I wrecked my FD into a curb October of 2007. Snap oversteer, coupled with construction boots, and bad pillow ***** = broken Volk Gramlight, slightly tweaked subframe, and destroyed toe link/wheel bearings.

To make a long story short, I took out an insurance claim on the car and had it all fixed up. At the time I never thought anything of the transmission, as the driveshaft, u-joints, and differential looked fine.

Fast forward to winter 08. My tranny has developed a bearing noise from what sounds like a damaged/worn input shaft bearing. However, the growling noise is only present as certain alignment of the tranny. If I roll the car forward a few inches the bearing wines...if I roll foward a few more inches the sounds disappears....starts to sound like a card in spokes in first gear and neutral at low speeds.


_____________
1. I figured it was the tranny just wearing out/just random breaking fd stuff.
2. Proceeded to pull out previous owners paper work, the ENTIRE tranny, all bearings and almost all the synchros were replaced in 2003! Mazda charged 900 dollars for the job.

3. This leads me to believe that this tranny problem is a developmental issue from spinning around BACKWARDS with the car in gear and slamming the curb. I run neo synthetic oil and I haven't even driven 8k miles since the wreck. Not the mention I drive very grandma.

So,

Is there any luck in me contacting insurance to see if they will compensate for a tranny rebuild if I have a transmission shop or reputible shop look at the tranny? Obviously it could just be something totally unrelated like pilot bearing or pieces of a synchro rattling around, but if I have a shop truthfully tell me they think damage to the input shaft has occurred by ramming a curb is it worth even calling insurance up?

I remember they told me I could call them to readjust If I found any other damaged parts on they car and they would send an evaluator to determine if they believed it was caused by the wreck. However they didn't tell me a time limit.

 

Oh for sure, you should be able to make a claim and have it paid.
A few years ago I wrecked my Suburban to avoid a spinning driver in an ice storm. Got it all fixed up but then over the next year or so I kept noticing a whine/growl coming from the rear end. To make a long story short, the axle had actually gotten bent. Insurance paid for a whole new rear end....and this was almost two years later.

 

I was an insurance broker specializing in auto insurance for 25 years. I just thought I should mention that to show that I "might" be qualified to reply.

I don't think you have a prayer in collecting. The tranny was rebuilt 6 years ago. That's a long time. The insurance company will almost certainly claim that it is normal wear and tear ......... and they are probably right.

That being said, it won't hurt to try to get them to fix it. Just don't get your hopes up too high. Good luck.

 

Although you might be correct, I don't see them paying you a penny.