tranny or clutch problem

[loser174]

I don't have any answers for him, so I thought I'd ask all of you if anyone has any idea what could be going on. My roommate has an '02 Mazda Protege5 that he just bought used. He had to bring the car back to the dealership this weekend in Springfield, NJ to have it inspected so the warranty could be enacted. On his drive back to Philly, he noticed that when in first gear, the car bucked all over the place, and it would do the same but not quite as pronounced in 2nd gear. When he got home, he had me take it for a drive. First gear was un-drivable. Even letting off the clutch with extreme care and extremely slow, the car would just buck and jump everywhere. It was bad enough to the point that I refused to drive in 1st and started the car in 2nd, even from a dead stop.

My question is, does anyone have any idea of what could be going on? I was wondering if someone may have been having some fun with his car at the dealership and effed up his transmission or maybe only first gear. Gears 2-5 are fine, but first gear seems like it's destroyed......

TIA for any suggestions you guys may have....

this ONLY happens w/ 1st gear when starting in 2nd it works just fine


ThanX(poke)

 

[Prodigy]

Is it a chattering?(clutch)
or more of a loud clicking + not shifting?(shift fork)
or does it sound like the engine is banging up and down(motor mount).

 

[loser174]

the engine isn't misfireing there is no banging it's just that the car doesn't move forward smothly. It's like the clutch is catching then not catching then catching this is on;y in 1st gear. But it will start smothly in second. No chattering clicking. the car shifts 2-3-4-5. Ther is no banging. What do you think now?

 

[JoshP5]

Motor mounts on our cars are notoriously bad. Just replaced my front motor mount at 52k miles. Hopefully that's the problem since it's an easy fix, like $50, and you can do it yourself. It's really easy to inspect visually, too. Check

http://www.thinkythings.org/p5/front-motor-mount.html

 

[Prodigy]

I'm thinking that it's the front motor mount.

I had the same thing awhile back, the whole car shook as you described.
It sort of feels like wheel hop...

You can inspect it to see if it's torn or not.

 

[loser174]

I don't think it's wheel hop. I fell like it's closer to chatterin if chattering is what happen when you are first learning to drive stick and you can't quite get the timeing ddown and the car moves forward but it's not a smothe start you sort of go then stope the go then stop, and some times the car stalls

 

[Prodigy]

I know it's not wheel hop... but it's a similar feeling as mentioned above.


Go check the front motor mount.

 

[loser174]

the air hose wasn't clamped into place and too much air was getting into the engine.

 

[loser174]

thanks for all the suggestions and help

 

[Prodigy]

wierd. I guess you learn something new everyday.

 

[dave5]

Same Problem

wow i have the exact same problem as explained above. What air hose was it? I looked around and did not notice anything lose.
Was it the main intake hose??

 

[P-Funk!]

Search also for 'clutch chatter TSB'. When cold the clutch is hard to smoothly engage and then gets better quickly as it warms up. The improved motor mounts help with the symptoms. The problem is a warped pressure plate. A MSP clutch and lightened flywheel/pressure plate would be a great fix!

Is it under warranty? Offer to buy the 'improved' parts and just have them pay to install them...