What's the fuss about the Protege Tranny?

[1sty]

The idea of "matching revs" has been mentioned frequently but no one has of yet tried to describe how its actualy done or how you know your doing it correctly.

 

[FrigginGLI]

You basically have to memorize the exact RPM speed each gear is at , at the proper speed. Takes a while but you can memorize like 20mph in 2nd and so on. Does not perfectly rev matching hurt your tranny?

 

[Kooldino]

i think they are very reliable
i just over aggresivly shift sometimes and killed the 3-4 shift fork ONCE!
they need to beef up the forks a little

LOL@VERY RELIABLE. Look @ all the dead trannys so far if you think they're "very reliable". Our trannys and synchros are weak, and we need aftermarket parts for the. Period.

 

[1sty]

Agreed. Its not as bad as the Sentras but its not very good either.

 

[chuyler1]

rev matching in slow mo:

get going an exact speed such as 30mph. push the clutch in and put it in 3rd...use the gas to get the rpms up to xxxx and let out the clutch. if your car lerched forward and slowed down or accelerated, you didn't match. Do the same thing for 3rd (still at 30mph) then for 4th. You will notice with 4th you can probably let out the clutch almost at idle. Then with 5th the engine may actually slow down below idle.

It gets trickier when you are accelerating of course, cause you have to wait for the right moment as the rpms drop to let the clutch out, and when shifting the higher gears, you don't even take your foot all the way off the gas.

What I can't seem to do though, is shift fast with out getting some sort of lurch, and often I take my foot off the gas to late and the engine revs up before coming back down.

 

[Kooldino]

You basically have to memorize the exact RPM speed each gear is at , at the proper speed. Takes a while but you can memorize like 20mph in 2nd and so on. Does not perfectly rev matching hurt your tranny?

I thought rev matching was more for downshifting? And upshift leaves nothing to be matched really...just shift sometime before redline...

 

[JOS3]

my fiancees brothers sport shift tranny went out somewhere between 11,000 and 12,000 miles. he just drove it to florida and he called and said 'his POS air conditioner stopped working.' he is now at about 15,000 miles. makes me wish i got the extended warranty like he did. we never knew anyone who had mazdas before we bought ours, so seing his cars tranny and a/c crap out before 15,000 makes us worry whats going to happen by the time we get to 50,000.

 

[HurricaneP5]

My tranny has started acting funny. I have the 5speed. Sometimes, not always, when I shift from 1st-2nd and let out the clutch the entire car shutters. It will also do this sometimes when I do a rolling stop/start and just leave the car in 2nd gear. I've been driving manuals for 10 years now and I've never had this problem. Anyone know what could be the prob? It seems to do it alot more when the car is cold, but I haven't been able to figure it out yet...

 

[Dubes]

yea my tranny decided not to work 2 hours after i bought my car, it was a 2002 with 16k...was not happy about that. it decided to start stalling in neutral, anyone else had this problem?

 

[FrigginGLI]

Dam, way too many problems with this tranny. After all thoe it is not a sports car.

 

[bogeypro]

Just drive it like it was intended to be driven and you will be fine, want a sports car, buy the Mazdaspeed. The clutch isn't made to be dumped from 4000 rpm or slamed from 2 to third in a redlight race.
If you want to match it perfectly, take off and slowly increase speed as you GENTLY try to push the shifter to second without the clutch, when it slips in, you matched up, so the same for third and forth (harder to do). se if you can master shifting without using the clutch, you will be surprised to find out how much slower you should be going when you shift.

 

[perfworks]

Just drive it like it was intended to be driven and you will be fine, want a sports car, buy the Mazdaspeed. The clutch isn't made to be dumped from 4000 rpm or slamed from 2 to third in a redlight race.
If you want to match it perfectly, take off and slowly increase speed as you GENTLY try to push the shifter to second without the clutch, when it slips in, you matched up, so the same for third and forth (harder to do). se if you can master shifting without using the clutch, you will be surprised to find out how much slower you should be going when you shift.

thank you for the lesson

 

[HurricaneP5]

Damn, after ten years someone finally let me know how to drive a manual....thanks!

 

[Protege Type 5]

the only real problem i have with mazda is how they advertise this vehicle, and the fact that they wont admit there may be a serious defect with the gearbox.
our engine is basically the old ford probe/mx6 engine..but ive never heard as many complaints about the gearbox.
and yes, i must agree with the cynicism, thanks a lot for teaching us how to drive stick (notcool)
the car is very good for daily grind and a little spirited driving though, let it stay that way. and please everyone stop with the honda bashing. ive said it before and many times - i dont know any protege5s on this site that would beat any of my honda friends.

 

[Newf]

there's a TSB for the clutch suttering problem when cold isn't there?

Thought I seen that a few times now.

 

[chuyler1]

the car is very good for daily grind and a little spirited driving though

And that's the very reason I bought it. I have yet to ride in a honda civic that accomplishes this to my liking. Unless you don't mind the vibrations and other noises, uncomfortable seats, smaller engine (excluding the Si), . . .

 

[jjac28]

i dont know why these guys are bashing the pro tranny.
i always drive my mazdas aggresively cos thats how they were designed to be driven and i havent had any problems with my 5sp whatsoever and this is my 2nd protege.

this is a fine car and thats why i keep on going back. if there was a serious tranny flaw dont you think that mazda would have a recall?
dont be stupid and race the car and you'll be fine. mazdaspeed was designed for that.

 

[mikesmazda155]

i dont know why these guys are bashing the pro tranny.
i always drive my mazdas aggresively cos thats how they were designed to be driven and i havent had any problems with my 5sp whatsoever and this is my 2nd protege.

this is a fine car and thats why i keep on going back. if there was a serious tranny flaw dont you think that mazda would have a recall?
dont be stupid and race the car and you'll be fine. mazdaspeed was designed for that.

I agree, I deive mine pretty hard, I ussually do not baby it unless I am going to work. Now when I am racing I really give it HELL

 

[jjac28]

Nice Wheels!

 

[perfworks]

i dont know why these guys are bashing the pro tranny.
i always drive my mazdas aggresively cos thats how they were designed to be driven and i havent had any problems with my 5sp whatsoever and this is my 2nd protege.

well i dont think that the mazda protege?626 tranny was DESIGNED to be drivrn hard.
they can take abuse but like i stated earlier i dont think the problem is neccesarily the entire transmission. the shift fork is the weekest link due to the structure of the shift linkage