll be that simple, but I could be wrong.

 

If I take a hammer to it, they won't cover it. Extended waranty covers things that break due to sub-standard craftsmanship. Regardless of how I drive, this tranny will die soon, because it started to self-destruct around 50,000.
I'm just speeding up the dying process by not babying it, because I don't want to drive around on a limping tranny any longer than I have to.

 

I've had a similar problem, but to a lesser extent. Above 7000 it is noticeably more difficult to put the car into gear, and i rarely go WOT because of it. What year is your car? Mine is an 04

 

Good luck with that, but I'd read the warranty information carefully. I'm sure there is some clause in there about abusive driving. They'll probably say that it's not sub standard craftsmanship, but how you drove it that caused it to break.

 

+1

That's not a smart Idea, Mazda won't just replace a tranny without inspection. That type of abuse will leave tail tell signs on the transmission parts. They can determine if it's been abused or not, the warranty booklet specifically says that misuse and abuse is not covered. This goes the same for the extended warranty. Your gambling with this but hey you never know. I give you a 50/50 chance. Good luck

 

Lets just hope that the mazda dealer does not have the internet as Mazda and other car makers have used information like this found on forums to deny warranty claims.

 

seems cosistent. what the dealer prlly meant was "yes - the shifting is not great, and the tranny is ****. that's just how the transmission Mazda put in the 8 is."

abbid = yoda??!!

help you I will.

 

oh, and at 70k + on the odo you prlly have zero chance of getting anything done under warranty. I'll eat my hat if it doesn't get plugged into the "normal wear & tear" category.

GL tho.

 

You need to pause in neutral and wait until the gearbox accept the next gear. There is no hard and fast rule, the synchro will let you know when the next gear is ready if you apply very gentle pressure toward the gate and wait patiently. When I changed from OEM to Royal Purple transmission fluid, the timing completely changed and I had to relearn shifting smoothly. The RX-8 gearbox gives lots of feedback, especially when you change out the mushy OEM shift **** for an aftermarket one.

 

I really never realized that this "shifting" issue was so prevalent.

I have 55k miles on my original tranny and it transitions from gear to gear in either direction with absolutely no delays or resistance at any RPM. There is no need to "pause" on a properly working tranny.

I don't know if it is an assembly tolerance from Aisin, a problem with the clutch release design/adjustment or a user failure or even a combination of all three, but I haven't experienced the failure directly to really understand what is going on.

 

Sorry I didn't mean to give the impression that my gearbox balk at a shift unless I pause deliberately. I just prefer to match the shaft speed using as little synchro as possible, which means I pause in neutral and wait for the next gear to free up. The thing is the OEM flywheel takes even longer to spin down than the shafts, so there is really no reason to rush the shift, cause you have to wait for the RPM to drop anyways.

Okay so I double-clutch my downshifts too, I guess I'm one tweed hat away from being a stubborn old MG-driving *****.

 

Wow. You must have a 300 lb flywheel!
Mine is at the next RPM before I can even move my wrist the distance to the next gear.
In the time it takes me to clutch-in, switch gears, clutch-out (a total of about 1 second), my motor could drop from 8000 to 2000 RPM.
If you add an entire (and unnecessary) in/out of the clutch to that, you could hit idle.
I just blip the throttle as I pull the lever.