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Transmission Grinds into 4th gear...

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Old 11-02-2009, 09:15 AM
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Transmission Grinds into 4th gear...

My 8 began to grind WHENEVER I shift into 4th gear above 4k RPM, even when I was granny shifting. It grinds from time to time when shifted between 2.5K - 4K rpm (without granny shifting that is).

After a quick search, I figured that synchro may have gone bad so I took it into dealer for a look, the dealer was able to verify the problem but was saying that they do not have the tools required to fix the problem (it is a large dealer btw). Here is what I get:

"CUSTOMER STATES GEAR GRIND WHEN SHIFTING INTO 4TH GEAR, ALWAYS HAPPEN AT 4000RPM. VERIFIED COMPLAINT. NOISE IS INTERNAL IN TRANSMISSION. SPECIAL TOOL NEEDED FOR NOISE WHICH DEALER DOES NOT HAVE. RECOMMEND CUSTOMER GOES TO ANOTHER DEALER FOR THIS REPAIR"

Now question is: could this even be possible? I called another dealer and describe what happened, the service guy answering the phone basically was implying that it is quite impossible that the first dealer does not have the tool to do the job and was just BS me to do the warranty repair somewhere else...What do you think?

Also, the second dealer is saying that if there is indeed something wrong with the transmission, it would take a day or two to get the repair done and the rental car cost would not be covered by warranty...I am still under B2B warranty. Is that true?
Old 11-02-2009, 10:28 AM
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yeah, the first dealership just did not want to deal with it.

and i would get it fixed asap. it wont go away. it'll only get worse. i had it happen to me on the 4th to 5th shift above 8000rpm.
Old 11-02-2009, 10:32 AM
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Originally Posted by kersh4w
yeah, the first dealership just did not want to deal with it.

and i would get it fixed asap. it wont go away. it'll only get worse. i had it happen to me on the 4th to 5th shift above 8000rpm.
just wondering, if that is the case, how dare they put them in writing...it is kind of stupid isn't it .

i will certainly get it done...one way or another. now can anyone answer the question about car rental during warranty repair? i usually just wait and never deal with that...
Old 11-02-2009, 10:39 AM
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you could always call mazda of n. america and complain to them. just because they were asshats.

"what kind of a dealership doesnt have the tools to do repairs on current mazda vehicles, blahlbhalbhah."
Old 11-02-2009, 11:09 AM
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. i had it happen to me on the 4th to 5th shift above 8000rpm.[/QUOTE]


Mine does this too, it start doing it on 1 to 2 also above 8000 rpm but change fluids and 1 to 2 stop grinding.. do i need a new tranny

Last edited by rx 8speciale; 11-02-2009 at 11:16 AM.
Old 11-02-2009, 12:04 PM
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mines been doing this in 4th gear at high RPMS, 5-6k and above even while granny shifting....if the synchro has gone bad just how much money will it cost to fix....for those of you who have had this done
Old 11-02-2009, 02:22 PM
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To be fair, synchronizing from 8000rpm down to 5000rpm in a split-second is a much harder job than what most synchros have to put up with. Remember, when speed doubles, inertia quadruples. Not that that's an excuse for the transmission to grind into gear, but it is a reason why it would be doing that.

What is the OEM transmission fluid, anyway? Is it gear oil or ATF? If it's gear oil, has anyone tried ATF? ATF gets sticky when squeezed into a thin film, so it might make the synchros work faster.
Old 11-02-2009, 02:49 PM
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Originally Posted by fyrstormer
To be fair, synchronizing from 8000rpm down to 5000rpm in a split-second is a much harder job than what most synchros have to put up with. Remember, when speed doubles, inertia quadruples. Not that that's an excuse for the transmission to grind into gear, but it is a reason why it would be doing that.

What is the OEM transmission fluid, anyway? Is it gear oil or ATF? If it's gear oil, has anyone tried ATF? ATF gets sticky when squeezed into a thin film, so it might make the synchros work faster.
but my problem is that the car grinds at 4kpm into 4th gear.... guess u r not talking to me ..
Old 11-02-2009, 02:57 PM
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I do not believe this is a syncro issue. I believe that it is a bent shift fork. I had this issue.
Old 11-02-2009, 05:47 PM
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I had this problem going into 5th.

Dealer kept the housing and shaft and replaced everything else under warranty.
Old 11-02-2009, 07:52 PM
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Hmm, did u call em out on what "special tool" they didnt have??? They have everything needed to tear apart/repair a tranny, pssht please... If u end up getting it done, i guarentee it will take longer than a couple days. I had mine done at a reputable dealership and i didnt get the car back for better part of 2 weeks. Car will set in the lot for couple days waiting its turn...then they will get it in and tear tranny down, find the defective parts....order new parts from Mazda...takes couple days to get there...parts arrive and the tranny is put back together...u get ur car back with a couple new scratches, dings and greasy smudges from the dirty techs paws being all over ur ride, oh and hopefully a smoothe tranny In the meantime i drove around a POS base 3 provided by the dealership. Good luck with the forthcoming headaches..

Last edited by jones75254; 11-02-2009 at 08:02 PM.
Old 11-02-2009, 08:01 PM
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Originally Posted by kersh4w
i had it happen to me on the 4th to 5th shift above 8000rpm.
same problem here, but it only happens when I drive really aggressive. Not much of an issue at the moment, so no need to worry right now...
Old 11-02-2009, 08:37 PM
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Thumbs up

I had this same problem then I changed my fluids to a synthetic 75W90 gear oil and still had it. Then I put some extra fluid to top it off some more through the gear box by taking out my stick shifter out and pouring it through the hole and voila! No more grinding in fourth gear!
Old 11-03-2009, 12:22 PM
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Originally Posted by shallowater
My 8 began to grind WHENEVER I shift into 4th gear above 4k RPM, even when I was granny shifting. It grinds from time to time when shifted between 2.5K - 4K rpm (without granny shifting that is).

After a quick search, I figured that synchro may have gone bad so I took it into dealer for a look, the dealer was able to verify the problem but was saying that they do not have the tools required to fix the problem (it is a large dealer btw). Here is what I get:

"CUSTOMER STATES GEAR GRIND WHEN SHIFTING INTO 4TH GEAR, ALWAYS HAPPEN AT 4000RPM. VERIFIED COMPLAINT. NOISE IS INTERNAL IN TRANSMISSION. SPECIAL TOOL NEEDED FOR NOISE WHICH DEALER DOES NOT HAVE. RECOMMEND CUSTOMER GOES TO ANOTHER DEALER FOR THIS REPAIR"

Now question is: could this even be possible? I called another dealer and describe what happened, the service guy answering the phone basically was implying that it is quite impossible that the first dealer does not have the tool to do the job and was just BS me to do the warranty repair somewhere else...What do you think?

Also, the second dealer is saying that if there is indeed something wrong with the transmission, it would take a day or two to get the repair done and the rental car cost would not be covered by warranty...I am still under B2B warranty. Is that true?
just to keep you guys posted: i call MNAO about this and they call the manager of the dealer and it seems that the reason is that they are tearing the dealership down for remodeling, so they don't have all tools around...anyways, MNAO takes over and handle the situation very nicely. i am happy with MNAO and i am not going to doubt whether or not they are actually remodeling the dealership...lol
Old 11-04-2009, 04:50 PM
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yeah they were def trying to pawn it off on another dealership.....what would the speciasl tool be? a ratchet and socket?
Old 08-01-2010, 07:33 PM
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Yea I'm starting to grind on 4th gear when I'm driving aggresive.. I'm gonna change my tranny fluid and see what happens..
Old 08-01-2010, 08:11 PM
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From what I understand that first dealership is full of tools
Old 08-02-2010, 02:29 PM
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change the transmission fluid to redline or Amsoil, that should solve it.
Old 09-04-2010, 06:19 PM
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I had a grind going into 4th as well and brought it in to mazda and they told me to either install a new tranny or they could rebuild the synchros. Both very very expensive but they happened to have a used tranny the rebuilt that was cheaper and now it runs perfect!! Still was quite expensive but now it runs so much better.
Old 09-04-2010, 06:37 PM
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I had 4 gear grind at 5k or so. Ended up getting a new transmission.
Old 09-04-2010, 07:16 PM
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Trans #1-

Grind from
1-2
3-4
5-6

Result
Trans Rebuild at 28K miles.

Trans was rebuilt improperly causing trans to blow at 32K-ish resulting in new trans.


Trans #2

Grind into 4th

Loud whining noise began

Trans blew at 78K miles

Trans #3

Lets see what happens....


These transmissions aren't the most robust around and Mazda knows it, so they'll work with it if youre under powertrain warranty
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