Shifter feels like there's a wall in front of 3-5th + reverse
 

So I recently picked up an S4 TII and it was shifting fine until this morning, when I was trying to throw it into 4th. It just didn't go in. It felt like the gear simply disappeared, so I backed into 3rd. I got pretty concerned, so I slowed down and parked it, but then the shifter refused to go into 3rd as well! Granted, you could feel where 3rd and 4th were supposed to go, but it wouldn't move even halfway into their respective slots. 5th and Reverse are plagued by a similar situation, except while I can move the shifter enough to the right to line it up with 3rd or 4th, the shifter won't move far enough to the right for 5/R. I forced it in once, but the transmission never engaged R and just spun like it was in neutral with the clutch engaged. No ugly grinding, just an irritating lack of movement.

Now, I've already pulled the shifter out. I read that perhaps the bushings disintegrated and the lower bushing was jamming something, but the shifter never felt sloppy up to the moment it just stopped working. When I looked in, there was plenty of oil reaching the bottom of the shifter ball and the bushings were completely intact. Even the factory shims that nobody seems to use anymore were there. The bottom bushing is totally fine, so it's not like it disintegrated and jammed the linkage. You can still engage gears 1 and 2 just fine, so I've no idea what the hell is going on with the car anymore. :scratch:

Any ideas?

Oh, right, almost forgot to mention, the car is almost completely stock

I can't be the only person stuck in this dilemma, am I?

When the transmission went out, nothing dramatic happened. No grinding or anything, it just didn't work. I wasn't driving the car hard at all, nor was I manhandling the shifter, so I doubt I bent the fork or anything crazy like that.

The fluid is really murky, which I suspected might be part of the problem, but it wouldn't explain why you can still shift into 1st and 2nd. I'm going to drop the transmission soon and try pulling apart the shifter linkage end before fiddling with the main guts. Perhaps its the synchro rings (or so I'm told), but I want to eliminate the possibility of debris in the linkage tunnel first.

Though, if I could get some preliminary advice before I accidentally screw up the transmission from someone familiar with these transmissions first, I'd really appreciate it. I just want this thing on the road again.

Oh, and it's probably not the clutch hydraulics because it won't shift into 3/4/5/R even with the engine turned off. So it's all an internal affair... Bah.

So, I ended up taking the safest route out. Sent the transmission to a specialty shop that could work on manual transmissions without touching it myself. The guy working on it reckons he's figured it out, so I'll post it here in case someone has the same problem and ends up here as well.

Apparently (and I hope I explain this right, as I'm not very well versed with the inner workings of a transmission), the 5th and Reverse gears are locked while all of the other gears can shift because the Reverse synchronizer is jammed. For whatever reason, Mazda decided to set up the detents so that when 5th and Reverse were stuck, you were locked out of 3rd and 4th as well. I'm hoping this is true, as otherwise, the transmission does not appear to need a full overhaul, just a replacement synchonizer.

I'll post back in a bit whether this actually fixes the problem. The shop works M-F so that won't be till at least Monday night or Tuesday.

If you can..If you post that info,Kindly PM me with your resolution to this.(just a quick "see my thread"..)

I had a Trans with a bad return spring.I brought to a local shop and it came back with no 5th/reverse.
I'd like to know what they did to it!
Thanks Styx (MOD)

Oh geez, I'll keep on the lookout for that. Did it not physically go into 5/R? Or would it go in but not engage the gear? If it's the latter, I won't be able to tell whether the same happened to me until after the car starts, which doesn't seem to be for a while now, maybe a couple weeks.

I'll be sure to let you know whenever that is.

The car had 1,2,3,4 but when I went to 5th or to try reverse I could not get the shifter to go over that Far.It was like the trans was just an H pattern.. only 4 forward gears.,
Needless to say I wasn't bringing to them to "fix it" as I was skeptical if I would end up paying MORE..so I just figured I would find another Trans..Which I did,and I am up and mobile..in both directions now..lol!.

Well, it's been a while, and the guys at the shop said they couldn't find the parts for the transmission. Apparently they contacted Mazda and they couldn't guarantee that they would be able to find that synchronizer, even if they went fishing for it in Japan... I thought it was weird, but at their suggestion, I've started looking for transmissions/cores to tear parts out of.

Has anyone else getting a transmission rebuilt ever run into this problem?

if the gearbox is a smoothcase ( NA ) box then the issue is with the reverse switch .. often only requires a washer under it


if the gearbox is a genuine turbo gearbox.. then you have multiple gears selected with a hub hung up on one of the syncro keys

ford bronco v6 toyo kogyo TK5 box is the kit you need

I am having the exact same problem as you described pzr2 and my transmission was rebuilt less than 4000km ago.

I don't know if I explained this properly, but it's not just the synchronizer ring that's crapped, but the whole slider and gear for reverse. It's just as bumpstart said.

bumpstart, have you actually verified that the bronco box works for the T2? And if so, what would you suggest I do to find it?

Okay, I was just at the transmission shop again. I wish I got pictures while I was there, but basically the whole 5/R synchronizer assembly, hub and all, needs to be replaced (the thing is locked). The stupidly aggravating part about this is that Mazda USA can source all the parts in the 48 states... except the hub. The hub and the package for the whole synchronizer assembly are both discounted over here in North America, so I'm stumped. I'm not sure if it's possible, but I've called the transmission shop and asked them if it was at all possible to salvage the hub. So, basically no word on any potential for progress until tomorrow, when the guys at the shop can have another crack at the assembly and the dude at the dealership can check with Mazda's HQ about sourcing the hub from out of the country.

I'll post a WTB thread, but if anyone watching this thread has spare bits of transmission lying around and so happens to have a functional synchronizer assembly...

On a semi-related note, the bearing is also toast (literally, they had to cook it off the shaft) and 5th gear is getting a bit worn down. Any S5 owners willing to part with a 5th gear?