Update on my issue; Mazda tech said 4th gear synchro was bad. They even had a TSB on it. Service advisor said they were ordering a "whole bunch of parts". That's a comment from a service professional that inspires confidence.

 

I bought a 2010 Mazda3 GT 6m new in February 2010 and from day one I had asimilar problem with a 'grind' when upshifting from 3rd to 4th. I compensatedby trying to give the car time between shifts, but this is not always possible.And having driven manuals from the age of 16, I knew from the get go that thiswas not right.

I took the car out to the dealer on multiple occasions over the first year andhad the techs always tell me there was nothing wrong with it. Around March 2011I finally got the lead technician at the dealership to go for a drive with meand he agreed that there was a problem and it needed to be corrected. But thenafter talking to a Mazda Canada representative, he came back to me and said theofficial line was that this was within "normal performanceparameters" and that the transmission synchros simply had to be given asecond to "line up" before shifting. While this sounded like bull****to me (and he agreed), there was not much more I could do at that point. I wenthome and continued to live with this annoying transmission grind.

With my 3 year powertrain warranty nearing its end in February of this year,I really wanted to get this problem taken care of once and for all. While theproblem hadn't gotten worse, it certainly wasn't getting better or any lessaggravating. This time I took the co-manager of the dealership out for a driveand his response after about 30 seconds was "this isn't right, we need tofix this." FINALLY. I thought I was getting somewhere!

Well...this is when the saga shifted into the next phase which I am currentlyin the midst of. The techs took the transmission out and said that the synchrosfor 4th gear were completely shot and they would need to re-build 4th, 5th and6th gears. Great, I thought. Go for it! One week later they called, said thecar had been repaired, "extensively tested" and deemed"fixed." I came out to the dealership to pick up my car, happy thatthe long-standing annoyance was finally at an end.

I put the key in, started the car and put it into gear. After driving forless than a minute I quickly discovered that, not only was the original problemstill there (3rd-4th upshift grind), but now the entiretransmission felt as though it had been replaced with one from a 1970s Russiantractor. It was rough and sloppy all at the same time. The car wouldn't holdgears, ground loudly between 3rd and 4th (in both directions), wouldn't shiftinto 1st or reverse without extreme pressure being applied, and ground loudlyin 1st-2nd upshifts. I was (and am) infuriated! How could they possibly have seen it fit to release a car in thiscondition, and how could anyone with any knowledge have tested it and deemed itfixed!?

I took it back to the dealership the following day and once again asked themanager to go for a drive with me, only this time with him behind thewheel. It only took him 20 seconds to exclaimthat this was entirely unacceptable and nothing like any of the other manualson the lot. My car was checked back into the servicedepartment for round 2.

Over the next 10 days the service guys dropped the transmission out anddecided this time to rebuild it entirely. Last Thursday they called, said that they werecomplete, just putting everything back together and, provided it ‘tested well,’ that I could comepick up the car on Friday.

Then on Friday morning they called. Theysaid that upon testing (which I guess they actually did this time), allthe problems the car had come in with were still there, and they had droppedthe transmission out again to try to figure out what was going on. As it turns out, the new parts for both Firstand Second gear that they had put in were INCORRECT, and the Mazda Canada’spackaging for 6M transmissions were all being shipped out with incorrect parts!

This brings me to today. Thedealership is still waiting for correct 1st and 2nd gearparts to be shipped out, something they say could take a while as Mazda Canadaneeds to first correct their inventory issues. Once the shipment arrives, they will complete the rebuild and see ifthat finally fixes the problem.

I have asked the dealership why they can’t just order a new, completetransmission and drop that in, to which they have replied that when thedealership orders a ‘new’ 6m transmission from Mazda they are shipped a packageof transmission components in ‘do ityourself’ type of kit, which the technicians at the dealership must thenassemble. I find this hard to believe.Is it true that one cannot simply order a complete manual transmission unit?

I am pretty much beside myself at this point, and have no confidence that Iwill ever receive my car back with a functional transmission.

Any advice?

 

I just bought a 2013 a few weeks ago from Mazda dealership that I sell for. With E-plan Pricing I got quite the deal and couldn't pass an upgrade. I decided to go with the 6m opposed to the automatic due to just wanting a bit more control over the vehicle.

Anyways Ive experienced a rough patch in the manual transmission shifting from 3rd to 4rd. Its not "locking" or anything I just feel like Im going through a knot so to say. Im just gonna assume it'll eventually go away if not I'll turn it in for warranty. Anyone else that can relate?

 

Bump: CharcoalAxela - any updates? I just bought a new skyactiv 3 MT and am having problems with notchiness in general and with 4th gear in particular. When cold, it does not want to go in. No grinding and if you keep pressure or cycle the clutch, it will eventually go. Problem goes away when trans is warmed up...

 

We have a new 2013 GT Sky activ Mazda 3 with a 6 speed manual transmission. With only 2300 miles the transmission has randomly popped out of third gear more than a dozen times. The dealer service advisor says they will only investigate the problem if I can demonstrate it. WTF. This is often a dicey situation when merging into traffic. I am hoping it is a cable linkage issue. It is hard to accept that my Connecticut dealer declined to investigate this safety issue on a brand new car. We would like to hear from any folks with similar experience or suggestions.

 

Well, I contacted the local Car Doctor who has a radio show and a section in the Hartford Courant. He doubts my problem is linkage. I e-mailed the sales manager at the dealership. He called me back(on a Sunday afternoon). I am getting a loaner tomorrow while they check out my complaint. Sheez, my problem seems minor compared to you other folk. I will keep this thread updated on my progress. Other than it popping out of 3rd my transmission is a little notchy but not bad. We'll see what cold weather brings.

 

Yesterday the service manager took a ride in the car and as I expected could not duplicate the problem(popping out of 3rd). He checked the linkage and the file for TSBs and found none. Today, he called back and said he talked to Mazda Support and they had no similar experience on record. He said the problem might correct itself as the transmission breaks in. Mazda Support told him the transmission has been remarkably trouble free.

 

I am disappointed the car continues to pop out of 3rd gear. I see no TSB's on that issue. It has popped out another dozen times in the last 3 weeks of driving. Always unexpectedly and we are unable to replicate it. Further I find no reports of others having the same problem. On the other hand we have had no other problems with the transmission or the car in general. We are going to Europe for a month or so and I may leave the car with the dealer albeit reluctantly as it doesn't have a scratch on it and I know bad **** happens on dealer lots.

 

whitegti. I know this may sound really ridiculous, but it may be a worthy investment to get some sort of camera that you can mount and direct at your shifter. This way when they ask for proof, you have video proof that it's happening.

Sounds stupid, but when I work in IT, I usually tell my clients to take a video of what's happening using their cell phones, this way I get a clearer idea of what's going on.

 

It's not the linkage. It's probably a bent shift fork, unfortunately...

Have you ever rested your hand VERY LIGHTLY on the shifter, when it's in 3rd gear? You don't want to prevent the shifter from moving however it wants to, but rather, feel what's going on? Granted, the linkage is cable, but it DOES have a lot of feel and perhaps you can feel it getting 'kicked' out. If you ever selected a gear and it was not fully engaged and the lever kind of made a jerk and came out of gear, this is what would happen, because if the fork is bent, it would not be fully engaging. It's a pretty distinctive thing and kinda not so good for 3rd gear itself, either...