Hi everyone.

Last night I was a litle mad after driving behind some dumb a$$ who was bloking me on one way street, I squized by somehow so I downshifted to 2nd and when shifting to 3rd I freaking hit 5th and screwed up the synchro.

Since I was driving only local I didn't notes that the 5th gear was toast, so today when I got in highway and shifted to 5th it did the grrrrrrk sound, I thought I didn't step on the clutch good so I tried few times it did the same, 5th stel works normaly exept no synchro every time I shift it makes the annoying grrrrk sound

So m'I screewed or there is a way of fixing it without changing the trany complete and payng the big $$$? BTW I have 102K miles on it...

I'm so freaking mad, I don't know what to do, can't afford an new one right now!

Any help is highly appreciated.

 

Hmm, sounds like you toasted the synchro like you mentioned. What kind of tranny fluid are you using in there right now? Just to be safe I would drain out your fluid and try some Redline or Neo, this may get you by for a while longer/mask the real problem. If it works it will save you some money for the time being, you could get the tranny pulled and replace that synchro.. sounds like a $400-500 job to me at a shop. Either that or practice rev-matching.

Matt

 

My advice... just don't use 5th until you can get a chance to replace this part I'm serious.

What the heck do you need 5th for anyhow in NYC?

 

check salvage yards- car-part.com . i picked up a tranny from a '95 w/ 30k miles including a 6 month warranty for $550 shipped. not too bad, definetley cheaper than a rebuild.

 

The synchro in my car is 100% toast. I can hardly get it into gear shifting normally. However ... and I don't know why more of you guys with a bad synchro don't do this ... it will not grind at all if I just double clutch going into fifth. Clutch in, out of fourth, clutch out to match rpm, clutch in, in to fifth, and finally clutch out. A little practice and you get pretty good at it.

I have had a bad synchro in my car since I got it, and the guy I bought it from said it had been like that for nearly 3 years. If it gets bad enough I suppose I will pull the tranny, but heck in the mean time why spend the $$, I still have a nice 5th gear that werks just fine

 

mines the same way as Jason's.....just shift slow and match the RPMs....not like you need to be shifting fast into 5th anyways, unless you're crazy and racing to like 160

 

i just got mine done with the motor and all... o dont want to see the inside of that motor or tranny for sometime!!!

 

At this point my view is that redline won't help you it will just be $30 down the drain (because when you do get it fixed you'll want new redline again). I replaced mine myself for under $100 in parts (synchro and lock nuts). I posted some pics awhile ago. Just stay out of 5th until you can get it fixed or do it yourself like wargasm said. But remember the sychro fails by cracking and if you miss shift again or try to go in 5th regularly the synchro can break in another place at which point the pieces will drop into the tranny and you will have a lot more damage. Right now it is likely still one piece just not doing its job because the crack allows it to flex. 2 cracks and it breaks in half an falls into the gears!

 

Oh yeah and don't forget to upgrade your shift select spindle with the stiffer spring so that you are less likely to hit 5th by accident.

 

oooh shift select spindle
so how hard is this to do.... man im so sick of droppin my tranny

 

The shift select spindle fix is easy. It is two 10 mm bolts.. very easy. I don't even think you need to drop the trans to do it... there should be clearance.

 

Actually do most of us here even need fifth gear? Where I live when I go into Boston I hit fifth just as I come up on the Allston tolls. Then When I go to the other direction, same thing thing. I don't do to much distance anymore because I feel too guilty about the gas consumption.

 

Actually do most of us here even need fifth gear? Where I live when I go into Boston I hit fifth just as I come up on the Allston tolls. Then When I go to the other direction, same thing. I don't do to much distance anymore because I feel too guilty about the gas consumption.

 

Even though I live in NYC manhattan where I'll never need the 5th gear butI like going away for weekends with my whife like the past weekend I drove to Boston ( I didn't see you Tomarx7 no where, lol) so I enjoy long rides and without the 5th is not possible.

Like JasonRX&R1 said matching rpm's and double clutching is a good thing to do, in deed Jason it is good and I got use to it in no time, but my main concern is that the broken parts of the synchro may screw up the rest of the trany and get stuck in a midle of nowhere.

Jkekeisen mentined erlier to upgrade the shift select spindle with stiffer spring so is likely less easy to hit the 5th gear by mistake,
it sounds good but I don't know how or I don't know where that spring goes.
BTW where can I get the synchro and bolts and is it hard to do it, I have done few engine swaps and tranny's but never opened a one before.

Anyhow thank you all for the very helpfull info's and meybe you can post some more info on how to change the synchro myself and where to get the parts and what I need for it...

Thanks,.

 

I forghot to mention that I use regullar oil 80W90, and I changed all fluids trany, differential and engine before I drove to Boston, 2 days before that happened, and I change trany and diff. every 15K miles even though it doesn't need it that often.

I never used Redline oil but I guess I'll give it a try after I fix it.

 

The only issue with changing the shift select spindle which is on the drivers side of the shifter housing just below the tunnel is that if your shift housing is full of oil which it should be it will leak out when you take the spindle off. There have been different reports on whether you can buy only the spring, I bought the whole assembly before I new what I was doing and it is about $50. I understand that the spring is listed as a separate part number which is the only thing that needs to be replaced and that would be much cheaper.

ps there is only 1 spring now it was upgraded after 93 and it retained the same part no.

The synchro and lock nuts are standard Mazda parts which are either in stock or come from the regional warehouse within a day or two. The 5th gear synchro is the first gear out of the inner tranny and therefore doesn't require a complete disassembly of the internals. You need a long armed bearing puller and if you search my posts you will see the one I made for short money.