I have a late 2004 (bought new in 2005) with 85000.

Yesterday I accelerated hard and tried to put it into second, and something very bad happened. The gears ground, and wouldn't go into gear, so I was able to coast into a parking lot.

At that point I could put it into 1, 5, 6 but not 2, 3 or 4. The shift pattern felt all messed up, not smooth and out of place.
I could get it into first and drive it home (about two miles up a hill), but that was about it. I tried putting in second once, and it ground.

If the clutch is depressed, there is no noise. If it is in neutral and I let the clutch out, there is some bearing noise, but not grinding. I played with the pattern, and it felt like the whole pattern would move, at which point the gears I could get it into would change.

At the moment, I have even lost neutral. Neutral is no longer really neutral. The car doesn't move but the engine engages.

Any ideas exactly how bad this scenario is?

I am in San Diego, and it is being towed to a shop today. I wasn't looking forward to taking it to the dealer, so we are taking it to ZWhizz, which is the only shop we know of in San Diego with MAzda RX8 experience and is where we used to take our old RX7.

Anybody in San Diego have experience with shops that do clutch and/or Tranny work?

 

Get a good used tranny...you just lost 1/2 of the one you have

 

Nah, I'm pretty sure its just a small pebble that bounced up into the shift linkage and got stuck, and if I just dislodge it everything will be fine again.

Clicking my heals together now. Begin chanting: "There's no place like home, there's no place like home..."

There, all better!




Just in case, how would you define "a good used tranny" (I assume you are talking Mazda, and not Thailand)?

 

No exposed lInkage I'm afraid

Look for a low mileage used one at a wreckers....old lady driven preferred lol

 

It was an amazing pebble. It could lift panels and turn corners...

The new alternative quoted was about $3200 plus installation, so used is sounding good.

I also see a complete transmission bearing rebuild kit advertised for $712. Would it be suicide to crack it open and try and fix it? How hard are they to piece back together?

I'll check through other threads at this point, but off hand how hard is it to swap the tranny in an RX8? I've dropped plenty of engines and trannys in the past, but not recently. The last time I replaced a clutch was about 12 years ago on a 1988 RX7. I've dropped the engine and/or tranny multiple times on Nissans and Chevys before that.

Is there anything particularly difficult about swapping the RX8 tranny?

 

Nope...BOUT an hour on a lift

The broken parts likely would cost you more than a used one

 

That translates to 2 hours with jack stands and a floor jack, right?

I guess it depends on the expected life span of a used tranny versus new parts. With new parts it ought to be essentially new again, right? If so, then it would be worth a couple hundred extra, but not if the life expectancy would be no better.

 

I guess that depends on how complete a "complete transmission bearing rebuild kit" is. And, how much labor is involved in the rebuild. And, how many syncos, gears & forks need to be replaced.
I got a good used trans installed for $1200 last Nov.

 

Maybe look for the later model tranny, I hear it has better gearing.

 

Did you buy it through a shop, or did you get it yourself and have someone install it? Do you know how much of your $1200 was labor and how much was the tranny?

If I got the numbers right, the shop where my car is currently at wants about 800 bucks labor to put in a new tranny. They'll put a new clutch in for the same price since there is no extra labor, but they were quoting about $670 for the clutch kit and it looks like I can buy a good one for $350-$400.

 

Is there a guide somewhere on what year/model no. trannys would be compatible with an '04?

 

They all are...the 09+ ones take a bit more work...and have different gear ratios

04-08 are all the same

 

I'm sure they are interchangeable , I think Eric Meyer suggested this to me , and the price of the clutch and labour seem way to high. I purchased mine from Griptorque on ebay, with an ally flywheel, and counterweight ,the cost was around $500.00USD all up. Its not difficult to do, you will also need a 54mm socket and flywheel lock up device.

 

07 rx8 manual trans low miles low miles

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...99#post3994799
$550

I got the new/used trans installed as a package. I don't know how much was labor. If you want a lightweight flywheel or new clutch, do it at the same time. Labor charges for either should be minimal as most of the work has already been done. Research the price of a clutch kit and see if their price is right. Supply your own if you don't like their price. Labor at that point should be 1/2-1 hr for a clutch install. What is their standard labor rate? How many hours are they quoting it will take to do the job? Are they over charging you?

 

04 to 08 are all the same. 09+ will work too.

 

I had a used 06 tranny installed and replaced the clutch with the Exedy OEM clutch kit. The original clutch had 90K on it and didn't have to be replaced, so I figured the OEM was working well enough so I did not get the Exedy stage 1.

Now I have two issues:

1) The gear shifter is sitting noticeably lower than it was. The shift pattern feels fine and shifts fine, but is noticeably lower. Maybe a 1/2 inch to an inch lower than it was.

Could that be due to the fact an 06 tranny was installed into an 04? Is it OK, or is it a sign of a problem?

2) The clutch now engages much closer to the floor (too close in my opinion), and I worry about excessive wear. The shop is claiming there isn't much adjustment possible, but they can do a little. Should this be a simple adjustment, or is this (again) a sign of something more serious?

 

Likely they fubarred up the power plant frame adjustment......that could cause the transmission to sit lower

The clutch can be adjusted.........

 

If it still shifts OK, is the transmission OK sitting a little low, or will that cause other issues long term?

I assume the clutch has to be adjustable. I thought their response to that was weird.

 

If the PPF isn't aligned properly then the tranny and driveshaft aren't ideally aligned with the differential. It can cause problems with the transmission and the diff, and the u-joints in the drivetrain. It can cause strange noises as well.....

If who ever installed the tranny didn't know that it had to be adjusted a certain way then they need to have a peek at the factory service manual for instructions