I was driving home tonight and went to downshift into 3rd when all of the sudden the clutch stayed down and will not disengage. The car had to be towed away and the oddest part is that when I hit the starter i hear a grinding noise as if the flywheel is missing teeth or something.
Worst part is that this car only has 4k.

Has anyone seen this?

 

Would that cause the grinding noise when trying to start?

 

The car is on its way to Mazda tomorrow.....

Funny thing is that I have a 90 RX-7 vert and its what i'll be using while the 8 is getting repaired. Here i was thinking of selling my 7.....

 

you say clutch went down and will not release???? if this is so it is a blown pressure plate. this is what forces the clutch to the flywheel.

beers
john stewart

 

or the clutch line lost fluid, or slave valve blew.. did you see any fluid under the car ?

 

or more obvious, pedal stuck on something.

beers

 

I was able to pull the clutch pedal up and it moves however its not fully releasing.

No fluid under the car.

I could leave it in any gear and the car would still roll.

 

There have been problems reported with the flywheel/pressure plate bolts coming loose. Hopefully, the problem is something as simple as this. As far as the pedal not returning, I had the same problem when I changed my clutch before I adjusted it to the proper height. This leads me to agree that the problem is in the pressure plate.

Charles

 

OK thanks I should know more tomorrow when the dealership takes it apart.

I'll keep you posted....

I'm guessing it has to do with the flywheel bolts coming loose since my wife heard something rattling around when i was coming to a stop on the side of the road.

Only good thing to come out of this is that i am driving my rx-7 vert and i realize again how much i love these cars.

-AL

 

might be the slave drive cylinder?

 

I thought that but it wouldn't explain the grinding noise coming from the starter while attempting to start the car.

 

I have the same prob. Check out this thread
zoom44 knows his stuff.

bambam

 

thats what pushes the cylinder in right? o that make sense... can't you stick the fork back in?

 

any resolution? bam-bam or IzoomzoomI?

 

do tell????

 

my tranny is fine but funny how things happen, same thing happen to my friends 240sx a day ago. The clutch would not disengage, looked at the tranny and it appears to be the clutch release fork, it came loose (poor tranny assembly). You have to drop the tranny and re adjust it internally, there is no way you can fix it from the outside. This might be the problem with this situation too.

 

Ok so i just heard from the dealer....They talked to my wife so they basically gave her the run around...The service advisor called and asked her if we had been racing the car. Her response was, "no we were doing 50 when this happened."
He said the clutch and starter were bad... What a load of crap is that, other than the occasional down shift to pass someone on the 7 mile bridge the car usually is driven like a rolls royce and it only has 4300 miles and I've owned it since April.
My question to all of you is do you think I should ask them for the old parts or simply let them fix it and be happy?

-Al

 

first i would as for a detailed explainaton of what is wrong, and what parts need to replaced. and i dont think they will give you the parts back as they are returned to mazda.

beers

 

bolts backed out, teeth missing/broken, ALL KINDS OF CRAP!!! NOT however the shift fork. They tried to claim it was driver error but, its still being covered under warranty tho.

bambam

 

bolts backing out cannot be caused by driver error, caused buy builder error. not the first time this has happened.

beers

 

I guess this is ok as long as it doesnt happen again....

I'm sure the bolts came off since there was a definite rattle after everything happend before i came to a complete stop.

 

Of course the starter is messed up. You noted that in your complaint to the service dept. Same with the clutch. It got wrecked when the schrapnel was flying around. An abused clutch from racing would be totally worn out with bluing on the face of the flywheel.

Should I add titanium clutch fork and shift forks to my project list this winter?

Charles

 

get the lightend flywheel

 

If you are speaking to me, I already have just about every performance-enhancing part that is worth the money on my 8. The aluminum fly was one of the first.

Charles

If you weren't addressing me, then never mind....

 

I won't be changing anything on this RX-8 i'm satisfied with it just the way it is. I just hope this doesn't happen again because i know we have waited a long time for mazda to make a new RX since the last 3rd gen.
I'll be picking the car up tomorrow, i'll let you guys know if i get any different story when i'm there.

-Al