When the engine/tranny is cold, shifting from first to second is really hard to do smoothly. Even pulling it out of 1st is hard, like the transmission is banged around a little when doing it (I can feel it jiggling in its mounts through the shifter), then pulling it into second it feels as if I'm not pushing the clutch all the way in. If I double clutch, its easy.

I only have 2500 miles, could it go away after some more break-in time? Should/can I adjust something?

 

9000 km - have same stiffness going from 1st to 2nd until the tranny warms up. Mind you, it gets real cold up here...

 

I couldn't imagine it THAT cold...it must really be bad.

I meant cold, as in the ambient temperature today of 57F. LOL, Christmas.

 

Ok so new trick I taught my self yesterday. When car is cold try shifting from 1-2 by first quickly tossing into neutral while keeping clutch pressed and then into second. It has yet to be rough shifting since I started doing this. I even got it down so good I can shift as fast as if I skipped neutral to begin with.

 

Normal...when Cold.

Suggest getting your Trans fluid changed...I use Redline MT90 (GL-4), and find it very, very good.

My trans got better as the miles pile on, but as I said when cold it can be clunky.

No... there is no adjustment...learn to live with it, but again changing to Redline made mine disappear for a few thousand miles, but it will return again as oil ages.

I have never come a Mazda trans that is not a bit clunky when Cold.

 

I do find this to be interesting. I live near Seattle and often drive the car in high 20F weather. The tranny is marginally harder to shift when the oil is dead cold, but not "difficult" as you describe.

There was just a huge thread about tranny fluid on the S1 forum. Apparently there are 2 preferred oils. One is the RedLine Ash recommended, and the other is a Motorcraft specialty oil.

Our trannies are the same as in many of the Miata models and many of those guys swear by the Motorcraft oil. 2 caveats GL-4 and 75w-90 only!! according to Mazda.

http://forum.miata.net/vb/showpost.p...8&postcount=33

 

I got 52000 miles on my 04 rx8 and I also have this issue if the car is not warmed up. I guess all you have to do is let to warm up before you zoooooooooommmmmmmm!

 

+1 Change your tranny fluid. It fixed my gear problem.

 

I'll do it in my next oil change

 

change the fluid is a good idea--also check your clutch adjustment--no kidding.
OD

 

+2 fixed my thunk i would get. What ever you do, do not use royal purple!
Get a syncro saver from raceroots.com

 

NO DONT USE ROYAL PURPLE!!
A lot of shifting problems has to do with the clutch---either needs bleeding or the pedal needs adjusting.

 

The '04 6-speed that I have the pleasure of driving actually grinds if i rev the engine to 9000 rpm ( warmed up, of course!) in 1st gear and shift up into 2nd. We are thinking that the synchronizer is bad, shifting thru rest of gears is smooth, like it should be. Car has been autocrossed, wondering if anyone else with this problem has raced their cars? Also, does anyone have contact info for the NortheastUSA regional manager for Mazda so that we may contact for further help. Looking forward to replies!

 

my 1st to 2nd is cold even when its 12F cold
the problem is my tranny makes a whining sound when decelerating in frist gear, sort of wa-aw-wa sound.

 

I'm about to purchase transmission (Red Line MT-90) and differential (75W90 GL-5) oil for my 09 to change these oils (about 6500 miles on the odometer, been sitting in the garage all winter). It appears that Series I RX-8s hold 1.8 qt. in the transmission and 1.4 qt. in the differential. Are these numbers the same for the Series II?

 

dude
57 is not cold, it a perfect day to ride a bike
mine shifts fine cept a bit notchy when going into 3rd too fast when its 5F ish.

update, try to do everything clean and smooth when its cold. chutch to the floor, using smooth force when changing gears.

 

Diff is the same as S1...Quantity wise.
Trans, I think mine took 1.9 Q...not much difference.

 

Thanks, ASH.

 

(I can feel it jiggling in its mounts through the shifter),

The shifter shakes at idle and when in neutral.

This is normal.

If you can actually feel it when shifting... You are shifting too lightly and too slow.

 

I meant something different. Your referring to the little vibrations that pretty much all cars have on their sticks. I know thats normal. I meant you can feel the tranny moving...like how they move left to right with the revving of a V8/V6 motor. But I pull it out of first (with clutch all the way down) and it feels like it didn't want to let go, and sends a jolt up the stick into my hand.

Doesn't really matter now anyway. I've learned to live with a rough 1-2 shift the first few seconds I drive. It's goes away very quickly after I start driving...I just baby it till it does.

 

the tranny fluid was changed within the last 5k miles, and this happens when the car is warmed up, don't rev to 9k cold! Other idea is that linkage may be loose, hasn't been checked yet. the '04 beauty just came home from body shop, minor fender bender, now looks new! thanks for ideas & possible solutions for this problem, have checked out Levelten, i think the answer is there.

 

If the linkage is loose you have big problems ...