Mazda five manual transmission problem

[toomanybikes]

I have a 2006 Mazda 5 with a manual transmission. About 85,000 miles. Drive it to the office and no obvious problems. Park it. Drive home nine hours later and I'm having trouble getting it into reverse. As I'm driving it home it becomes obvious I am having trouble shifting gears. The clutch pedal feels really soft. I was forcing the shifter into the various gears. (The clutch is original and on the way home I was going up a steep hill and would push in the clutch pedal and pop it out and the car would jerk so I'm assuming that the clutch plate is okay). If I turned the car off and pushed the clutch in I could get into all the gears. To start the car I left it in first gear and when I started the car it started moving forward.

Miraculously I got home and let the car cool off. Symptoms are the same. Looked at my repair manual (Mazda 5 2006 workshop manual, I believe that is the official shop manual) and frankly was not able to follow it that well. It is clearly designed for a trained mechanic which I am not. Nonetheless, the brake fluid in the brake master cylinder was at the appropriate level. I Jacked the car up but did not see any obvious leaking (my theory was that the fluid had leaked out of the slave cylinder. I could not find the slave cylinder but I did not take off the bottom engine cover).

Diagnosis and repair suggestions would be welcome. Thanks

Tom
Rockville Maryland

 

[loosenut]

Most likely it's the slave cylinder leaking down. Its mounted on the front side of the trans inder the intake ducting. You can peel back the boot and see if fluid is present in the boot. If there is, replace the slave. If no fluid is present have someone push in and hold clutch pedal while you watch the slave. It should have a good amount of travel and hold as long as the clutch pedal is held. Slim chance its the clutch master cylinder. 99% of the time its the slave.

 

[toomanybikes]

Most likely it's the slave cylinder leaking down. Its mounted on the front side of the trans inder the intake ducting. You can peel back the boot and see if fluid is present in the boot. If there is, replace the slave. If no fluid is present have someone push in and hold clutch pedal while you watch the slave. It should have a good amount of travel and hold as long as the clutch pedal is held. Slim chance its the clutch master cylinder. 99% of the time its the slave.

thanks. do i find it from the top of the engine? do i find it from below the car after removing the belly cover?

tom

 

[loosenut]

If you remove the intake duct from the throttle body with the air filter housing, you'll be able to see/access it from the top. Otherwise you can take the belly pan off.

 

[toomanybikes]

Thank you very much. I will go through the top and take a look. Have a pretty good cold right now so it might take a few days. I will follow up with what I find out.

 

[Silentnoise713]

Are you leaking fluid?

To assist you in finding the clutch slave, have someone pump it. You'll hear (car is off) and SEE it move (from the bottom). It is mounted on the transmission case front facing, to the top and right of the motor oil filter.

Also, not sure how much you could see from up top. You are better off just looking from below since gravity dictates all leak must go down

 

[toomanybikes]

Thank you for the reply, it finally got warmer and I got over my cold. I took off the belly pan and the slave cylinder is obvious. It looks to be quite dry. Had somebody pumping the clutch pedal and the slave cylinder seemed to be moving properly. With the engine off I can easily shift into any gear. As soon as I turn the engine on I can no longer get it into any gear. Thanks for any further diagnostic tips.

 

[toomanybikes]

Follow up to my question

Thank you for the reply, it finally got warmer and I got over my cold. I took off the belly pan and the slave cylinder is obvious. It looks to be quite dry. Had somebody pumping the clutch pedal and the slave cylinder seemed to be moving properly. With the engine off I can easily shift into any gear. As soon as I turn the engine on I can no longer get it into any gear. Thanks for any further diagnostic tips.

Also, another symptom is that if the car is in gear with the engine off and I try to start the car and depressed the clutch the car will move forward. That tells me that the clutch is not fully disengaged. I am thinking I should bleed the slave cylinder. If anybody has better ideas I am would welcome them.

 

[Silentnoise713]

It sounds like there is not enough pressure. did you visually or physically inspect the slave? Did you pinch or lift the boot to see if fluid is in there? It could be a very slow leak and that is enough to cause what you described.

Have you replace your brake fluid (Forzda use a shared system)?. If not, it is time to flush it all out and put in some new fluid. This too will give a lot of life back to your pedal feel.


With the car on, does double clutching help you shift?

 

[toomanybikes]

thank you for the follow-up. I did not look underneath the boot. I will see if there is a slow leak. It was just bone dry everywhere else. I will at least try bleeding the system. I'll report back what I find out.

Thanks

 

[toomanybikes]

I have pulled down the boot and everything is bone dry. I bled the system and removed probably 3 ounces of brake fluid. I cannot say that there was air in the system.

double clutching is not applicable, when the car is running I cannot get it into gear. When the car is off I can get it into gear.

When I push on the clutch pedal the slave cylinder seems to move the lever by the transmission pretty well. I would guess that it does a complete arc but I am not positive.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[loosenut]

At this point the trans is going to have to be removed to inspect the clutch and pressure plate. The hydraulic system sounds like it is working correctly. From your description it sounds like a problem with the pressure plate, like a broken finger. Is there any abnormal noise from the transmission while driving in gear, clutch pedal released?

 

[toomanybikes]

thank you loosenut. The problem came on suddenly and I drove the vehicle home about 10 miles. During those 10 miles I was listening for abnormal sounds and it was nothing really obvious to my untrained ear. I don't suppose this must the is one of those transmissions were you can remove the clutch through an easily accessible service window is it? In other words, I think it's time to take it to the shop if indeed it is a problem with the pressure plate or perhaps the throw out bearing.

 

[loosenut]

There isn't really anyway to see what is going on without pulling the trans. You might be able to get a glimpse through the release fork hole if you pulled the boot out but that's a long shot. I think if you can't pull the trans yourself it's time to take it to a shop.

 

[toomanybikes]

Just a follow-up to put some closure on it. Took the car to the mechanic. He replaced the clutch and machine the flywheel and replaced the rear main seal. He showed me the clutch. Besides being mostly worn down (one place was on the rivet) he also showed me the Pressure plate and explained that parts of it were blue from overheating. It was subtle but I could feel it. There are four springs in the clutch plate (these are my terms and I might be using them incorrectly). Two of them were somewhat shiny and he indicated that was improper interference. Regardless, new clutch and car is working properly again. Thanks for all of the helpful advice.