HELP!!! shifter question...
 

Hello,

The shifter in my TII is friggin awful. The owner before me did something weird (trying to make a short shifter) and I think screwed a lot of things up. Well, I figured getting a Mazdatrix short shifter would fix things for me. It came in the mail today and I installed it but still have the same problem!

Here is my problem:

Basically, there is no smoothness or fluidity in the shifting. EVERYTIME I shift, I get hung up in Neutral. It physically takes much effort to get the car to go into gear. 2nd gear is the worst. I never hit second straight out of first. I always have to do a little "searching" around to get it right. I know it is not me, because a.) I have driven hundreds of cars and never had a problem and b.) my mom, dad, and a few friends have driven the car and had teh exact same problem. The weirdest part of it is that when the car is parked I can shift perfectly, and I hit every gear. But when the car starts moving, I can't get the car into any gear without a significant amount of effort.

Another thing that is kind of weird is that I noticed on both shifters that they are real loose while in Netural. They wiggle back and forth and they do not "snap" back toward the center like most shifters do. I don't know if that is an RX7 thing or not, but maybe someone on here would.

Does anyone have any clue as to what could be wrong? Since i have tried two shifters, I know for sure that it isn't something wrong with the shifter...what else could possibly be causing this?

Thanks guys.

maybe change the trasmission fliud???
maybe the differintal fliud
what the mileage
alot of people seem to forget to change these fliuds thay shold be changed every 50K so you might wanna look into that.

It has 107,000 miles on it. Assuming the fluids weren't changed, would they cause something like this?

Definetly check clutch fluid. I had this problem and soon realized my clutch slave cylinder was leaking. My car eventually wouldnt go into gear at all and I ended up having to replace the cylinder.

I would bleed your clutch line no matter what. That may be the problem, otherwise, check transmission fluid levels (gear housing and shifter housing), see if the gear shift will go in gear with the car off, and check that your shifter bushings are not interfering with the shifter.

Chris

Put some synthetic gear oil in the transmission, I have heard people say that it makes a big difference. And the reason that it may not snap back is due to the fact that there is a retuen spring in the shifter box and it may not be hooked up right or it may be broke.

I did not see any spring at all when I removed the shifter. Hmm...

The clutch fluid is perfectly fine, I don't think the cylinder is leaking.

Tomorrow I will check my manual transmission fluid and differential fluid and then go from there.

The tranny is suffering from worn out syncros... Running Redline MT90 as gear oil in it may help, but it sounds like the syncros are shot and need to be replaced.

The clutch is rulled out by the difficulty shifting is gone when the car is not running.

Icemark:

Is there any way I can test to be 100% sure that it is the syncros?

yeah see if it has problems when you double clutch... it shouldn't be as bad when you double clutch.

The previous owner probably did some power shifting to it........ But Icemark is most likely right, it sounds like syncros to me too.

I will have to agree with you.

But, as it is not good to do this, it is not always true I have had two occasions when the clutch has completly gone out (springs in disk missing, no engagment at all). When te car was off I could run through the gears very smoothly without depressing the pedal at all.

The clutch is easy to check.
While parked, idleing in neutral, should be able to hear the tranny gears spinning.
Push in the clutch. do the gears stop spinning?
If so - the clutch is working.

Synthetic gear oil - you will be glad you did..

I think that Icemark is most likely right...damn, that sucks. Yeah, I'm sure the car's been raced before or something.

What are my options now, rebuild the tranny?

its not the bushings?

The bushings for what?

I think hes talking about the shifter bushings. I dont think that is his problem. Im going to agree with Hailers and say its more than likely your syncros. You can try the MT90 but if they are almost gone it may not help to much. Im about to get the syncros replaced in my 95 Trans Am since it doesnt like to downshift to second unless your under 10mph, doesnt go into 5th from 6th, and doesnt go into first sometimes unless you let the clutch out and put it back in. Good thing its still under warrenty and I get it done for free:D

No the bushings just correct a sloppy shifter....... Even with worn out bushings, you should be able to get it in gear easy.

Yeah, I know for sure it is not the shifter bushings. How difficult is it to replace the syncros? Is it advisable to just replace the entire transmission?

syncro replacement would require rebuilding of the tranny.

I have an 86 5-speed transmission that I will let go really cheap, I never got to drive it due to the fact that the car caught on fire every time I started it, and the clutch didn't do any clutching, so I couldn't drive it.

1. How cheap?

2. Did you buy it new?

3. Is it a TII tranny?

HOLD ON...... before you spend money on a new tranny there is one thing to try that is 100% free. make sure the peddle is adjusted right. if its not disengaging the clutch enough it will be hard to shift.

You should not beable to hear anything audible other than the motor. If you can hear something spinning (more like a whirring) your throw out bearing is taking a shit on you.

Yeah, check the clutch engagement. One time I replaced the master and slave cylinder on one of my cars and it didn't fix it. I finally figured out how to adjust it, and it was wonderful after that.