Well, my two year problem with an f'ed up second gear will continue until it apparently breaks on me altogether and leaves me stranded somewhere, likely in the middle of the night when I get off work. Grrrr!!!! Ron Tonkin just called back and told me there's nothing they can do anymore and to come pick up my car by 9 a.m. tomorrow morning (or I'll have to pay for the loaner), which means they will also no longer look at my transmission if I complain about it according to them. I am getting so fed up with this crap! I have had several different people I know drive my car and experience the same damn problem I have, the dealership has verified it, and they are just going to ignore it from now on. They told me it's only a "minor" issue and nothing to worry about, telling me I should shift more carefully and at lower RPMs. I am already having to shift it at less than 3K RPMs to even get it to go into gear with major difficulty at this time when it's cold (assuming it will even go in at all), so exactly how much lower do they want me to shift at?!!!!! Maybe I'm only supposed to drive it really slowly in first gear for 5 miles or more when I first start up the car so that it might possibly decide to shift on me when it's sat for more than a few hours?!!!!

I'm not sure what I should do from this point now if they won't open it up. I can't afford to take it to an independent transmission shop to get them to do it or I would. I also don't think it's a good idea to keep driving around in something with a really spotty transmission. It's not particularly safe. It seems my best option is to hope the whole damn transmission breaks down to the point that it doesn't drive or go into any gears at all before I can get anything done about it (maybe)!!!!

 

Let me drive it for 10 minutes

 

So that it breaks faster?

I have a friend with an 06 RX-8 that's VIN is within 100 digits of mine and also a February 2006 build date. He has no problems at all and his shifts very smoothly like mine used to. His "slightly stiff" cold shifts are better that most of my "normal" shifts until after the car has been driven a good distance at highway speeds (about 20 minutes) and quite hot. Heck, at this point I'd kill to have his "stiff" shifts! He said maybe I should start shifting it at around 6K and just slamming it into gear even if it "protests" on me He said that way it will have a "major" problem a lot sooner than the current "minor" one I have now. LOL! Not sure that's a good idea because it will probably break on me and they'll probably still refuse to touch it considering the way this has been going. Grrrr!!!!

Interestingly enough, I offered to pay up front for the labor involved in opening it up so that they can find the problem, which the repairs would then be warranty (should be anyway) if they find something (no reason they shouldn't based on symptoms), and if not I would pay for the labor involved in putting it back. They refused to do that also. I don't get why they wouldn't do something a customer was paying for.

Oh well. I'll be going back to pick it up first thing in the morning, where I am fairly certain it will do the same thing it has been doing for me. I'll just have to see about taking it into a different dealership in the near future and see what they'll do for it. The sad part is that this dealership has been very good about taking care of things and providing good service with the exception of one jerk that was there for a few months when I first got the car. I don't know what's happened!

 

bunny,

happy bday! i would let dan drive it if he is that close. really..

he would have lots of insight..

but, this is the route i would take if you have not done this yet. call mazda na. the 800 #. set up an appointment with the regional rep.. have him or her drive it in the conditions that you have issues with. not that it is likely to get warm soon.. and go from there..

did i say happy bday..

beers

 

Thanks! Surprised you remembered!

I'm picking my car up first thing when they open. No sense letting it sit there any longer if they aren't going to do anything. Besides, I can't stand the hideous perfume smell in the loaner. I have to drive with the windows down and the heat cranked up to avoid puking and freezing. Maybe I ought to puke in their car? LOL!

I'll have to see about calling them, likely on Monday (my day off), when I have no plans and plenty of time to do nothing. Or pray that the transmission goes out completely before then.

P.S. I just put my coat on to leave (just got off work a few minute ago) and it now smells like that nasty perfume. Ew!!! Looks like I'm doing laundry when I get home!!!!!

 

if you want to have fun. ask the service manager if you can use his or her phone to call the mazda 800 # you would be surprised what that will do..

sorry it is that way.. but call mazda..

beers

 

I picked my car up this morning and after I left (after chewing them out for saying my car had 16 more miles in the "miles out" category than it did to reflect that they drove it 24 miles instead of only 8 which should really be three; my Post-It shows it should have ended with an 8 instead of a 3 in the "miles in" category also to match what it was when I dropped it off, but didn't take a photo of it for proof, so can't argue that one; made them fix the paperwork, give me a new copy, and also confiscated the one they lied on) I called another dealership in the area explaining my issue and what has been done so far. They said they likely would not be able to get an authorization at this point (considering the alleged refusal yesterday) until the problem starts happening at warmed up temperatures also, or at least happens basically every single time when cold. They told me to bring it in to look it since they weren't busy at the time so they did. They changed out my fluid, so this makes the second new fluid in two weeks. They said the fluid had particles in it, but not sure yet if they are metal shavings (were going to have someone look), just that the fluid definitely did not look like it should for 500-600 miles of use on it. They said the transmission mounts were a little loose, but just barely still in spec, so they tightened them back up for me and told me to try that for now. I haven't had a chance to let my car set for several hours yet (working on that now), but we'll see how it does. The only thing I can say is that the fluid feels a lot more "slippery" than what was in there and the gears aren't stiff for the moment. When I had the fluid changed last time everything felt nice and smooth for about two days and then in general all the gears started getting progressively stiffer than they had been before the change. The tech said this wouldn't actually fix my problem, but it would put a temporary Band-Aid on it so that it doesn't feel so bad driving to me.