lost 6th gear in my car. 04 mazda rx8. i have a really great relationship with my dealer and they told me they never heard of it. its in right now being checked out but they dont know how long it will take. ive got 30k miles on it and service it frequently by the dealer. dont push the car to hard and yes, i know how to drive stick. i was just driving one day, after 45mins or so driving on the freeway i tried shifting to 6th and it wouldnt go in. the clutch works fine and i can go into every other gear just fine. anyone have this problem before?

 

nope, just you

 

i had it happen once to me. could not get into 6th. stopped shifted into every other gear then reverse. started working again. been fine ever since. i did have dealer note it on a work order.

beers

 

That sucks to hear...even though 6th gear is completely useless anyway unless you're granny shifting and trying to save gas.

By the way, in UK and other parts of the world, they actually have RX-8s with 5 speed manual transmissions mated to the slower 4 port engine INSTEAD of the 4 speed automatic transmission we have (for now).

 

And what are the gear ratios of those 5 speed transmissions? I'll bet it is the same as the RX7 and 5th gear is overdrive.

 

The 5speed manual used is the R15M transmission, I have a copy of the Euro spec manual, although I could not find the gear ratios, my gut feeling is that it is indeed the same as an RX-7.

 

Not exactly the same issue but here's a thread about someone else having problems with 6th gear:
https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tech-garage-22/cant-shift-out-6th-gear-74541/

 

I had the same thing happen to me at around 7K miles, would not shift into 6th. I have only owned manual transmissions fo since the 70s. (Honest! not a single automatic.) The Chief Mechanic at the dealership drove it with me and couldn't get it into 6th either. He thought that the second shift fork was hanging up, he finally got it into 6th with me in the car. They drained the transmission and installed synthetic fluid. It hasn't recurred since, I'm now over 30K miles without any other transmission problems.

 

Rotorious,

I realize this is an old thread but I'm having the exact same problem you were having. I do not drive my car hard, and I know how to drive a stick. Yet the other day I was on the Interstate and couldn't shift into 6th gear. I tried shifting into reverse, and then back to 6th like someone else had tried but still couldn't get into 6th gear. Now I've got my car at the dealership and obviously they're stumped. They've asked me to authorize work to take apart my transmission but warned me if it's not a warranty issue, then it will cost me $386 for the teardown. Then they'll obviously charge me for parts.

Did your dealership ever find out what happened to your transmission? I'm pretty pissed off that they'd suggest this might not be a warranty issue. My RX8 has 24,000 miles on it and I've always taken care of it. There's no way in hell this problem could be a result of abuse. Thanks for your help.

 

y would u be on the freeway and wait 45 minutes to shift to 6th?