I own a 99 Miata MX5. Just turned 50,000 miles. Recently when driving long distances, the car refuses to shift. I stop and go alot as I am a marketer. I ended up having only fifth gear to use and had to drive 50 miles back home. After the car sits for a little while, I have all the gears again. Have taken it to a shop to check fluids, they are fine. Do I need a new clutch? Was told hydraulic clutches should last up to 120,000 miles. What's the deal? Can anybody help me?

 

THE ONLY WAY TO KNOW 100% IS TO OPEN THE TRANNY UP AND HAVE A LOOK

 

FIRST TO CHECK YOUR CLUTCH; DRIVE VEHICLE IN FOUR GEAR, HARD ACCEL; IF THE CLUTCH IS STILL GOOD
THE TACH AND SPEEDO WILL INCREASE TOGETHER ; IF TACH INCREASES MORE, YOUR CLUTCH IS STARTING
TO SLIP.
NEXT DOUBLE CHECK HYDRAULIC: ESPECIALLY THE SLAVE CYLINDER, MOUNTED ON LOW PASSENGER SIDE OF
THE TRANS HOUSING. WITH SCREWDRIVER OR PIT TOOL, SEPARATE THE BOOT FROM CYLINDER; IF FLUID
LEAKS OUT, HAVE CYLINDER REBUILD OR REPLACED, ALSO HAVE THE FLUID FLUSH OUT COMPLETELY.
ANOTHER POSSIBLY IS THE CLUTCH MASTER CYLINDER; TO CHECK, WATCH UNDER THE DASH, WHERE TO
CLUTCH PEDAL ROD CONTACTS THE PISTON. PRESS AND RELEASE THE PEDAL SLOWLY TO SEE IF ANY FLUID
SEEPS AROUND THE PISTON SEAL. ONCE AGAIN EITHER REBULD OR REPLACE AND COMPLETELY FLUSH FLUID
* THE REASON FOR FLUSHING THE CLUTCH IS THAT IT IS BRAKE FLUID, WHICH CONTAMINATE EASILY. ALSO
THE CLUTCH HYDRAULIC SYSTEM IS USED MORE, YOU'LL FIND THE FLUID DRAINED FROM THE SLAVE USUALLY
HAS A METALLIC SHEEN TO IT. *

 

NO that would not be the first thing I would do, there is no evidence of a transmission problem. I would go with gtxtreme on this one. If you can't get it to shift try pumping the clutch 3 or 4 times really quick, then it should shift with a little extra force. If that works than I would be 99% sure it was either the clutch slave or clutch master cylinder. If the master cylinder is bad you may not always see it up where the rod meets the pedal by the firewall. On my mazda pickup I had my clutch master go out and it was leaking between the master cylinder and the outside of the firewall, but it didn't drip all the way down, instead it dripped down the inside of the hole, which on the B2200 it has 2 layers of metal. I don't know about the miata but in this case the only evidence I had was low fluid and the symptoms you have with shifting, I unbolted the cylinder and the paint was peeling behind it so I replaced it. Problem fixed.

The mazda Type II tranny is not that complicated, in order for someone not to be able to shift out of 5th they would have to have some serious problems which would probably have a hard mechanical noise when running or trying to shift. Also if it was a problem with the tranny it probably wouldn't shift out of 5th after the car sit for a little while.

 

my clutch pedal is starting to stick in. You need to put your foot behind the pedal to bring it back. I lubricated all the moving parts inside. Awhile back I was losing some fluid but after several top ups I don,t lose any more fluid. Any ideas what this would be? Thanks Newt
BTW it is a 92 B2200 with 264000 kms
I just test drove the truck and it got stuck in gear and the clutch pedal was stuck in as well. It stalled and I put my foot in back of the pedal and then freed it and pumped it a few times put it back in my yard and checked the slave cyclinder out. I pulled back the boot and it is full of fluid so that is my problem. Thank You Mazda Forums for this thread! Newt

 

So after my slave cyclinder repair and a trip in my truck the pedal started to stick again so I bled the system again and same thing. I bought a rebuild kit for the master cylinder and in stalled it and now my clutch feels normal again and no more sticky pedal. A very simple job aproximate 45 minutes start to finish and the only tool you need out of the ordinary is for the snap ring. Saved mega bucks going this way. Newt