Problem with 3rd gear with 5sp ?!?
 

When the car is loaded, the dam thing goes to neutral instead of 3rd 50% of the time. You can't bang it home like 4th, really need to baby it and double clutch.

It was doing that last year so I changed slave cynlinder, 949 clutch line to get rid of the curly, changed engine mounts (comp), diff bushings and finally changed the tranny and put bronze bushing. I also adjusted the clutch pedal after reading Andrew post about ACT HD clutch and his advice, it helps but it did't solve it entirely.

Tried Amsoil and now Lucas Oil and it's still acting weird..

Any advices, cheats and ideas ?

thx guys !

Pretty sure the solution is supermiata engine mounts...

he already has mounts. I'm thinking your fork might be bent or something if after all that it still does it.

what's the use of this car? you know you can't "bang" shifts like you would with other cars right?

I understood he had mazdacomp mount, and not the beefy stiff supermiata ones, maybe he can clarify. Its a track only car.

Ben

Another thing to consider is the other buthings in the shifter, which can also cause slop if they're worn out

If the problem is ameliorated by double-clutching and rev-matching, what makes everyone think that engine mounts or shifter bushings are at fault? Sounds like the synchro is just toast. It happens.

it's popping out of gear is why I thought maybe clutch fork. or the other shifter bushings.

usually with bad mounts you can't find a gear fast and precise. what he's describing sounds different

Yeah, it's a 5-speed, they're cheap, I'd just swap it.

I came in here expecting to see another tale of woe about there being no teeth left on 3rd. :)

--Ian

I read the OP as meaning that it was difficult to get the shifter into 3rd gear unless he rev-matched it just right, not that it was popping out of gear.

Assuming the oil has been seen to, this almost always means either a bad synchro or the clutch not releasing fully. And since it's only happening in 3rd, I assume it's not the clutch.

I've had a couple of 5-speeds that developed a "false neutral" next to 3rd. The solution was replacement.

Could help for sure... Mazdacomp right now, 2 years on them

Track toy a la SuperMiata for MiataCupChallenge over here, look at my sig pic

Changed the shifter and the bronze bushing from CX I think, new transmission plastics we're in better shape then the one it replaced but it does the same at the end of the day.

Oil is new, not overfill, it doesn't come out I(sorry if I explained it wrong). Maybe I could try the flat shift on my MS3...

YEah I saw your posts about it while searching, that's why I found a very low millage one from a partout and it's doing the same... BTW thx for the ACT HD and clutch adjustment, it's better but aint perfect yet...

<p>Replace it, then sell it to a spec miata&nbsp;so he can rebuild it.&nbsp;</p>

I will open it next month and have a look.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1460857806

Seems like the selection fork is the problem after all.. everything else do look good

Are you planning on rebuilding it?

Will replace the fork and try it later on..

The aluminum that transferred onto the synchro sleeve will chew right through a new fork in no time, so you might as well wait until you get in there for the full build and replace the sleeve as well.

And given that is the 1-2 fork and sleeve, it won't solve your 3rd gear issue anyway :D

Yep you we're right... wrong one.

Just got a 6 speed today. Will not bother with those 5's anymore.

Thanks Matthew

Lucky me, my 6 speed is from a 04 MSM (VIN#). It feels really good too.

Will try it on track next week.

Sorry to bump an old thread, but it came up when I did a search. I had first pop out of gear today when I started my car and moved it across the street into my garage. It's never happened before and it kinda freaked me out.

Is this something that worn shifter bushings etc can cause or is it usually a sign of worn synchro's/forks etc. I'm not going to worry about it till it's something that happens more frequently, but I was curious. It's also first, which is a gear that I can likely live without given the fact that I have a 4.3 and a setup that's going to be boosted.