I never really thought about these characteristics as "problems". I have the whirring sound, always has had it, since 45K miles when I bought it. The car now has only 94K on it. I DON'T have the rattling sound though. But SHIFTING, absolutely SUCKS ***. It has to be the notchiest, roughest, noisest, bitchiest transmission to ever be put in any car. I love the car, and wouldn't take anything for it, but I've seriously researched the posibility of installing a better transmission, but have had no cost effective solutions.

 

Well, a thread back from the dead. I'll have to do something about my previous post and my transmission being "ok" after 215k miles. It now has alittle more than 223k miles and i just lost a front main seal on my transmission. totally contaminating my newly installed clutch. Bah!!

-Markus

 

5 FC's, 5 trannys with no problems.

 

i have both of those on my car, and sometimes hard to get into reverse, but that is most always fixed by going into third first, or if you let the clutch out a little it will pop in.

 

My 88 n/a has about 167k miles under her. I've got the same whirring noise at idle with the clutch out (notice it more during the winter months) before she warms up. No "rocks" in there......yet. Shifting is a little rough but no grinding.

 

My first tranny had ~160k and it was fine except for bit of grinding in 3rd & 4th when shifting fast, noise in nutural, and then it got broke.. stuck in reverse. Fifth and reverse shift fork.

Curent tranny said to have ~80k seem to be fine... no nutural noise, shifts fine.. but I can't get into 1st when moving... have to double clutch and revmatch if I'm rolling more then 3mph... but only till like 10mph.. over that no first.. why is that?

 

Mine does the whirring at idle. And the shifter rattles like a rattle snake while cruising and especially under load. I know of a guy with a TII that has a bad 2nd gear synchro.

 

My previous tranny began grinding going into second - Redline MT-90 cleared that up instantly.


It also developed a loud, weird buzz in neutral with the clutch out. Clucth in, the buzz would all but disappear. The buzz only got worse and was never corrected - I swapped in a newer tranny instead.


I often had trouble shifting into reverse with that first tranny, having to double-clutch and then shift into fifth and THEN into reverse. I have to do this about a quarter of the time with the current tranny.


The current tranny refuses to shift into reverse if the car is rolling backwards AT ALL.

 

I am glad to know that the whirring noise is common 'cause I have had it since I bought my 89 FC, NA several years ago. The carcshifts great but the shifter is a lot loose. Probably will replace it this summer.

 

i voted ""Whirring noise in neutral w/ clutch out" but disappointed i have to choose only one problem.

i also have bad 2nd gear grindiness when shifting fast. If i shift normally there is slight resistance before it falls into 2nd.

3rd gear synchros are ok except that my shifter is so sloppy that 3rd gear can be misshifted if im not concentrating. its like it gets stuck between the non-existant gate, between 1st and 3rd. I have to back out, re-aim and shoot for 3rd again.

4th gear can be misshifted the same way if i dont concentrate or try to shift too fast... all cuz my shifter is ridiculously loose and sloppy.

5th is way the hell out in no-man's land but goes in great... assuming i dont misshift and snag on the 'gate' between 3rd and 5th.

Rev. is practically in the passenger seat and doesnt like to go in on the first try often... the gear wont engage fully, like halfway. I either have to back out, lift the clutch, depress and try again... OR, hold the shifter against the obstacle and slowly lift up on the clutch and begin to turn the gears. they align and the shifter drops into reverse.

1st gear downshift is attainable, you just have to wait for it. just hold it against the resistance. this puts friction on the synchros and 1st gear spins up to speed and will let you click in. if im rolling at 40mph, by the time the synchros have meshed w/ the gear, im already coasted down to 15 or 20 mph. but if you listen, you can hear the synchros spin the gear up and the whine increases.

gear whine will be REALLY loud if you have a new tranny mount or a solid mount in a worn tranny.

I have a GTUs w/ 140k on it and a new clutch and im sure a resurfaced flywheel and TOB... yet i stil have the whirr in Neut. w/ the clutch out= bad Input shaft bearing apparantly.

Anyone know of a place who rebuilds trannys and has worked w/ double synchro installations?

im just worried about finding a replacement 5th gear if mine is messed up...

 

only problems i have is when the engine is cold or i race it wont go in second very well...and then theres a wierd noise coming from the shifter when i have the rpm above 7k

 

Well, I have a 89 GTU with 81K miles. There is nothing wrong with it. Works fine, shifts smooth, no sounds or grinding

 

my '88 TII:
when I got it, (40,000 MI) grind into 2nd gear on every quick shift.

3 months later (50,000 MI): grind into 2nd gear on EVERY shift.
I changed the clutch and transmission fluid at this point, and added 1/2 liter of ATF.
after that: no grind into any gears, EXCEPT, aobut once every 100 times it would grind REALLY badly in 2nd.. maybe a bad/broken spot in the syncro? I dunno. I noticed it MUCH easier to get into first gear at speed after this point, allthough a double-clutch was still generally necessary above about 20mph.

3 months after that (55,000 MI): transmission failed in 5th gear at about 90mph cruising on the freeway. I'm not sure why. Makes a sound like you're putting a toaster through a meat grinder any time the clutch is out, car will not move under it's own power. I suspect failure of the input shaft, possibly due to lack of lubrication (I noticed it was leaking but I thought the fluid level was ok)... I haven't had it out yet to check.

 

well i've had my car for a year now and the only thing transmission wise wrong with it is the grinding from first to second. the trasmission has 250k on it so it's old

 

My tranny has the whirling noise at idle and also if i shift into third at over 6500 rpm the shifter move into 3rd but when i let the clutch out its not in gear, problem is fixed by shifting slower of pulling out of gear and putting it back in.

 

I get the low whirring noise. Barely noticable.. only when the A/C and radio are off.

Not a problem for me

89 GTU with 81K miles.

 

at 115,000 miles my 2nd gear synchros were gone, the 5th gear assembly was **** (grinding, common problem for 5th) and on top of that, as I was driving, one of the synchros chunked off and was rattling in the tranny. I now have a rebuilt tranny with about 1,000 miles on it that has none of these problems.

The shifter has rattled in both transmissions, especially when cold.

Mazdatrix had a problem with rattling shifters and I don't think they ever came up with a concrete reason for why they rattle.

 

tranny problems --
The n/a rx7 has one of the weakest units ever made for what the car is capable of doing.
My father has owned alot of tranny shops--and this is one unit that is always out back of the shop fucked up.
The weakest syncros.If you have clutch issues---thats because of you not the trannyor its just time that does it--You pay for what you get.
Now the tranny---when you get up in the horsepower with this unit,your going to get problems.
I drive mine hard,very hard.I have had one with the 2 nd gear actually break.
I have had one lose 3rd gear(chip)
I have also had one just totaly blow apart--lost 3 gears.
Its amazing the abuse the t2 tranny can take compared to this unit.