What's the fuss about the Protege Tranny?

[FrankNJ]

Bad 5-speed..

I am having the same problem as 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..."

I, like HurricaneP5, have driven manuals for over 12 years. I currently own 3 other manual transmission cars, and My P5 has the same problem explained above. The jerkiness is really bad, and I do not care if you drive and escort or huyundai, this is definitely a PROBLEM.

Has anyone experienced this as well?

Frank

 

[TexP5]

FrnakNJ...Check out this thread. There is a fix for this problme and you don't need to drive the car like that. Several of us have had the clutch upgraded.

http://www.protege5.com/vbb225/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17635&perpage=15&pagenumber=1

 

[perfworks]

Re: Bad 5-speed..

I am having the same problem as 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..."

I, like HurricaneP5, have driven manuals for over 12 years. I currently own 3 other manual transmission cars, and My P5 has the same problem explained above. The jerkiness is really bad, and I do not care if you drive and escort or huyundai, this is definitely a PROBLEM.

Has anyone experienced this as well?

Frank

the clutch material may be the problem. but if you upgrade to a better assembly maybe you wont have the same problem. i also am changing all the mounts so well see when im done.

 

[TexP5]

Perf...it's not the mounts. Just take the car in and get the replacement clutch kit that is available. I'm telling you it's a BIG difference.

Aside from the "clutch chatter" or shudder, the slow speed chugging or whatever that people always talk about as a "touchy gas pedal" is also gone. The new cluch kit makes the car a lot more driveable and its a free repair. Don't put in time and money on new mounts until you do this first.

 

[perfworks]

Perf...it's not the mounts. Just take the car in and get the replacement clutch kit that is available. I'm telling you it's a BIG difference.

Aside from the "clutch chatter" or shudder, the slow speed chugging or whatever that people always talk about as a "touchy gas pedal" is also gone. The new cluch kit makes the car a lot more driveable and its a free repair. Don't put in time and money on new mounts until you do this first.

tex i didnt mention for them to go and change the mounts. i was stating what I AM doing so when im done i wont know if the same problem will exist. as far as the clutch replacement goes, i agree with you but in the case where you cant go to the dealer because of the mods that have been done on the car you can upgrade to a better friction material

 

[Greg S]

Guys, if you want better options for the transmition there are parts out the for both the manual and the automotic. Level 10 makes a great kit for the auto, costs though, and there are upgrade options for the manual through Mazdaspeen and a few other places. All in all Mazda's manual transmition has a very low history of failure. I ran my MX-6, with the same tranny, for 8 years all on the stock clutch and internals without any problems and I don't drive gentley. That car saw use at the drag strip and auto-x track as well as my daily driving. I've also seen numerous guys running 2-300 whp through these trannies without a problem in MX-3s, Probes, 626s and others it's just a matter of making sure the fluid is good and clean and doing a little rev matching without dumping the cluch often.

 

[TexP5]

Perf...yeah I see your point about Mods. For me though, I'm on a one man crusade to make it known that this repair solution is out there. So many people are on here bitching about the shifting and stuff and it's fixable problem. People need to know that Mazda is aware of it and can fix it (even if some dealers don't seem to want to do it).

I drove mine for a year and was unhappy about it until I found out about this fix. I honestly feel like I got a new car, that's how much difference in made in shifting and overall driveability.

 

[chuyler1]

"the slow speed chugging or whatever "

is that the "bucking" I feel in first and 2nd gear between slowing down and speeding up? I noticed it alot when I first got the car, but after 5000mi it isn't nearly as bad...I don't get the clutch chatter though.

 

[TexP5]

Yep, that's what I was referring to. I think it "gets better" or "goes away" because we all learn how to drive through the problem by nudging the gas and slipping the clutch and stuff like that. I never thought of this as a clutch problem until I got mine fixed. All that low speed slop went away!

 

[jaje]

the mazdaspeed tranny has a shotpeened shift fork (basically toughens the surface of the metal making it less likely to form stress fractures which inevitably will break that part)

 

[801mp5]

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...

Mine does same thing

 

[chuyler1]

well, the next time I can bear to be with out my car, I'll complain about it..now that I've got 5k miles on the car my guess is that it won't completely go away.

 

[BlackMP5]

My P5 auto tranny died in 12,000km's. (wouldn't shift out of 3rd).

What type of transmission did you have in yours? I am having a similar issue with my "Sportmatic."

 

[mikesmazda155]

I put mine in 5th now and it just pops out. In between 2 exits that were about 5 miles apart it poped out 5 times what up wit dat

 

[BlackMP5]

BTW, I have never abused this tranny at all. I use the "Sportmatic" probably 90% of the time, and have NEVER had it above 5000 rpms (except for this problem Damn Transmission!!!, when the car shifted on it's own ) and have only had it @ 4000 rpms a handful of times. I generally shift between 2500 & 3000 rpms.