Ok this is the second time this has happened. I got a tranny form a pick in pull and it lasted me about six months, And now is gone. Hey it was only sixty bucks. But its Totally froze up. Plenty of fluid. I am wondering if anyone has has the same problems with their trannys. Its the five speed. I know mazda trannys are not the best made, but this is the second time. And I dont have the 1800 bucks for a new tranny. Im going tomorrow to pick and pull again to get one more but its a pain in the ***, and my little beast wont run. So I guess its off to the recking yard.

 

I just bought a spare for $100. As far as I know, my '83 has the original tranny with 106k miles on the clock. It's a bit loud, especially on downshifts, and second usually grinds when shifting fast.

 

i think my 79 has the original in it and who knows how many miles? Mine grinds going from first to second and wont shift into third at high rpms (which sucks bad when I want to race). Other then that it makes no noise and seems to be holding together pretty strong. And i do have the 5 speed. Hope the next one works out for ya.

 

I've got the orignal tranny in mine as far as I know...150k miles on it. Shifting is pretty easy....i hear a grinding noise with the cluth out...but when I put it in...it goes away.

I figure something is about to go out...heh

 

RX7 trannies are supposed to be one of the best out there. I have 234,000 miles on my present, 191,000 on my spare and 145,000 on my 2nd spare. They all shift hard when cold. I always just run SAE 90 gear oil in them. I switched to Mobil Synthetic about 2 months ago in my 234,000 tranny and it clunks a little now and is harder to shift. I am going to drain it and put back the 90 Castrol.

I have my clutch set up so on top. You only need to depress about 2 inches and it's disengaged. That way I can tap and shift without going to the floor. I can't burn rubber (which thrashes your tranny to no end and is a good way to destroy your gears for no good reason) but I can shift a lot easier.

As a matter of fact out of all the 7's that I know around here, none have had tranny failures.

 

Would anyone know what the grinding noise I hear is?

 

probably a bad bearing of some sort causing excessive friction between parts. Sounds like the release bearing (aka throw-out bearing) and posibly internal main bearings.

 

I figured...how joyful. Probably a rebuild or a new tranny then?

 

Unless you need a new clutch, I would'nt go threw the trouble of pulling the tranny just to prelace the release bearing unless it gets real loud. As far as the internal bearings, they may last for a while longer (if they are bad to begin with). When was the last time you changed the gear oil? Use a quality oil. I've had good luck with Neo oil, the one mazdatrix recomends.

 

Well, problem is I don't know when the last time it was changed. I bought the car a few months back from a co-worker and he hadn't known anything about the car himself since it was sitting around in storage...only driven a few times a month. So, yeah..oil probably needs changnig...don't know what's in there...for all I know it's original. heh

Where can I get Neo oil? Any other recommendations?

 

http://www.neosyntheticoil.com/75w90hd.htm

 

I have Amsoil 75w90 in my FD. I changed the fluids out as soon as I got the car so I can't quote any difference. If nothing else, it provides piece of mind knowing it is in there. Good luck.

Kyle

 

Make sure you have a good pilot bearing in your e-shaft. If this is shot your transmission will not last long. My friends 87 did this, one day backing out of his driveway it just locked up on him so he took it out and put in another used one that worked, a few months later it started to make noise then the engine blew a coolant seal. When we took the engine out we noticed the pilot bearing was totaly missing, only the bearing race was there. If you don't have any support for the input shaft your transmisson is going to let you know about it.

-Cam

 

i got my tranny from this guy who raced his 1st gen in hill climbs... this trans was sitting outside for 2 years or something under this shitty tarp. when i saw it i had second thought about buyin it, but im glad i did... this thing shifts niiice!

--eric

 

Well just got back from the pick in pull yard. Well see how this tranny does. Ill let ya all know. Right know I have allot of work to do putting it back in my car. That grinding sound was what mine did and a month later it went. So dont expect it to go away. Cause I wanted it too.

 

First thing you should do is drain the old transmission oil and replace it with Amsoil synthetic 75-90W gear oil. I have had Amsoil "save" a couple of noisy transmissions, one had noisy countershaft bearings that got much quieter fairly quickly, and the other was a ribcase 5-speed in my RX4 that had a balky 3rd gear synchro that the Amsoil did absolute wonders for. I'm totally sold on the stuff, even at $25 a gallon. I use it in the differential too.

 

All I have to say is make sure your pilot bearing is still good, if it's bad/not there your just going to have to take the trans back out again.

 

The pilot bearing? Oh its good, didnt even check, but the hole engin flywheel and clutch are bran new. the tranny is in and doing good for the time being. Oh and I drained the tranny and put castrol 80w 90 in it. Im still looking for an additive for manual trannys. Also I put 75w 90 mobil 1 in the old tranny when it started to make noise. Didnt help at all. Thats why I was looking for just an additive for it. hopefully this tranny last awhile. I was talking to my friend and he had heard that a camero tranny would fit right on, Its stronger. but I dont think it would. Anyone know?

 

Have you read any of the service issues with the 1st gen trannies? Lots of issues and weaknesses. I was actually talking to a friend who worked for a Mazda dealer between 79-88 and he had to replace lots of trannies while he was there. He mentioned specifically the input and output shafts went easily.

I had mine replaced in my 85 GSL-SE recently...when I saw it cracked open it had literally destroyed itself.

I now have a 90'NA tranny (used) . I'm not sure there's much I can do cept get some Redline MT-90 in it, and take it easy.

F-

 

I know they are not the most reliable trannies. Look!! its a mazda. How good can it be. Sorry to diss on the rx7 but its true. When I get a super charger on it next year, that I have to find a more perminent tranny. See how long this one last though

 

So it's good but you didn't even check.....ok... Well maybe if it's a new engine they didn't put a pilot bearing in. If that e-shaft came out of a automatic car it didn't have a pilot bearing. Did you replace the bearing when you did the clutch/engine?

 

everything is new, new pilot bearing. everything new. So thats why I didnt check. Im possitive. I got some manual transmision additive fluid so Im going to dump that in there and see how things go.

 

lol, Definetly NOT a bolt on. Tell your friend to kick us down some of whatever he's smoking....it must be some good ****!

 

LoL. Well like I said, I didnt think it would work

 

I had 230,000 miles on my original 81 trans including 15 weekends beating on it at the track (road race track) and that trans still held up and didn't complain. Once I bought the car in 88 I started doing regular synthetic fluid changes and that really is key.

An acquaintance had a 626 trans bolted up to his 12a Jbridge road race GT3 car fat slicks and it lasted 2.5 YEARS of abuse until the case cracked.

Mazda trans are good. Use Turbo ][ trans with the stupidcharger.

-bp-