When transmissions fail...
 

The pics. are rather large and not the greatest clarity, but heres the background... I had my local shop install my ACT S/S clutch with the HD pressure plate. No biggie right? (They are Mazda Master Technicians btw) They even test drove it around before they gave me the thumbs up. Well... I got to drive the car less than 200 feet from their shop when the car would not go into ANY gear. Here is the "carnage."

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...D/DSC00519.jpg

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...D/DSC00520.jpg

The guys at the shop said that the bolts were stripped out of the bell housing. One of them was just lying in the housing! So they sent the whole transmission off to their machinist to helicoil?? (did I butcher that?) the studs back. Fun stuff... I figured that with my luck the transmission would have catastrophically failed, but I guess I "lucked out." Too bad... that Greddy 6 speed was looking pretty good. :aroused:

they are paying to repair it correct?

thats what happens when u take it to mazda :)

no shit... they probably tried tightening down the bolts before seating the 2 locating studs or worse they probably tried running the bolts in with an air gun before threading them partially in causing them to cross thread and eat up the bellhousing.

Someone deserves a big "High 5" for doing such a good job on that one :lol:

Thats not "when transmissions fail" that is "when Mazda master technicians fuck up"!

:lol:

Let me get this straight. You put a heavier duty clutch and pressure plate in. The bolts that hold the clutch fork pivot point pulled out of the aluminum threading because of increased force required to engage/disengage the clutch.

1. Are these in-fact, the bolts holding the fork pivot point to the bell housing? If not, what bolts are they and what are they holding down?

2. Did the technicians remove the fork hinge bolts for any reason?? Replacing the clutch should not require this removal at all. If they were not removed, they were factory torqued and met tolerances for stock pressure plate force.

3. If this is the bolts to the hinge point and it was my shop, I would say it is the car owner's fault for installing a clutch/PP combo that increased the force on the bolts beyond their load capabilities. Knowing that a heavier force Pressure Plate requires increased load forces, the assumption that the bolts are strong enough as is would be a mistake.

Just my .02 cents. Don't be so quick to judge or blame the mechanics. Some responsibility also lies with us to understand what exactly happened and in what order they happened.

Tim

If they put in a set of helicoils it should be fine.

Dave

FD owners have been using the ACT HD clutch for years and the only failures have been in the clutch fork it'self, not the fasteners. Mazda even redesigned the fork back in the 90s because it failed where a pin went through one of the arms.

We do not know the history of this transmission but your assumption is way off base about the HD clutch being the problem.

I have not ever--in 30 years--seen a failure like that. Someone hit those bolts with a [large] impact wrench. There is no way that the clutch load is going to cause those bolts to pull the threads out of the case--that had to result from overtorquing.

I agree that it can be repaired with heli-coils.

Yeah its the clutchs fault.

I would guess that around 80% of the people on this board run a better than stock clutch. If the stronger pressure plate caused the throw out bearing pivot holding bolts to strip I would think we would be hereing this all the time. This is not normal. The clutch did not cause this. And in all reality ther was no reason for those bolt to be removed. The throw out bearing can be replaced with it still atached to the tranny.

It sounds like crapy work to me.

no guesses about it, the tech probably doesn't even own a torque wrench or have any concept of torque or how it applies to bolts.

I believe you have to remove the fork to replace the throw-out bearing.

ya man i no nuthin bout these cars cuz i just got one... but my step dad is a honda michanic... if sumthing goes wrong like this it would only be fair for them to repair it... in your case u might need all new internals depending if it was in the bell housing or the gear box itself...

pretty lame... dont be mad if they have a hard tiome workin with you and take 3 months

But how many documented failures have been accredited to this. And who's to say the bolts were not cross threaded and then torqued (or worse yet torqued with an impact).

Granted, the FC clutch system is different from the FD. However I've installed several of ACT's Xtreme pressure plates including one in my own car and have never seen the pivot or the clutch fork wear/warp/bend.

Alot of the questions and assumptions that you guys have posted have their merit. These mechanics have been doing various work on my other 2 rides and every car my Dad and sister have owned in the last 10 years. They run a very tight ship in terms of equipment and their own mechanical expertise. I'm not saying they didn't overtorque something or fudged it up somewhere along the install process, but it just doesn't jive with me either. I had never heard of anyone on here having a problem such as me with their transmission. I don't know enough about the components that makeup the transmission and their proper installation/removal to make a valid argument as to what went wrong and why. I figured it would be a little situation that those of you in the know so to speak could kick around for shits and giggles as well as help give me a little more knowledge about the transmission/ clutch itself.