Syncro problems?

[StreetPassion02]

In my 02 Protege 5, I recently found out that the syncros went bad from mazda. My concern is the car only has 90k miles on it. How do you think it went bad? Manufacturer error? Or what. Their also saying that a rebuilt tranny is gonna cost 900 dollars and another 900 for the labor... That doesn't sound right to me at all. What you guys think?

 

[oaklandopen]

what do you mean you "found out"? someone told you or are you actually experiencing it?

if you're so concerned about price then you might as well just start learning to double-clutch, because $900 for a tranny rebuild sounds reasonable to me. especially seeing how anything transmission is one of the more expensive items when referring to car maintenence

synchros are a wear-and-tear item. the more tear put on them, the faster they wear down.

 

[StreetPassion02]

Well I was experiencing it and I brought it to Mazda and that's what they said. Thanks for the info. But don't you think for 90k miles, it went pretty fast...?

 

[oaklandopen]

maybe, maybe not. i can only speak from general knowledge of how they work, and not from actual tech experience

i feel they are like brake pads, to an extent. if youre hard on brakes, the pads wear quicker. i would say if shifts are made slowly, or if you have nothing but city miles where you are constantly shifting all day long, i would say they'd wear down quicker

all they do is create enough friction for the gear you are in to speed up or slow down to the gear you want to get into. kinda like brakes for the gears. if you are shifting from 1st to 2nd, going from 1st the engine rpms are higher than where 2nd gear wants to be, so the synchro (or as i like to call it, blocker ring) will slow the tranny down so the collar can easily slide into the next gear. and just the opposite for downshifting

but like i said, having worn synchronization isn't really the "end all" of a tranny. you can still double shift into gear if need be. but, tranny work is still expensive, so if you want to get it fixed i would just shop around and see who has the best prices. try to find a trans shop instead of a dealer, they might have better prices

 

[speedracer]

I think it depends on how you or whoever owned it be for you treated it. my MSP only had 30,000 on it when I had to have mine redone. I bought the car
with 20,000 on it and I'm guessing the guy before me just ground the crap out of the gears speed shifting or something. and the $900 for parts is spot on
for what I paid and so is the labor. ( and thats with me taking the trans out and giving it to them and me putting it back in.

 

[StreetPassion02]

Okay, heres my situation. Basically I bought this car from a dealer (not Mazda) this past October. It is now March. I first started experiencing problems back in mid January. My question is, for a hypothetically situation; if I was driving it hard can it really go bad in the matter of just 3 months? And also I would think even if I were to be driving it hard, the clutch would go before the tranny. Am I right?

 

[oaklandopen]

( and thats with me taking the trans out and giving it to them and me putting it back in.

yea i hate when that happens. no matter how easy you think you make it for the shop, they charge the same amount. its like "dude, i saved you like X hours by doing this for you, so i expect to pay X less"....and that doesn't happen. the only thing you can make sure of by doing that is assurance they can't **** up anything else on your car

 

[HighSpeed]

It depends on how the car is treated. Most sychros are made of brass and will slowly wear out over time. You can simply speed up the process by banging gears all the time, and the synchros loose there sharp edge teeth and end up more rounded, making it hard to go into gear.

To be honest, if you have the time and the space, and some know-how.......its really not that bad. I saved about $1000 by changing my own shift fork in my MSP when it broke. And that was my first experience with really digging into a tranny. Go to a mazda dealer and get the Mazda transmission shop manual for the MSP/P5/Protege for $40 buck and figure out what you need. Thats what I did and I learned a ton. I also had some online help from guys here.

 

[oaklandopen]

And also I would think even if I were to be driving it hard, the clutch would go before the tranny. Am I right?

there is no set in stone way of determining this. you can slam a clutch all day and it would be fine, but if you slip the clutch often it will wear down like nothing.

its the same in automatic trannies...if you liesurely accellerate, the clutches slip more. this actually can wear down the trans faster than if you accellerated moderately or hard, making the clutches engage harder

with your case, the synchros are going to react more to friction and heat than just driving hard. driving hard might effect the gear teeth, while heat and friction might effect the surface of your synchros. for all you know, your fluid might have lots of crap and metal flakes in it that have prematurely worn down the synchros. any fluid changes lately? or ever?

 

[StreetPassion02]

Well like I said I only had the car since October so the only things I did to it were Oil Change and Alignment. But thats a great point to bring up to Mazda. So ultimately your saying that it could be me or the person who owned it before me? I just didn't think they can wear from only 3 months of use. I'm just trying to make a case to wear I can blame the dealer that sold it to me for selling me a car with a tranny that was pretty much going bad.

 

[oaklandopen]

mmmm...there has already been a lot of time that has passed since purchase. it'd be a tough sell

 

[StreetPassion02]

Well I didn't mean to Mazda. I meant the used dealer that sold it to me.

 

[StreetPassion02]

Hey I got one last question. In your opinions, this rebuilt tranny that their gonna be putting in my Mazda has 94,000 miles on it. My car has about 93,000. Do you think that is ok? Or do you think for the price I am paying, they should give me one with less mileage on it?

 

[speedracer]

if it really is a " rebuilt trans " then it has 0 miles on it no matter what the housing has on it. or is it just a good " used " trans that
they are putting in?

 

[StreetPassion02]

good question I can ask them tomorrow when I call but from what the guy said, they are putting a rebuilt transmission and his has 94,000 miles on it. But I see what your saying because if it is rebuilt then they pretty much completely fixed everything so its like if its brand new.

 

[oaklandopen]

Maybe some components inside that didn't need replacement have that many miles. On it, while others needed to be fixed/changed out