Rebuilding a Mazda 5-speed

[JoshC]

Well, this tranny has been in since september of last year and it is driving me crazy. I made a trip to Louisville to meet CoryL and he can tell you the same thing. It is impossible to get in ANY gear the first time. We bled the clutch he said there were no air bubbles coming out. I had talked to another friend a couple of weeks ago and he told me that he thought the shifter fork was out of align or something like that. Is that possible?

My question is, if i pull this thing and take the top plate off, am i going to be in a world of hurting if i try to do this myself (with a little help) of is it worth taking somewhere to get it fixed? I really want to get this thing fixed so i can enjoy my 5 speed again. It's bad enough sometimes that when i'm driving and i shift to 2nd, that it almost comes to a stop before i can get it i gear. Help if you can, thanks.

Happy trails!!

 

[mrboyle]

I personally wouldn't recomend tryimg to fix it yourself, unless you have someone that has done it before to help. I have rebuilt several older 4 and 3 speed transmissions and would only attempt to work on the Mazda 5spd if it was my own and I had a spare incase I f#@!ed up the first one.

 

[Yomie]

Jot, damn i missed you when you came to lou, but anyhow, i just got my truck back from a 'freak' accident, but anywho, lemme know what you find out, because i am having the same problem with 1st and 2nd gear

 

[Rick]

The most common trouble with that tranny is the slave going bad. Bleeding the system wouldn't help if the slave was bad.

The shift forks could be bent, but it's less probable than the slave.

 

[JoshC]

Mike, thanks for the reply, i thought you'd see this and answer. Yeah i wouldn't just try it by myself, i'd have a little bit of help!!

Yomie, yeah, i never thought about calling anyone. I was only there for a couple of hours. He got some measurements from my explorer for some fab jobs he has.

Rick, is there any other way i can tell what this is? I can't remember if it was really smooth when i put the transmission in, but i don't think something could have bent like that. Sometimes if i hold the clutch in it goes in like it should, so maybe you are right, it just needs time to build up pressure.

Happy trails!!

 

[JDraper]

Josh, does it grind if you try to put it in reverse the first time you put the clutch down?? (Push the clutch down, wait 2 seconds and try). Or, when you try to go from first to second, does it grind?? If it does, then your clutch isn't releasing properly, and I'd also bet on the slave cylinder. If it just won't go into gear and doesn't grind, I'd bet on something internal. Did you check on the tranny fluid level?? If it's low, it can be a PITA to shift.

 

[JoshC]

It grinds sometimes, but not to fast that i can't slide it into gear. I too think it has a problem releasing cause sometimes i can't hardly get it out of gear, especially first. I haven't thought about the fluid, i will check that hear after while. I was going to pull the transmission tonight, so i'll let you know, thanks Jeff.

Happy trails!!

 

[JoshC]

Well, i didn't pull the transmission, but i did check the fluid. There was plenty of fluid in it, enought to spill some on the floor when i opened it up. And for fluid that isn't even a year old yet, it was pretty nasty. I mean it still had a red tint to it, but there was some definate brown in it!! So i'm thinking about changing the fluid to see if that helps any, even if it doesn't it would be good for it.

Happy trails!!

 

[JoshC]

Well, i did change my fluid, but of course it didn't help any. Below is a picture of the color change of the fluid, new on the right old on the left as you can tell. I guess i'm going to have to rip her out and change the slave cylinder.

Happy trails!!

 

[JoshC]

Also, take a look at this. Here is a picture of my drain plug, lucky it is magnetic because this is quit a bit of shavings. What do you think, still the slave cylinder???? Need to know asap so i can get this done, maybe tonight, but i doubt it. Thanks.

Happy trails!!

 

[Fischer]

Wow! I don't know much but I think that is kind of bad.

Possibly you should check into a remote style filter Perma Cool makes for the automatics.

I doubt it would be as easy as hooking one up to the Auto tranny, probably have some sort of a pump adapted and run that filter in line to a cooler.

Just a thought. That looks like a PITA!

Good luck. Possibly when the tranny on the 95 takes a sh*te I will put in the 5spd...I will keep an eye on yers!

 

[Rick]

It's pretty common to see that much debris on trannys with a lot of miles.

 

[JoshC]

Yeah, i kind of figure that it was kinda common, but i thought that might have been alot. I guess i'm going to pull her in the garage and start unbolting, i really don't want to do this, anyone want to come to WV and do this for me. I'm tired of pulling trannys.

Happy trails!!

 

[Brian1]

The week before I replaced my slave cyl and clutch, my tranny was hard to shift into 1st. Sometimes it wouldnt even go in at all. Also it would grind going into reverse. The new slave made it easy to shift into first. Good luck with it!

 

[Yomie]

what kinda price range do the slave cylinders run?

EDIT:

Hey another question man, what kinda fluid did you use for the tranny, and how much should i get for a full tranny drain/fill.

I'll prolly be doing this later today (its 4:17 in the morning, don't ask me why i am still up, lol )

once again thanks

~Yomie

 

[JoshC]

Yomie, slaves run about 60 bucks at Advance auto parts. And the tranny ended up taking 3 qts. or ATF Mecron (sp). Brian, that's something i needed to hear. I started to take it apart last night and got to hot and tired, so i stopped. I'm going to call around today and check out some prices cause i really don't feel like getting into this again.

Happy trails!!

 

[JoshC]

Well, i just got the tcase broke free from the the extension housing. Just a quick question, last time i checked there wasn't suppose to be fluid leaking out between the extension housing and the tcase right? I might be wrong but i don't remember that before. Someone let me know for sure tonight so i can get a seal if need be.

I'll tell you what, it is freaking hot! I'm about to die in the garage. I've got a window AC unit in there and she's wide open and it hasn't cooled down much. Sorry, wrong subject!!

Happy trails!!

 

[JDraper]

Nope, no fluid should come out. Sounds like you need a seal .

 

[JoshC]

Well, got everything put back in today. Everything seem to go smoothly. Started to bleed the clutch, bleed refill the resevior, bleed some more. Start up truck to check to see if the clutch is working any better, it's not, so we bleed some more, fill the resevior, bleed some more. And this goes on for half hour. It works maybe a little bit better. Dad had to go home for a cook out, i'm having one here with some friends so i'll have to have one of them help me finish it later. Should i have to bleed it this much? I figured i would a little bit but this is ridiculous.

Happy trails!!