8_wannabe

For those who have been following, my car was in the shop for a broken flywheel (aka wing gear?).

I got the car back last night. I will write a more comprehensive report of my experience (mostly positive) but I need immediate help with one thing. Before service, shifting between gears was utterly effortless: "Like buttah" as they say. With a fingertip I could go from gear to gear; it was a real pleasure.

Now it's considerably harder. It goes in OK, but it just feels "tight" going into each gear and it's definitely not fingertip control anymore. It's an effort. That makes the car not such a pleasure to drive anymore; a real downer for me.

So my question is, is this adjustable in any way? Is there something they can "loosen up" to get back my ease of shifting? I'm not concerned about the ability to drive, just the fun of driving; it's like an entirely different car now. I will call the service manager soon, but I wanted some ideas from you so I can tell him what I really want.

BTW, although they worked on the starter and also changed the oil pan, I found the following in my 3-page service invoice: "Removed starter and found wing gear spun on flywheel, removed transmission and found damage clutch, pressure plate, and throwout bearing, replaced all parts and working normally at this time."

I appreciate their initiative, and this was all free, but they never told me they'd done anything to the clutch or transmission. Not till I got home and read the invoice in detail did I notice it. Obviously, this has bearing on my question of how or whether they can restore the ease of shifting that I once had. Please let me know what I should ask them to do!

Thanks, y'all!

8_wannabe

come on, no advice? You're sending me to a battle of wits with my dealer and I'm unarmed. ;-)

93rdcurrent

I will say that they should have informed you of what work they were doing. It is unusual for a dealer to work on a car even under warranty and not let you know what they are planning on doing or have done after getting into the car.

How tight is it? Maybe before there was a problem and that has something to do with why it was soo easy to shift. I know that when I first picked my car up at the dealership it had just 7.5 miles on it and that the shifting was a bit stiff and that it has loosened up especially around 1,000 miles. So if you say that you have to jam it in and it feels like it doesn't want to go at all then there could be something wrong with the throwout bearing or lubrication. I would have the dealer check it out though. Good luck and at least it wasn't leaking coolant .

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

Well, the clutch system on the RX-8 is hydraulic and not particularly adjustable.
However, difficulty getting into gear is usually just the clutch not disengaging completely.
The adjustment rod on the clutch pedal can be lengthened just a bit to get the release point a little higher and cause the entire throw of the clutch master cylinder to be a bit deeper.
This my alleviate the issue.
Ask the service rep to adjust the clutch for a higher point of disengagement.

Zio

Some people have had clutch problems with their 8. Take it to the dealer.

DeNile'

LOL, get a auto! No problems, LOL

8_wannabe

grrrrr.... I'm still waiting for my service rep to call back.

TheDosDog

Have you put any miles on the new clutch. I've experienced this with new clutches and they usually get better after a little use.

rieskame

My 8 has had a very smooth transmission since day one. Keep bugging them if they say it is within specifications.

jonalan

Hey mods, maybe this thread should get moved over to the Tech Garage. Maybe 8_wannabe will get more help there.

Sure doesn't sound right to me. I'm curious to hear some comments on this, as well.

8_wannabe

Nope; I got the car back last night with all repairs done, and only driven like 20 miles since then. I did notice at first the clutch pedal stuck a little at the bottom, like when you have sticky gum on your shoe. It was very annoying and made me nearly stall a couple times. But the stickiness went away. I do have to depress the clutch much more than before so I'm thinking Maniac might be right. Thanks for the tip.

racerdave

Also, maybe they didn't bleed it, or did a crappy job bleeding it. Air in the line could be doing the same thing.

Anyway, report your gripes and take it back.

sniper

I would say that your issues are definetly from a poorly or not at all bleed clutch. Especially since they installed a new clutch. With clutch fully depressed you are actually still engageed making your shifts more difficult. The main key though is that you say the clutch pedal sticks in spots namely on the floor I presume?

Lastly it's "Ring gear" not "wing gear". It is the toothed (is that a word?) ring that is fitted around flywheel in which the starter engages to spin the crank upon start-up. For those that may have not known that.

8_wannabe

Thanks, sniper -- this is great info. With two of you suspecting poor bleeding I've got something to go on. The pedal did stick slightly on the floor, but that went away after an hour. There may have been something on the linkage that wore off.

I thought the service rep said "ring gear" on the phone, but it's written in the invoice as "wing gear." I'm pretty ignorant about trannie mechanics but motivated to get myself educated.

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

Not to throw a monkey wrench in other people's advice (because it is fairly sound), but it is unlikely air in the clutch system because it is unlikely that they opened the clutch system.
The slave cylinder would have simply been tied out of the way and not disconnectred from the clutch line.
Therefore, it wouldn't have acquired any additional air that wasn't there before the procedure.

zoom44

AND YOU SHOULD GET A SERIOUS ANSWER AND AN APOLOGY AS TO WHY THEY DID NOT MAKE CLEAR TO YOU WHAT REPAIRS/CHANGES TO YOUR CAR THEY WERE GOING TO MAKE BEFORE THEY MADE THEM. gtoddamn caps lock...... anyway that is a serious lapse on their part, they should not done anything to your car outside of diagnostics without your understanding and ok.

i3man

And what might you suggest they have done? Being that it was FREE, should they have left the bad parts in the car and only fixed the specific problem that was requested by the customer? I can see making a big deal if he was charged for repairs he had no idea were going to be made...but that is not the case here. Everything was done at no cost to the customer...no harm, no foul.

If there is still a problem then take it back until it is fixed correctly but no reason to turn it into a national crisis.

sniper

Anytime you put in a new clutch you NEED to bleed the system. Plain and simple. The only other reason for it to stick would be if they installed the clip on the trowout bearing incorrectly. But that is not a likely cause. Besides bleeding it only takes a few seconds and can prevent such problems.

SPDRX8

When they remove the transmissin to replace the clutch or flywheel they have to remove the shift lever also. There is a chance that they did not properly re install the bushings under the shifter and they are binding the lever. It is not always necessary to bleed a system if they just removed the slave cylinder and hung it off to the side without opening the line. But alot of mechanics do remove the hydrolic hose at the firewall and then have to bleed the system. If your pedal was sticking then something was not right with the bleeding of the system or the the clutch lever. I hope you get it fixed fast


Max

8_wannabe

All these comments are fascinating. I thought it was my imagination cuz I was driving some POS Dodge as a loaner for the past week, but when I got my '8 back everything seemed different. I don't know if its just me or really the car. My son had shifted before (even though he doesn't drive yet, he's 15.) I let him try shifting and he agreed it is way stiff. The side-to-side spring action of the shifter seems much stiffer, even when you're not going into any gears. I almost think the shifter is setting lower cuz the leather boot seems much higher than it was. Am I just trippin' or is this really possible?

SPDRX8

It looks like the mechanic did make a mistake while installing the shifter back into the transmission. there are two bushings (a upper and lower) that surround the shifter ball and they are kept in line by a pin. it sounds like they did not get the upper bushing in correctly and it has created a pinch which will explain the tight feeling and also the not returning to center.


Max

TheDosDog

I'm with Maniac. Every time I replaced a clutch in my previous 13b I just tied the slave up out of the way. I suspect linkage or break in. Regarding the boot. I just had mine off putting on the leather brake handle. There is a big wad of insulation around the shifter below the boot that may now be out of place on your car. I don't know if its enough to cause the symptoms you are describing by it's something that is easy to check. What a bunch of armchair mechanics we are.

Toadman

Off to tech garage.

8_wannabe

Thanks, toady. I don't usually hang around tech garage so I didn't think to put it there. Also, thanks to dosdog for your PM and post telling me to let it break in. After about 150 miles it's starting to loosen up and become the car I fell in love with.

I'm gonna start a new thread this weekend discussing my entire experience; it was very involved. Almost 8 hours over 2 days waiting for the damn tow truck, confusion about oil weight, Mazda's regional rep's comments about cycling a/c, getting a new oil pan, repairing the ring gear, sticky clutch, then finding out they replaced my entire transmission without even telling me. It is quite a saga and will be a long post; maybe after football is over I will get to it.

sniper

Wow that is a lot of crap to replace in one shot.

But SPRDX8, I did not know of those bushings (hence never worked on an 8). Sounds like a possible issue though. I always learn something new.