11 US R3, bought new, 30K miles
tracked regularly - couple new issues-
no major mods- performance fluids, pads, stainless steel brake and clutch lines-

1. transmission pops out of 3rd and 4th- now getting much worse - the transmission adjustment procedure -outlined on the forum by ASH8 and others- was just completed, and the popping out of gear is still happening- most commonly on hilly terrain, while on the throttle, seems to be more frequent in the wet - any thoughts about options to help would be appreciated
2. engaging first gear is also 'sticky' and requires rowing thru other gears before it will engage

please help, need to get back on track !

 

I have the same problem with the car popping out of gear in 4th under load at around 2.5-3k rpms. I checked the positioning myself because the local Mazda techs are morons and they were identical so I couldn't do anything there. It seemed to only do it when cold and in the winter but it has been getting worse recently. I'm at 48K miles and my last fluid change was around 27k. I'm most likely going to change the fluid this winter if things continue to get worse. This seems to be a common problem with series II trannys. I have only a few minor mods as well.


I don't have the 1st gear issue that you are talking about but I almost never put it in first gear if I'm going over 5mph.

 

What "performance" fluids are you using?

 

Hmm, my 09 RX-8 has also been popping out of 4th gear occasionally this summer. I have just over 40,000 miles on it. I thought maybe it was just me not getting it all the way into gear because my daily driver is an automatic now, maybe causing me to be less skilled at shifting my RX-8. Apparently, that's not it. Damn.

 

I am sure it was covered on this forum back in 2009. Transmissions produced by Japanese supplier Aisain (please correct me if i have it spelled incorrectly) for the Series 2 RX8s have experienced a troubling history of problems and failures since introduction. My local Mazda dealer, one of the top three volume Mazda dealers on the US East Coast wound up simply replacing many of these transmissions (under warranty) on their customer's Series 2 RX8s rather than even try to diagnose and fix the recurring issues with these transmissions. This dealer told me they had more trannys replaced in the first years of the Series 2 than they had replaced during their entire sales run of Series 1 RX8s. I was told there was a design, build and quality control problem with these transmissions that Mazda was trying to quietly handle for risk that the bad press on this would further kill off any remaining Series 2 sales. This company has a great rep building the MX5 and Series 1 trannys among others. Those trannies have been almost bulletproof, but not the Series 2 ones. I am not really sure if there is any outside fix for these issues, only internal fixes. If you Series 2 guys with tranny problems are still under the powertrain warranty, get these issues fixed by Mazda . The tranny issues are why this rotary lover recommended against a friend buying a used Series 2 RX8 over a good quality low mileage used Series 1.

 

Hearsay can be a bitch...

considering i have read in multiple places about how the S2 transmission is far stronger and more "bulletproof" than the S1 transmission

 

"Bulletproof" is a far too strong word for the S1 transmission. Racers seek out S2 transmissions because they are considered more robust and the S1 weak.
I personally have had my first S1 transmission rebuilt at 11K miles. It was later replaced at 60K miles with a used unit. This used unit lasted 12K miles and is bad again.
The failure mode is always the same. First gear goes away, quickly followed by reverse and then second gear starts to go bad. My car has been setting for an extended period waiting to get another used trans installed.

 

Albeit true, my post neither dismisses or proves his claims ... or yours for that matter .

Making a post that 'someone's mothers fathers brothers cousin' said mazda was hiding transmission issues and that the s2 transmission is garbage or whatever have you does nothing to provide anecdotal evidence of what may or may not be factual.

Some people like to listen to people speak ... some people like hard evidence regardless of the outcome.


my point exactly

 

My info comes from the dealer so you can choose to poo-poo it or not. When I said that Aisin tranny were "bulletproof", this was this Mazda dealer's experience with Aisin trannys in BOTH the MX5s and Series 1 RX8s that they have sold. This is based on the frequency of trannys brought into them for service with problems. Most of you longtime Mazda owners who live on the east coast can look at my address and figure out what Mazda dealer I am talking about, they have more than one Mazda dealership and have been a top-selling dealer since Mazda first started in business in the US. But I won't directly name them here so you don't go bugging their service managers. They have told me that they have many more issues and failures, and the resulting warranty claims and full transmission replacements with Series 2 trannys by Aisin than Series 1 trannys on cars they have sold,period.

If your personal experience has been different, that is fine, that is your experience, which is certainly valid to add to the discussion here. And this dealer service manager is talking about transmissions in their owners' street driven cars , not about cars knowingly being tracked.

Personally for me, as an owner of seven rotary RXs, I have found my series 1 RX8 tranny on my 2008 40th Anniversary edition model to be as solid as any on my one RX3, two RX4s, and three RX7s (all three RX7 generations) . My modified and tracked RXs had modified and beefed up trannys specially built for the track. With 40 plus years of driving these cars on street and track, I would not personally expect any RX8 stock tranny to hold up very long with extended hard track use.

 

As far as my experience goes:

- I dont have any high RPM grinding that a lot of S1 guys complain about
- Sometimes it is hard getting it into 1st gear when i am at a redlight. It is very infrequent, but it requires a release of the clutch, and a retry
- Getting into 2nd gear when cold and at a low speed (ie, going through my neighborhood) sometimes notches / grinds a bit

That being said, i have not yet experienced any popping out of gears.

I believe I have 1 year left on the powertrain warranty, so I will keep an eye on it, but my fear is to pull into the dealership and have them not even bother with it since my issues are far and few between and may not reproduce when the techs are looking at it.

This is why i mention the need for some sort of anecdotal evidence where S2 owners can have that sense of confidence that dealerships have some idea about these "mass series" transmission issues.

 

I have just replaced my Series 1 transmission after many years of track driving with overheating, before I put on the cooling system...and the only issue I had was that it didn't like going into 5th at over 6K rpm with 450HP.....( I think it couldn't handle the torque at that RPM)

I am now in the process of figuring out what I am going to do when I break this one.....Likely going to something stronger....T56 possibly

From my experience the Syncro's on the Series 1 transmission do not like ham handed driving...if you let them do there job they work well. The 2 gear shaft is weak...so anyone doing drag racing or autocross starts has been having failures with this breaking.

I think that the Series 2 transmissions have beefier 2 gear shafts...as they seem to be standing up better to drag type launches....but the syncro's seem to be the same...

Based on that....be careful how you shift...wait for the syncros to work and you will be fine with either..

Slam them into gear like a retard and they will fail

 

understood.

But it should also be noted that it is a disservice to the community, even those 'ill-informed ****-talkers', to make blanket statements without any legitimate feedback from those impacted by these failures.

Is it naive to assume that we would have at least 2, 4, or maybe even 6 members within our own community who was serviced at this high volume dealership and would have started prior discussions about S2 transmission failures and whatnot? Of course,.... but surely not far-fetched.

Compound that with the head-scratching decision to talk someone out of an s2 due to so-called transmission issues that even plagued the S1 really makes me ... ill informed as i very well could be

 

Yes.....no issues so far that I can tell....

 

Closest thing to a series 1 vs series 2 transmission comparison (NC1 = series 1 transmission and NC2 = series 2 transmission):

Transmission NC1 vs NC2 - MX-5 Miata Forum

Also, the MX5 Cup race cars switched from the 5 speed to the (NC2) 6 speed transmission allegedly because of the increased strength of the newer transmission. The NC2 transmission is also popular among spec miata cars for durability reasons as well.




While I am not nearly well versed enough to pick a side in this debate, I would like to raise a few points to consider:

Series 1 RX8's accounted for 94-88% of all RX8's sold in the US (as per automotive news data center). This begs two questions:

1) What percentage of series 1 and series 2 cars sold had manual transmissions?
Given the known economic climate, gas prices and public's perception of the "questionable reliability" of the rotary engine, it is a reasonable expectation that more of the series 2 RX8's were sold to "driving enthusiasts" who were more likely to opt for the manual transmission. The series 2 low sales numbers potentially make this factor able to significantly alter the percentage of series 2 cars that had manual transmissions.

2) While the track is clearly a more brutal environment for a car, it doesn't mean people aren't out on the streets horse-fist-shifting their way through the gears.

 

Hi,
I had the same issue about a year ago with it popping out of 3rd and 4th. It is covered under the transmission warranty. They ended up replacing a lot things like shift fork, retaining rings, nuts and bolts, etc. Sometimes they thought they had fixed it but it would happen again and you might need to have the mechanic ride with you in case they can't replicate it. It definitely would cost over a grand to fix since I saw the invoice before the warranty was applied. Good luck and I hope you can get it fixed.

 

I thought the Series II transmission is an in-house Mazda unit? I read that multiple times in the reviews when the car came out.

I *never* slam my gears into place. In fact, fourth gear goes in so smoothly on my car that I often find myself shifting into fourth gear with just my first two fingers. I had actually been assuming that this was why it was popping out of gear--because I wasn't using enough force to get it fully into gear.

It didn't occur to me that the 8 year/100,000 mile powertrain warranty would cover the transmission--duh. I'm always so worried about the longevity of the engine that I forget about the transmission.

 

I had 3rd/4th gear issues about two years ago as well. Mine is an '09 and it had issues right at about the 35/37K miles mark.

Had the tranny rebuilt under warranty, and it has been perfect since (crosses fingers).

 

All RX8 transmissions , Series 1 and Series 2 are built by Aisin in Japan, as well as all Mazda MX5 transmissions. Aisin also builds transmissions for other Japanese car manufacturers. They generally have a good rep for street applications. Mazda and Aisin have a long history of successful partnership and it is not uncommon for Japanese car manufacturers to have key parts of their cars built by specialist companies even if they have collaborated on the design and performance criteria. The Mazda 8yr, 100,000 mile rotary engine warranty just covers the engine block , internal parts,gaskets and seals. If you have a 8yr, 100,000 mile POWERTRAIN warranty from your dealer (like I have from my Mazda dealer) or you are under an extended supplemental powertrain warranty then you should be covered for tranny problems. According to my reading of the info on Mazda USA site, a Series 2 RX8 should have a limited powertrain warranty of 5 yrs/ 60,000 miles. Please correct me guys if I have that wrong.

 

I have the same issue of gear pop out at 3rd since early this year on my 2009. Car at 45K miles original owner for just a little over 5 year. Bought it to my Mazda dealer, and they $100 and cannot reproduce the issue so they do not want to do any thing. I do not have time to play game with dealer. So I bought to a auto expert shop and adjust the transmission according to the Miata reference manual of this link: https://www.rx8club.com/series-ii-te...ission-246642/

And at least until now so far so good. The other shop said that they cannot guarantee that it will last but at least they try.

 

I wasn't always kind to my s2 transmission and it worked great. I had oem fluid in it until about 52k miles and it didn't look very nice when it came out but barely anything stuck to the magnetic plug. I had ~24 runs at the drag strip and a good amount of hard shifting into 2nd and 3rd around town/getting on the highway. Supposedly my cars build date put it with the "bad" syncronizers(I think that was the problem?) but I never had an issue with them. I could still shift with only a few fingers for 2nd, 4th, 6th and easily with just the palm of my hand for the others. I thought it was a pretty solid transmission but who knows maybe I just got lucky.

 

I'm hopeful that the adjustment procedure is going to fix my issue. Reading the PDF, it sounds like it might. I was telling a fellow rotorary fan at the Mazda Corral at Road America yesterday that it feels like my fourth gear doesn't go far enough back.

 

The P66M Transmission used in all 6 speed NC Miata MX-5's and S2 RX-8 is not an Aisin made one, but Mazda made and designed.

The 5 Speed MT used in NC Miata is an Aisin brand.

 

All the other stupid crap that gets sticky-posted here, yet the link to the continuously asked and discussed topic on the S2 manual trans 3-4 issue & fix can't get stickied to save its life ....

 

Which thread?

 

Done Mark, I thought I had already stuck it.

BTW; It is essential that this is precisely done as the cam only requires fine movement and with 2 people if box is in car (one inside car checking and one under doing adjustment).