Hey All!

So been having a issue with my shifter. I was driving it after the rebuild and all was fine, i know my shifter was sloppy to begin with, but not too bad. So after driving it for a while ~1100Kms (from the rebuild). I had parked it one night and the next morning the shifter was WHACK! it was REAL REAL REAL sloppy, the tranny doesnt grind, it gets into all the FWD gears but i gotta like aim it so its not like all wonky (its like it wants to curve and jump around going into the gear). Getting into Reverse is a BITCH i gotta like whack the shifter to the right a few time till i am able to shift it. My thoughts were my bushings and my boots need to be replaced. Does anyone have any experience with this or know what else could be my issue. Should i just get a miata shifter off the net and do that and the bushings all @ 1 time since i will be changing the bushings (if that IS what the problem is?). Also sometimes going into the gear i hear like a metal/plastic tick/ping sound when i shift. Thanks for yer help guys.

 

i'm having pilot bearing removal problems of my own right now but it sounds like I was in the same situation you are in now. i had no bushings at all and got the bushing kit from mazda but it only had the top bushing. just go to mazdatrix they have it figured out. i got the lower from them. http://www.mazdatrix.com/g4.htm

 

anyone else wanna take a crack at this?

 

i have the exact same problem. someone help.

 

take the shifter out and look at the bushings, look at where the bottom ball goes into the tranny lever and see if anything is bent. Most likely your bushings cracked and broke. If its s5 there is a groove bushing in the pivot ball that guides the shifter and keeps it from twisting as much. take a pic of all that and post it.

 

try pulling the side cover plate. i just cleaned out mine and had a broken spring washer all jammed in there that had to pulled out with pliers and alot of chunks frm the failed bushings.

 

Also the bottom & top section of the lever are two seperate pieces with a (probably crumbling) rubber isolator sleeve connecting them.

Get a 90+ Miata short shifter & fit it.
To start with it's solid steel.