MazdaSpeed6 Clutch Burned Out

haha, yea true. BOV VTA is all i gots. I kinda liied though. I went to track about a year ago for a month and a half straight. Totally burned out my rear diff. Split a solid seal in half, burned up the clutches, and melted an electrical connector. So, watch boys.
 
haha, yea true. BOV VTA is all i gots. I kinda liied though. I went to track about a year ago for a month and a half straight. Totally burned out my rear diff. Split a solid seal in half, burned up the clutches, and melted an electrical connector. So, watch boys.
good lord.(drive2)
 
so is the spec clutch worth it or no?

Ill have more to say on that if they warranty the clutch and flywheel. I paid 1000 bucks for that flywheel and the clutch went bad after 3 or less months. I had to by another freakn clutch and flywheel. Its pretty much winter here in wisconsin still so its not like ive been driving the car at the track. We took the clutch and flywheel out and it was horrible!!!!(blarf) Theres no way the clutch should have went bad like it did especially if it was truely a stage 3 clutch. The new clutch had a completely different throw out bearing which leads me to wonder if that was the wrong one they gave to us the first time.(screwy)
 
I had the exact same issue - clutch blew up

My clutch literally exploded at 13k miles so I feel your pain. I use the car as a commuter and don't drop the clutch or race. I have over 500,000 miles on standard transmission vehicles and was an owner of an 04 RX8 6speed that I drove over 60,000 miles (no problems).

I took this problem all the way to the President of Mazda and copied the world with a letter. I attached my original letters and got an administrative assistant that wrote me back a stating that "they are not going to warranty the clutch because of misuse". I've also attached the photos of the exploded clutch.

I investigated going with an aftermarket racing clutch originally, but I paid the $2500 to Mazda because I was hoping that Mazda would support me on this problem after the fact. I knew that if I went aftermarket they wouldn't warrant that issue. Well that didn't pan out as expected or hoped.

Good luck, but don't expect them to support their product. I'd suggest paying the lowest cost possible (after market) and selling the vehicle. There's a big problem with the clutch on some MS6 and they know it, but can't afford to back their poor engineering.

Rob
 

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me neither! but not cua they are bad cars but because thee not as strong as the competition!
 
Just got back from the dealer and saw this:

I had to get a clutch disk, pressure plate, throwout and pilot bearings, and a flywheel, all totaled about $1500 shipped. Toss in another $900 for the dealer to install those parts brings it up to about $2400, or about 1/10th the cost of the car after only 6 months and 19,000 miles. The dealer insists I was dropping the clutch, but I just don't drag my car. In fact, in the million+ miles I have logged I have never blown a clutch. The last car I had I got 250,000 miles on the factory clutch and it still gripped fine!

I think Mazda purposely under engineered the clutch to protect the drivetrain. They really should have made that whole subsystem much, much stronger.

Clutches and drivetrains are well understood mechanisms with decades of solid designs available. That they decided to save money or time by not using a robust design says a lot about Mazda engineering and management. I'll never buy another Mazda ever.

The clutch was designed to handle an easy driver and be soft enough for people to still think its a luxury car and not a race car, this is also the reason the car has a dual mass flywheel to provide a smooth non jerky feel to the car. The dual mass flywheel is a very costly part to manufacture as I'm sure you could tell from the $1000 price tag it carries. I'm sure 100k miles would be possible on a factory clutch, it just wouldn't be any fun.
 
Clutches can go bad prematurely. There is no clutch design in existence that has had a 0% premature failure rate. This car is far form mechanically perfect, but in following countless threads made about this car on numerous forums on a near daily basis for the last 2.5+ years, failing clutches have been a rare topic. It will happen, as it does w/ every model of car... You have every right to be pissed, as anyone here would be in your shoes (esp. if assuming your clutch track record to be true). But to say the clutch design itself is under-engineered is a bit of a stretch. Reading about (and seeing) what some of these knuckleheads do to their Speed6's has me surprised/impressed that we've seen so few a number of clutches toasted over the last couple years...
 
That they decided to save money or time by not using a robust design says a lot about Mazda engineering and management. I'll never buy another Mazda ever.

I am starting to feel this way. They certainly offer piss poor service to the owners of their top of the line vehicles... What I want to know is what kind of stupid ******* moron car company puts a big engine in a car and then pretends no one should be driving it hard?? If I wanna drive like a goddamn motherfucking grandpa on a hot summer Sunday I would have bought a different goddamn car...
 
The clutch was designed to handle an easy driver and be soft enough for people to still think its a luxury car and not a race car, this is also the reason the car has a dual mass flywheel to provide a smooth non jerky feel to the car. The dual mass flywheel is a very costly part to manufacture as I'm sure you could tell from the $1000 price tag it carries. I'm sure 100k miles would be possible on a factory clutch, it just wouldn't be any fun.

All well and good except for a few very obvious facts. Number one, the goddamn thing has a six speed manual transmission. No one I know who is into luxury considers shifting 5 times on their way to a 40 mph cruise luxurious. Number two, the suspension is great and relatively quiet unless you hit anything resembling a bump or pothole, then the low profile tires and stiff suspension are liable to crack your spinal column. Lastly, its called MAZDASPEED ...

I personally have generally babied the clutch. I usually don't step on the gas until the clutch is fully engaged. That being said I played around with the thing a lot for about the first 2-3000 miles, I expect the clutch to die well before I hit 100k.

Basically my feeling about this car is that it has potential. POTENTIAL. Thats all it has, if you want a really fast, nice driving car, you could make one out of this, and it would be pretty reliable after you spent maybe 10-20k on it. At that point I still think the car would be "worth it" since it would likely have a built block, upgraded tranny, big turbo, etc.
 
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Total Nightmare

After experiencing the reliability of a 1979 Mazda GLC with a 4-speed manual that my father regularly drives, I thought I would be safe trusting and buying a Mazda. I was sooo wrong!!

I bought my Mazdaspeed6 back in 2006. As soon as I drove it off the lot, within 15 minutes, the clutch was engaged to the floor, and I could no longer shift gears. They fixed the issue and returned the car after a few days. Guess what happened again? They personally delivered the car to my house. I drove the car again for another 15 minutes and was only switching from 2nd to 3rd gear and the clutch was damaged again!! I had to have the car towed all the way back to the dealership. Imagine my horror after just purchasing this car and having to wait a full 2 weeks to drive it again and this problem happened twice.

Just to give a brief history of my driving record, I've never been in an accident with this car, never modified it, and never installed any after-market products. Yes, I have pushed my car on several occasions. Anyone who expects to purchase a car with high horsepower and acceleration and not to drive it fast on several occasions has some really asinine and ridiculous notions. It's the same as buying and not playing with a BMW 335i or Mitsubishi Evo MR. Why waste your money on a car like that if you're going to drive it slow? Just go get yourself a Honda or a Toyota.

Okay, now fast forward 2.5 years. I'm driving on an inner road and switching from 3rd to 4th gear. On this time, the flywheel skipped and I could no longer switch gears at high speed. I could switch from 1st to 2nd at low speeds, but as soon as my speed reached 30 mph, I could no longer switch to 3rd gear. Somehow, I managed to drive the car back to the dealership with emergency lights on. However, unlike the last time when the clutch was covered under the 12 month / 12K mile warranty, Mazda gave me a bill of over $1300!! Most of the cost came from the fact that they had to take apart the transmission in order to diagnose the problem. Knowing my car was well inside the factory warranty and having an extended warranty on top of that, not only did Mazda not help me but even their useless extended warranty service does not cover clutches as it is a wear-and-tear item. Mazda even gave me the same BS that I must have been abusing my clutch and driving my car hard. At the time when this happened, I was NOT driving it hard. Besides, if it was my fault, then how do you explain the clutch failing within 15 minutes of buying it 2 years ago? And if it was my driving habit, why would this problem pop up again 2.5 years later? It would happen much sooner.

True, not all Mazdaspeed6's have this clutch problem, but for those who do experience this problem, it is absolute nightmare!! I am now in the process of selling this piece of sh*t because Mazda not only treats customers like garbage but they engineer low-quality parts and components. I will never purchase another Mazda ever again!! I guess this is why more people trust Toyota's and Honda's.
 
mine went at 32k (from my girlfriend terrorizing my clutch two weeks later kapuut) and if im at 50k miles and i'm not mistaken this new stock ass clutch they put in doesnt have another 20k in it lol. i think ill be going stage 2 clutch when this one makes me so so sad again. i feel ya man. i've already spent almost half the cars worth on lots of bulls*** repairs. but yahoo estimated the cost to own at $52,000, so i still havent gotten close to that and the car is almost middle aged already.
 
I have a 2007 Mazdaspeed6 Velocity Red Mica, it has 34000miles..*knock on wood* The clutch now is smooth as butter. At first the engagement point was harsh and hard but after 2 years of driving it's still holding up. My driveing changed, at first I babied it, then went to "spirited" driving, then just recently I have been going to the track and launching at 4800rpm "slipping" the clutch. It's still robust I still have I predict about 30000miles in the clutch. I am looking into upgrading the clutch and doing it myself.
 
My speed6 at 25,000 miles is garbage! I feel like im driving my dads beetle again...the one destroyed teaching my self to drive a stick! But ya, it was really really rough to drive at first and then i got it figured out. So i am not sure if i burnt it up in the first 5000 miles and its got gradually worse or what has happened. But i hate the car and i admit i did alot of the damage at first but i have always driven the same and never had this with any other car. Mazda sucks! I want a Nissan again! Or subaru...
 
it sounds like you dont know what your talking about.. dont knock mazda cuz you cant drive.. every time i shift its smooth as butter except for WOT shifts and ive only been driving a manual for 3 months now. go for a subaru they seem to be able to take a beating and keep going.
 
it sounds like you dont know what your talking about.. dont knock mazda cuz you cant drive.. every time i shift its smooth as butter except for WOT shifts and ive only been driving a manual for 3 months now. go for a subaru they seem to be able to take a beating and keep going.

Id be happy to let you drive my junk! From day one it has not been SMOOTH AS BUTTER... And its wierd how i dont know what im talkin about but ive not had this problem with any other car....
 
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