Just picked up my newly purchased '91 vert with 450miles on a rebuilt engine. Noticed over driving it a long distance (50 miles) that a strong oil or tranny fluid smell is coming from the shifter boot area.

Any idea what this is and how I can correct it?

Thanks in advance.

 

New inner shifter boots. Just some rubber pieces. They can be had at www.mazdatrix.com

 

Rico,

Found a thread from you back in Nov 01. You had some transmission smell problems.

Some guys said that your tranny fluid / clutch fluid could be leaking onto the exhaust.

Did you ever figure that out? What was it?

I guess I'd really like to fix the source rather than band-aid it. I could try the new inner boots.....will that nail it?

Seals? ....I don't want to even go there....cripes, brand new car...now this.

Thanks

 

Usually it is as rico said, the boots on the inside. Just pop up your shifter surround and see if the rubber boots are torn at all (if they are even there!) Can be quite a cheap fix!

 

do you have to take the tranny out to replace inner shift boot??? i really can't wait fto take the time and wait for the part to get here......my questoin....can it be donw without the tranny coming out?

 

Usually it is as rico said, the boots on the inside. Just pop up your shifter surround and see if the rubber boots are torn at all (if they are even there!) Can be quite a cheap fix!

 

Okay.....jurys out...inner boot looks like toast. Check out the picture. Comments?

Actually appears to be melted. Touched the inner portion of the boot and it was gooey..... The ID of the inner boot should go all the way to the shaft....right?

If this is the case, that boot looks like it slides right off.

Rico...you da-man!

This is it, right? ....10 minute diagnosis....would send you a brew if I could.

 

Can u replace the inner shifter boot without having the tranny out????????????

 

Yo,


This is the only re-occuring problem with my GTUs.

I guess there is a seal that goes bad in the tranny, that when you do consistent hard take-offs the tranny oil sloshes back and fills the box that your stick shift sticks into.

Enough tranny fluid fills it until it starts to "spit" out of the top of the very inner shift boot, the one that is held on by the three 10mm bolts. Given time, the fluid will ruin your other two rubber outer shift boots.

I don't feel like dropping my tranny to fix this, so I drive until I catch a telltale wiff of Redline tranny fluid, then pull my shift boot up. If I see fluid, then I take everything apart, the two outer boots, then the three 10mm bolts, then pull straight up to pull the shift lever and inner boot up.

Make sure to have a paper towel shielding the bottom of the shift lever, or fluid will splatter everywhere when you jerk the lever out.

I clean all the excess tranny fluid off the boots, then take a bendy straw and siphon all the tranny fluid out of the box ontop of the tranny (where the shift lever goes in.) Put some blue RTV on the inner boot metal flange, slap the lever back in, tighten the bolts, then put the boots on. Voila! Good for another 6 to 8 months.

KS
1989 GTUs "What's that smell?"

PS: Now is a good time to change out your shifter bearings as well.

 

DC, I just pulled two of the inner boots out. They slip right off of the shifter. No need to pull tranny.

Now, the problem is the 3rd rubber boot which appears to be held in by a metal bracket and 4 bolts.

Rico/or anybody....can you take a look at this pic? The inner most boot appears to be melted too. Can I just take this bracket off by removing the 4 bolts shown (1 shown next to text).

Thanks

 

Yo,


Oh yeah, if you want you can take off the four bolts holding that on. It does make getting to the 3 10mm bolts easier. You just need to be patient with the two bolts nearer the rear end. Once you get them all off, you have to kind of wedge and finaggle to get it off.

Then you are free to work on the inner boot's 3 x 10mm bolts.

Hope this helps!

KS
1989 GTUs "RarestRX on AIM if you need help now..."

 

Outstanding! Thanks for everyone's help. Just ordered the new boots on Madzatrix (thanks again Rico!)....will be here by Wednesday (I hope).

Will come back on if I need further help.

Cheers.

 

there are 4 boots all together...3 large middle boots, and 1 small inner boot-attatched to the metal piece with three bolts. be aware you may need to replace all of them and yeah its a good time to replace shifter bushings if necessary...make your shifter nice and tight once again!

Fred

 

so the very last shifter boot doesn't need to have the tranny popped out? I can replace all the boots without removing the tranny?

 

BUmp

 

M/T - Oil Smell Around the Shifter Lever
Bulletin No.: 003/93
Issued: 4/14/93
Revised:
Category
N
Applicable Model/s
1990-91 RX-7
(M/T)

Subject:
OIL SMELL AROUND THE SHIFT LEVER
DESCRIPTION
On some vehicles, oil may seep out of the shift lever, but it may not be visible because the shift lever dust boot covers it. You can detect this condition if the vehicle's cabin smells like oil.
REPAIR PROCEDURE
If the above condition exists, perform the following:
1. Remove the shift lever and rubber boot.
2. Remove the extension housing assembly from the transmission as outlined in Section J of the applicable Workshop Manual.
3. Remove the change control rod and rod cover.
4. To prevent oil moving to the control case side, use a hacksaw (or any applicable cutting tool) to cut the oil seal lip on the front side of the rod cover as shown.
5. Reassemble the transmission assembly.

http://www.mazdatrix.com/faq/ssinstal.htm

 

crap, i need this one. Can i change all the shifter boots without taking out the tranny?????????????

 

could be your shifter seals or rear seal...my rear seal is not even in...and it throws tranny oil EVERYWHERE (shift boot, exhaust, undercarriage) it gross and smelly

 

Help, my '91 vert still reaks of tranny oil or some oil????

Replaced the shifter boots (3 of them) and checked the change control case (shifter box) and found it to be free of excessive fluid....just some grease. Don' t think I need the control rod seal modification noted in the bulletin.

Took the car to Mr Mazda. He said everything looked pretty dry under the car. However, there was one area he said had a little wetness. Think he said some cover.... At the time, it seemed the smell was gone but after sitting for several hours in my garage tonight......whew, stink-ola.



Any suggestions guys?

 

COME ON GUYS, I REALLY NEED TO KNOW ASAP. Do you have to pop the tranny to replace the bottom shifter boot?????????

 

DC, I think I can answer your question. No, you don't need to pull the tranny to replace the boots.

I replaced all three boots without pulling the tranny. Even the smaller boot (4th boot) attached to the metal (3 bolt) plate is accessable throught the cabin.

Can anybody offer any other advise for sources of burning oil smell?

 

Thanks for the info Wknee.

 

Make sure all fluids are full.
Check everywhere for leaks. My front transmission seal leaked and caused a smell. Run the car through an under carriage car wash and park the car somewhere clean in order to check for leaks. I also replaced the leather shifter boot too. Sometimes the smell just gets into the carpet/seats. Get the interior cleaned.
Look for smoke/source if this occurs after driving.

So who rebuilt the engine?

 

Hey Rx7Conv...thanks for hanging with me on this one.

Will try the under carriage wash and interior clean. Will keep my fingers crossed. I think I rubbed the skin off the end of my nose trying to find the smell in my carpets.

Will take a look at the front tranny seal too.

Rebuild: A shipped, factory rebuild, was installed by some non-Mazda experienced mechanic. The 1st owner's insurance had this guy do the work. Worries me a little.

Had an ex-Mazda dealer mechanic check it out. Said the installation looked fine. (1hr labor).

Why did you ask who did the rebuild? Made me think about contacting that mechanic to ask him about the install. Maybe he knows something about the smell issue.

 

This goes back awhile but I wanted to let you guys know the final outcome on this.

Apparently, the previous owner really had problems. Tranny oil must have leak out past the shifter boot into the cabin. I eventually yanked out the carpet and found that the tranny oil had seeped all over the place....all the way back to the speaker housing.

Everytime I drove the car, the underbody would heat up and outgas oil fumes.

Once I got the carpet out....it stunk big time and was totally stained. It even saturated into the sound damping mtl. I removed that with C02 and cracked it out like peanut brittle. Cleaned everything with 3M tar remover and replaced it with Dynamat.

Removed the dash (that was fun) and replaced the carpet. Just put the seats in last weekend and absolutely no STINK.

By the way, I also had the modification performed, as noted above in the TECH bulletin...so root cause is fixed.

Finally got my VERT back and love drivin' it.