NCharman - as Rodders had said in this thread on Miata.com there are reports of gearbox failures on the RF. As the early RF’s have version 2 gearboxes and coupled with Mazda revising the second gear and countershaft with version 3 all this points to version 2 not solving the problem.
However there have not been many reports on the Forum of gearboxes failing to date. It just remains to be seen whether my thoughts that we would see an increase in the number of failures as cars reach higher mileages, what I would expect in a fatigue failure.
So glad I found this post. I bought a low mileage 2.0 Sport Nav last year in August (it had done 1980 miles), it was originally registered October 2015. From day one I had issues with first gear, with the clutch fully engaged I often felt and heard teeth grinding I had to stick it in neutral and wait until car was at a standstill or close to before re-engaging 1st. So since this issue I to this day still won’t engage first unless I’m doing less than 3mph which seems to negate the issue. I also have a stiff reverse, often have to attempt more than once. Seeing as my warranty is up in a few months I will be trying to get it into the garage beforehand.
Sounds possibly like a clutch problem to me as you have not mentioned any grinding noises once the gear is engaged. It is possible that even though you are pressing the clutch pedal fully home the clutch itself is not fully disengaging and totally relying on the synchro cups to engage first gear which will make a horrible grinding noise like as if you have not depressed the clutch. It will cause the same problem in reverse (even though you do not have synchro but should never attempt to engage whilst moving) and other gears but not to the same extent. In the bad old days most cars did not have synchro on 1st gear anyway. Anyway, whatever the problem, as Drumtochty says, you need to get it to the dealer ASAP before the gearbox gets wrecked because of a faulty clutch or other fault.
I hardly ever engage 1st gear whilst moving above walking pace as there is no real need to (especially with the torque the 2 litre produces) as it puts a huge strain on the gearbox.
As can be seen from Prince4142’s post in this thread Mazda are aware of the issue with engaging 1st gear on some cars. This was addressed in Version 4 of the gearbox which replaces the synchros on both 1st and 2nd gears.
Definitely take the car back to the dealer before your warranty expires and register your concern. Hopefully they will agree with you and replace the gearbox.
However if they refuse to do anything then write to the dealer and Mazda UK stating that you consider there is a gearbox problem and if it becomes worse or the gearbox fails in the future then you will expect them to replace it even if the warranty has expired as you consider the gearbox is not fit for purpose under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
Because Mazda have had to redesign the gears and synchro then they would struggle to argue that early versions of the gearbox that fail are fit for purpose.
my first 2 litre Sport Nav had possibly the best gear change of any road car I have ever driven, no nothciness at all. It was a bit noisy but that just added to the sporty feel of the car. Also possibly not much in the way of soundproofing material given the weight aims.
just taken my second one and it feels like a different car. Lots of changes, some good, some the jury is out, but the gearbox so far about 400 miles) is a bit sad. Reverse, first and second really quite stiff. The dealers have not evaded the issue, saying if im still unhappy in a few weeks, take it back. To my mind it is borderline not fit for purpose .
PaulFC: I got a 2 litre Sport Nav in February and the gearbox was still stiff at 400 miles, but I am approaching 4000 miles now, and it is much smoother. Sometimes still a little reluctant to go into first when stationary, but much improved. So - it may take a few more miles to ease up on yours too.
Four out of how many in total? Certainly less than the 2.0l and no doubt an infinitesimal percentage figure. If you have FACTS to the contrary please post with accredited source information. There are far too many scare-mongering rumours and rumours of rumours on this matter and very little FACT. The sad thing is that a lot of the scare-mongering is done by people who should know better!
Now Countryboy. I see that you now have become the “self appointed” ND Gearbox topic moderator demanding an “accredited souce” from a member with many recs against their name. I notice you have not demanded others also have an “accredited source” for their information.
In this instance possibly you should lie down in a darkended room for a while until you cool down!
There are bound to be some faults that get through on any manufactures cars, the good thing is with the ND most should still be under manufacturers warranty. From what I have read and heard, Mazda dealerships and Mazda themselves are very good when it comes to sorting warranty issues.
Let’s all stay calm. So far as I know these are the facts.
There have been failures of the ND gearboxes.
The harder the cars are driven the more likely the gearbox will fail. The high level of failures on track cars proves this.
Mazda have revised the gearbox 3 times to (hopefully) make it more reliable.
So those are the facts unless anybody knows better, Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Now we come to the unknowns.
The only failures we know about is from members who are active on the forum and people they know or have heard about. So we only know about the reliability on a very small percentages of cars on the road. Some of that is hearsay. It would be great to know the failure percentage but the only people who know that are Mazda and they are not telling.
The most annoying part of all this is that although Mazda know there have been problems they will not put our minds at rest by extending the warranty on the gearboxes. They will merely look at out of warranty claims ‘on an individual basis’.
Lots of owners with cars that are close to three years old, mine has a couple of months to run. Naturally we are concerned.
The temptation is to report intermittent difficulty engaging 1st and 2nd before the warranty runs out. This will probably get you a revision 4 gearbox and peace of mind. It will cost Mazda a lot more than if they just offered to extend the warranty against failures of the types that have already occurred.
Can I ask that we try to keep this post for members to report ND/RF gearboxes that are experiencing gear failure, transmission noise or difficulty engaging gear and as to whether Mazda have replaced the gearbox under warranty, inline with Burton’s request at the start of the post.
The aim of the post is to get an idea as to the numbers of gearbox failures and at what mileage and age of car.
As Roadie states it is also important for early ND owners to understand Mazda’s response once cars are out of warranty.
Just picked up my 2.0 sport 17 plate today after it’s gearbox replacement. Old Gearbox was March 2016 and the new one is Jan 2018. The issue with the old one was a scrapping noise when lifting off the gas and you can make the noise go away by depressing the clutch. just demonstrated the noise to the senior technician and he took it from there. just over 3 weeks from raising the issue to a new gearbox. Excellent service and the new gearbox feels solid. A little stiff but that’s to be expected. Overall really pleased with the outcome given it was only noise and not gearbox failure.
Have been following this thread with more than a little interest as I have a 66 plate Recaro with 14000 miles recorded at present from new by me. So far virtually no problems at all and love the car. Occasionally ist 2nd can be a little reluctant but both my previous MX5’s did similar things. As a result of this thread I will leave it a few more months before I have it checked (and recorded), and the mk 4 fixes are more likely to be fitted, before the warranty ends next september. Thanks to the effort of all involved ( and more than a little dismay for Mazda’s inept treatment of loyal customers).
^ My thoughts too, I also have a 16 Recaro and have had a shift into second crunch lightly a couple of times (not caused by me not depressing the clutch enough!) but this cannot be re-created. The gearbox would also wine under hard acceleration but hasn’t since they changed the oil in it. On 10k now.
GarethC - As I have said previously anyone with an ND pre 1st Nov 2017 experiencing difficulty engaging 1st or 2nd gear needs to raise it with Mazda ASAP. The gearbox does have known issues with either fatigue failure of the gears or issues with the synchro and Mazda have acknowledged this and have been replacing faulty gearboxes under warranty.
What we don’t know is what Mazda’s response will be once a gearbox fails outside the warranty period. Therefore if you are experiencing issues engaging 1st or 2nd then I advise registering it with Mazda.
