The Official "2nd Gear Is Dead" Thread

[865ms3]

2010
35k miles
ford fluid(recent to try to fix)
jbr fully mounted
jbr knob and bushing. no ssp

always noticed 2nd gear was slightly notchy. over the past couple weeks it has gotten worse. i changed to ford fluid and it didnt help.

its gotten worse of the past couple of weeks. low rpm shifts its starting to grind. no pop out yet. i had a few pop outs at an autocross...but as soon as i took my jbr knob off it stopped. im assuming it was from the weight of the knob under hard braking.

i plan to bring it to mazda this week sometime and see what happens.

[mxlplx71]

fork pads and or syncro probly worn

[silvapain]

2007

86K miles

I beat that tranny bitch like she owed me $5 and I needed it to buy some crack. Now she won't stay in 2nd gear on throttle lift.

[RallySportDirect]

This is a very interesting thread to read. The last couple of days I thought mine was a bit too notchy from first to second. I am going to have to keep an eye on things, hopefully this isn't an issue because I've only just hit over 700 miles on the car.

Tanner

[ibcrusn]

Originally Posted by RallySportDirect This is a very interesting thread to read. The last couple of days I thought mine was a bit too notchy from first to second. I am going to have to keep an eye on things, hopefully this isn't an issue because I've only just hit over 700 miles on the car. Tanner

Change your gear lube early before you have issues.

[nybe0010]

My car grinded 2nd ever since I've had it. Started to happen more so called dealer and scheduled it for same day I did my 35k service they said they would "check it out". When I went to pick my car up the guy said they test drove it and it was fine. They did fomoco fluid and that's it. Got 45k miles now and modded much more since then so don't even bother with dealer. I'm fully JBR mounted I had RMM and just did PMM and TMM yesterday and shifting couldn't feel any more solid. No grinding as of now, JBR ftmfw!

[Hatchbackfan]

2012 ms3

I had the 2nd gear pop out issue at 16xxx miles I was partly bolted took all the mods off my car went to the dealership not to bad of a fight and 2 weeks later they told be they replaced the 1st and 2nd gear syncros as well as the fork. Got the car back after about a week 3rd gear begin grinding 2 mts later pop out issue there took it to Mazda they wouldn't cover it under warrenty quoted me 4 grand to fix 3rd gear. Long story short looked on eBay found a junkyard selling a tranny out of a totaled speed with 3k miles on it bought shipped installed by local shop for $1500 total driven last 12k miles on no issues.

[mazspeedshiz]

This may sound really stupid but could short shift plates have an effect? My 3rd gear had the popping out issue and it was a bad fork which wore down the synchros around it. I had bought the car used and didn't know it had a twm stage 2 already ( I've never driven a speed before so I didn't know the throw length) I found the twm during a shifter adjustment and after a sure shortcut install. I said to myself this can't be right at first. My throw from first to second was literally so short it threw me off. Second wouldn't engage at all unless you pulled hard on it. Regardless I feel like these plates without the right adjustments could be giving the tranny a hard time, acting almost as if we have our hands resting on the shifter in gear (every stick owner should now not to rest your hand on the shifter in gear as it wears down the nylon pads on the fork) which eventually causes misengage/grind on the synchro. Anyways my theory is that adjustments need to made, even from stock to make sure 2nd and 3rd have a good engage.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

[pzr2874]

I'm pretty fucking sure the dealer won't warranty shit with another fluid in there.... Unless stated all dealers recognize FoMoCo fluid as being a good alternative

[cghms3]

Originally Posted by pzr2874 I'm pretty fucking sure the dealer won't warranty shit with another fluid in there.... Unless stated all dealers recognize FoMoCo fluid as being a good alternative

My 09 speed 3 would not shift into 2nd when cold going around a corner. I would pull over, and start over, and gently shift into 2nd, and it worked. Problem would not happen all the time - I never go (well, almost never) go wot in 1st, but do go wot 2nd - 6th. I always use the "fingertip shift" method, never forcing it into gear. I also rev match when I downshift from any gear, and I never downshift into 1st, my thinking is it puts too much of a load on the trans. Anyway, I got the TWM full replacement linkage, and switched to Redline trans fluid, and now it never has a problem getting into 2nd, especially when cold and going around a corner. The shifts are more mechanical and deliberate, so no fast shifting, but I never did even before the mods. One thing I did notice though (before and after mods) is that when shifting from 1st to 2nd,I have to pull it slightly to the left, and shifting from 5th to 6th, I have to pull it slightly to the right - anyone else notice that? anyway, no grinds/pop outs

[PL ENDO]

car:2012

mileage: Purchased 254 problem started 8670

How it happened/progressed: down shift and it was popping out once in a blue and got worse

When it happened ie down/upshifting: now wont go into 2 at all

Stock? or what mods? corksport dp back, custom front mount, cobb TIP/SRI, sonic coil over, sure street PMM/TMM sure race RMM

Using FoMoCo fluid?: stock

Was it covered/repaired: they will not cover under warranty

Did it happen again?: Remains to be seen

currently fighting to get fixed under warranty BBB claim filed will be using this thread to help show defective transmission parts

[PL ENDO]

Originally Posted by Payne Racing 67 Well, the dreaded 2nd gear popout/grind is a well known issue for our platform. I'm currently in the process of getting mine fixed(and fighting Mazda for my warranty). It aggrivates me immensely to know that it's such an issue, has happened to multiple cars, and not only do they not fix the issue at production, they give many of us an issue as far as covering it. I've decided to start an official thread on this and see if we can get somewhere with it. Also, in the case of mods/waranties, there are 2 laws: The Lemon Law: Lemon Law Statutes, Brochures, and Fact Sheets As well as the Magnuson-Moss Act, which basically states that a dealer/car corporation cannot deny warranty work based solely on the fact that you have aftermarket parts. They have to actually physically be able to prove the mods caused your issue/failure. So what I want is: Year/Model(speed3/6) Mileage 2nd gear started acting up/went How it happened/progressed When it happened ie down/upshifting Stock? or what mods? Shifter parts ie sts, knob, etc. Using FoMoCo fluid? Was it covered/repaired Did it happen again? I need anyone who's ever had an issue to post. 2010 Mazdaspeed3 10,500 Miles Went to downshift to 2nd gear, in a parking lot and it popped out when I let the clutch out. It progressed from there throughout 2 days, to finally not going in at all on an up/downshift At the time I had intake, blowoff valve, Cobb Accessport, Full Exhaust, full motor mounts, Stage 2 tune It was covered, and they replaced the trans. Now, at 35,000 miles the issue has happened again. Pretty much the exact same situation but at a slower pace. @Raider; would you mind helping me with this? Maybe make it a sticky if you think we should? @dantes5823; @amggilly305; @NJSPEED3; @TWOptSL0W; @ArcticSpeed3; @bf360; @rigor; @Blck350z; @MS3-a(sore)ASS-rex; @johnheer; @kramer; @JimmyMac; @occschemguy; @MS6 Alan; @clos561; @06Speed6; @mazspeedshiz; @Captain KR; @kteevan;

ok i want everyone in this thread and had this problem that has had it taken care of and not come together. i see this is a problem that Mazda is aware of but has yet to fix this by upgrading the Teflon on the fork to aluminum or brass something better. ppl talked about lawyering up to get the M-M act to help well if we can get all of us together with proof of all these failing forks we would have a better case. not only that but lawyer cost can be split up between everyone and included in the law suit to have a recall on the trans to replace the faulty forks. what you think?

[nybe0010]

Originally Posted by PL ENDO ok i want everyone in this thread and had this problem that has had it taken care of and not come together. i see this is a problem that Mazda is aware of but has yet to fix this by upgrading the Teflon on the fork to aluminum or brass something better. ppl talked about lawyering up to get the M-M act to help well if we can get all of us together with proof of all these failing forks we would have a better case. not only that but lawyer cost can be split up between everyone and included in the law suit to have a recall on the trans to replace the faulty forks. what you think?

New thread I saw today there are brass pads on forks but you have to buy the whole thing they won't put them on used forks. I am confident I have this same issue but dealer test drove my car and said it was fine. They babied it obviously but during higher rpm I have problems in 2nd and 3rd. With the mods in my sig would they tell me to get lost if I tried to warranty it for the 2nd time? First time all they did was the fomoco. Mazda needs to do something about this!

[Payne Racing 67]

Originally Posted by PL ENDO ok i want everyone in this thread and had this problem that has had it taken care of and not come together. i see this is a problem that Mazda is aware of but has yet to fix this by upgrading the Teflon on the fork to aluminum or brass something better. ppl talked about lawyering up to get the M-M act to help well if we can get all of us together with proof of all these failing forks we would have a better case. not only that but lawyer cost can be split up between everyone and included in the law suit to have a recall on the trans to replace the faulty forks. what you think?

That was my purpose for making this thread. Also, my uncle is a lawyer and may be able to help. On top of that, @SPEED6 KILLAH; may be able to help being the Mazda master he is.

[PL ENDO]

Originally Posted by nybe0010 New thread I saw today there are brass pads on forks but you have to buy the whole thing they won't put them on used forks. I am confident I have this same issue but dealer test drove my car and said it was fine. They babied it obviously but during higher rpm I have problems in 2nd and 3rd. With the mods in my sig would they tell me to get lost if I tried to warranty it for the 2nd time? First time all they did was the fomoco. Mazda needs to do something about this!

i seen that 12 min after it was posted and sent the guy a email to find out more about the brass insert if brass or aluminum would be better since it looks like any machine shop can do this. but thanks for the info.

[PL ENDO]

Originally Posted by Payne Racing 67 That was my purpose for making this thread. Also, my uncle is a lawyer and may be able to help. On top of that, @SPEED6 KILLAH; may be able to help being the Mazda master he is.

i made a thread in the transmission gen2 area but no one posted anything useful other then i should have stocked out. yet the only power adder was the dp and its not much it still is catted and the dealership actually told me the mods i had on the car was not the ones that cause this problem so i should be good. they took pictures of the car and told me to comeback tomorrow and it will be taken care off then 3 hours later they said warranty is voided and im SOL and would have to pay for any repairs or them to look at the transmission. worst part is corporate Mazda said if i can get another dealership to look at the car and them to support me and say my mods did not cause the problem they may reinstate my warranty and fix the trans.

i should buy a new trans and just have them pay for the fix rather then them fixing it so i can install the new brass forks

[phahengpro]

My second gear is rough, at times, after taking off the oem (at about 50,000mi) weight and installing the lighter Cobb weight. It will grind a little at times. I figured it was because of the lighter weight. I don't have any popping out of gear yet.

[nybe0010]

Originally Posted by phahengpro My second gear is rough, at times, after taking off the oem (at about 50,000mi) weight and installing the lighter Cobb weight. It will grind a little at times. I figured it was because of the lighter weight. I don't have any popping out of gear yet.

I was wondering same thing I'm gonna play around with SSP and weight try some different things out as well as the "fine tune" of the shifter.

[jm211]

Originally Posted by mazspeedshiz Regardless I feel like these plates without the right adjustments could be giving the tranny a hard time, acting almost as if we have our hands resting on the shifter in gear (every stick owner should now not to rest your hand on the shifter in gear as it wears down the nylon pads on the fork) which eventually causes misengage/grind on the synchro. Anyways my theory is that adjustments need to made, even from stock to make sure 2nd and 3rd have a good engage.

Most users have issues in complete stock form and only then resort to plates, new fluid, shift weight or knob changes. Mazda definitely screwed something up and it hasn't been fixed since 2006.

Originally Posted by cghms3 One thing I did notice though (before and after mods) is that when shifting from 1st to 2nd,I have to pull it slightly to the left, and shifting from 5th to 6th, I have to pull it slightly to the right - anyone else notice that? anyway, no grinds/pop outs

Try adjusting the shifter cable a little bit.
I gave myself perfectly tight engagement on 1-4 and more wiggle on 5-6. Has been working nicely. That coupled with the mods in my sig and fingertip shifting into second, I haven't had ANY issues. Will be moving to motorcraft in the next few months after I move.

[Payne Racing 67]

Its all in the shift fork/pads. Theyre cheap and garbage. Between the forks bending/breaking, and the shit teflon shift pads that wear down way too fast, even under normal driving conditions. That eventually kills the synchro, and from there, the gear


Sent from your moms phone

[jm211]

Hey Corksport and JBR,
Take my money and make or sublet out quality transmission parts for genwon and 2 plus the 6!

[meltdown100]

Damnit. I've noticed the shitty grinding shifts also going into 2nd, but was under the impression from earlier threads that out 'rock crusher' tranny would make a lot of noise and feel like shit but take all kinds of abuse and hold up fine. Does it to me mostly when cold, at low speed ~20mph or so. Glad I know better now, gonna have to start double-clutching and finger tipping the bitch into 2nd.

2012 MS3, with 7000 miles
Stock trans fluid
JBR heavy knob and SSP

[jm211]

I always find that heavy(ish) throttle to 3,000 RPM and finger tip slide into second at a certain angle (angle as in that side to side play we have on the shifter gates) gets it in like butter.

[tjamison]

2007 MS3
59,000 Miles
Switched to FoMoCo fluid ~300 miles ago

Took car in for an alignment, asked if they would take note of any grinding into 2nd gear. It will grind when cold.

I just got a call saying they are going to replace the entire tranny and it should be covered under my aftermarket warranty. Sweet.


TL;DR - Took car in for alignment & they are replacing my tranny for free. Sweet.

Should I send them a new clutch to throw in while they're at it? OEM, of course.

[dubtastic]

as the owner of a 2013 this is very worrisome! Do the majority of these occurances take place on modified cars?

[tjamison]

Originally Posted by dubtastic as the owner of a 2013 this is very worrisome! Do the majority of these occurances take place on modified cars?

They happen more often on stock vehicles.

You'd better start modding.

[dubtastic]

Originally Posted by tjamison They happen more often on stock vehicles. You'd better start modding.

wow, its like a vicious cycle, if you mod they will cite that as the issue, if you dont its going to happen either way...?

How about build dates and vin#'s would that help in narrowing down certain aspects of the fault? Maybe isolating dates... just an idea

[jm211]

Seems to happen to every year and both the 6 and 3.

Like others have said the forks and the nylon pads suck.

Get some ford juice and don't rest your hand on the shifter.

[tjamison]

111

[xecuter2]

My car is pretty much brand new but I have noticed when down shifting into 2nd I have to be under 30mph for it to engage smoothly without slight grinding/resistance. Even stock it was hard to get into 2nd and I never really tried to shift to it above 30 before my SSP. I can be going 40 and clutch it to the floor and all gears go in smooth except 2nd? as soon as I am under 30 it goes in just fine with no resistance or grinding. This thread is scaring me, maybe I should take off my SSP to see if it changes anything I am not very hard on the car, downshift properly and only apply power when fully in gears.

[load]

Originally Posted by xecuter2 My car is pretty much brand new but I have noticed when down shifting into 2nd I have to be under 30mph for it to engage smoothly without slight grinding/resistance. Even stock it was hard to get into 2nd and I never really tried to shift to it above 30 before my SSP. I can be going 40 and clutch it to the floor and all gears go in smooth except 2nd? as soon as I am under 30 it goes in just fine with no resistance or grinding. This thread is scaring me, maybe I should take off my SSP to see if it changes anything I am not very hard on the car, downshift properly and only apply power when fully in gears.

This is interesting as I absolutely cannot go into 1st if I am over 5-10 mph, it whines and resists like crazy. I can get into all other gears no matter what speed the car is going.

[JesseFrye]

09 58.5k miles

Been grinding while going into 2nd for the past 2 weeks, thought it was all me until it popped out of 2nd twice yesterday and three times today. Even though i'm pissed it actually happened to me, i'm glad it happened while I was under warranty (barely). Time to stock up and take her in.

[Agent_Orange]

Originally Posted by load This is interesting as I absolutely cannot go into 1st if I am over 5-10 mph, it whines and resists like crazy. I can get into all other gears no matter what speed the car is going.

The car is trying to tell you something. You shouldn't be pushing into 1st until your damn near stopped.

[JesseFrye]

Originally Posted by Agent_Orange The car is trying to tell you something. You shouldn't be pushing into 1st until your damn near stopped.

What he said^. That's a big no-no

[xecuter2]

I never go into 1st until stopped pretty much. I can't go into 2nd until under 30 but it did that stock as well now that I can remember. I slow down for my road and basically wait until it goes in nice and easy. Not really reassuring since other people say they can shift to 2nd while going any speed with the clutch in.

Sent from my AOSP DOODLE 2

[load]

Originally Posted by Agent_Orange The car is trying to tell you something. You shouldn't be pushing into 1st until your damn near stopped.

I only tried it once to see if I could.

[xecuter2]

Reviving this BITCH! Removed the SSP just to see and am really happy with the feel of the car with just the weight and bushings. I can go into 2nd now at any speed though it is a little notchy still above 30, with 0 grinding no matter what. I am going to go amsoil gear oil and maybe grab the other 2 JBR mounts? I assume this is normal as a lot of others with newer cars have issues with 2nd. 5500 miles now and the car is perfect, no need to change anything for a little while until RSB/springs/mounts/BPV bug bites.

[TSlop]

Since this got revived I thought I'd chime in:

2007 speed3 and just hit 60k miles last week. Zero issues. No grinding except the extremely rare clutch slip, and never popped out of gear. Owned since new.

[Say Chi Sin Lo]

Originally Posted by xecuter2 Reviving this BITCH! Removed the SSP just to see and am really happy with the feel of the car with just the weight and bushings. I can go into 2nd now at any speed though it is a little notchy still above 30, with 0 grinding no matter what. I am going to go amsoil gear oil and maybe grab the other 2 JBR mounts? I assume this is normal as a lot of others with newer cars have issues with 2nd. 5500 miles now and the car is perfect, no need to change anything for a little while until RSB/springs/mounts/BPV bug bites.

I took off my SSP too after a week. My car did not like it one bit. 1st-3rd took Olympic strength, and on top of that, going into gear would be accompanied by the most horrible sounding *THUD!* or *BANG!*.

Maybe I'm justifying my the removal, but I didn't like the click-like shifts (was never sure I was in gear or not). I enjoyed having to actually "throw" it into gear. Besides, the shifts with the short shifter are short enough for me.

[Tha semaj]

Originally Posted by Mfinlay04 I've only ever driven my Mazdaspeed so IDK if im experiencing the same issue but I do get a second gear grind occasionally. 2006 Mazdaspeed6 110k Royal Purple MTF I haven't had it pop out on me, but I did find that if i change the pressure on the shifter I can get it to shift without grinding pretty consistently. If I press to hard to the left when shifting from 1st to 2nd I get crazy grind, 50% wont even go into the gear and is a SOB. I've found by allowing it to be in a neutral position from first to second, I shift with just my pointer and middle finger I get a butter smooth shift. Seems like my alignment is off, if that makes sense. I saw a thread that someone posted about fine tuning the shift knob, i might give this a try and see if that improves the shifting quality.

Basically same here. Haven't experienced the gear popping out but I get crazy grind going into second when pushing hard, like 80% of the time. Haven't tried switching up how to put it into second though like you have. Second usually behaves when driving normal, it's only happened a handful of times like this. I also saw a video about what you're talking about and was thinking the same. Let me know how it turns out for you.

2010 Speed 3
50k
fomoco
bought used @ 15k with cs sri, cs tip, cat delete 3' magnaflow.
Just rolling with it for now.