NC 6-speed gearbox problems

My 16,000 mile 2009 RX8 R3 has, I’m told, the same 6-speed gearbox as some NCs and I’ve a problem.

My local dealer is doing his best to wind me up and waste my time so I hope someone here can help keep my blood pressure down to reasonable levels.

a.  For some time the changes between 1st, 2nd & 3rd have been very notchy with a pronounced kick-back through the gear lever as the lever goes home.  It’s worse when cold to the extent I habitually double declutch (clutch in, select neutral, clutch out, clutch in, select gear, clutch out) as the only way of getting the gears.

b.  Over the past 2,000 miles the synchromesh baulked when block-shifting into 6th (normally from 4th) regardless of engine speed.  Over the past few hundred miles it has occasionally baulked when changing from 5th.

Has anyone had similar problems with their 6-speed gearbox?

Thanks for any help.

Ian

Stupid thought, could it be a draging clutch?

There have been a number of threads on this Forum about this problem. Suggest you use the search facility to look for them. I have a 2007 six speed NC, thankfully without this problem but have a close friend who went back to a 5 speed because he could not live with the problem, particularly when the gearbox was cold.

Regards

    Jim

 John, thanks.  It was at the back of my mind, but it hasn’t been mentioned by the dealer (to cut a long story short, it was assessed by my local dealer who said it was a known problem with a failed bearing, they would contact Mazda for approval and then take the gearbox out to investigate & repair.  I booked her in for several days, when I dropped off the car with a letter confirming history to date the service desk confirmed that they would be taking the gearbox out and repairing/replacing it as necessary, when they rang a few days later they said that they can’t confirm the fault and had done nothing.  When i picked the car up i complained to the service manager who apologized and admitted they hadn’t got permission from Mazda despite what I’d been told, but he did confirm the symptoms after driving her and said that she would have to go to the master technician at another garage in their Mazda chain.  I got the service manager to make the bookiing to avoid further communication problems and dropped the car off 3 days ago when I explained the 2 problems and requested they speak to the first service manager first.  This morning I got a call to say that the 1-3rd problems were there but were borderline acceptable; when i asked about the 6th gear problem all I got was silence then an “er, what 6th gear problem”.  Then later today i got another call, this time from the technician saying they wanted me to pay for an exploratory fluid change; when I asked how this would help the 6th gear problem all I got was silence then an “er, what 6th gear problem?”.  . . . . . . They’re calling me back tomorrow morning…)

 Jim, thanks.  If there are other threads then I apologize for double-posting - I’ve spent a couple of hours searching here and on the net in general without success, and I’ve tried another few minutes looking now again without success.  I’ll try again in the morning.

Does anybody have more information on this as my 6 speed NC is almost impossible to change from 1st to 2nd and back into 1st when it is cold.  Once its been driven approx 5miles all is good.  I am also currently researching this before I approach the Mazda garage.

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