5-speed 1st gear weirdness

The_Ghost

Registered User
Problem:

5-speed shifter does not always let me into 1st gear when coming from neutral.

It will let me into 1st all day long coming from 2nd but coming from neutral it grinds and won't let me in.

I have been told that a shifter rebuild kit will get rid of the slop in the shifter but I would bet more likely one of three things:

I am low on trans oil. (I have been told this manual box uses Mercon III... w t f?)

1st gear synchro gone.

Need shifter rebuild kit.

Some background on the car:

near stock 1990 SC 5-speed
192,xxx miles.

NOTE:
I have the Mazda transmission.

Insight into this would be much appreciated.

-Ghost
[sccoa membership pending]
 
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I was told by a some one that had done a lot of rebuilds on the m5r2 that on the 89-90 ones it can be hard to get in to first gear if your moving. something was changed after 91 to help this problem.
 
The_Ghost said:
Problem:

5-speed shifter does not always let me into 1st gear when coming from neutral.

It will let me into 1st all day long coming from 2nd but coming from neutral it grinds and won't let me in.

I have been told that a shifter rebuild kit will get rid of the slop in the shifter but I would bet more likely one of three things:

I am low on trans oil. (I have been told this manual box uses Mercon III... w t f?)

1st gear synchro gone.

Need shifter rebuild kit.

Some background on the car:

near stock 1990 SC 5-speed
192,xxx miles.

Insight into this would be much appreciated.

-Ghost
[sccoa membership pending]
you eather have bad synchros,trans is low or you need a new clutch.if you can adjust the clutch quad(if the clutch is worn a bit this will help till you replace it.)
 
How do I check the manual trans fluid and does it take conventional gear oil or does it take something weird like ATF? (a handful of manual trans take Mercon III for some reason... like toyota uses Mercon III for P/S fluid)
 
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if there the same as the stang,pull up on the clutch paddle.it should click a few times
 
is it a hydro clutch or cable?i cant remember.if its a cable you should be able to adjust it by pulling up on the clutch paddle or there might be a adjuster on the cable going into the fire wall.if that dont work you need a trans rebuild or a clutch...if its a hydro trans it self adjusts you will need a trans rebuild or a clutch...the best way to know if you have a bad clutch is drive the car,get it up to 15mph(no faster),put it in 3rd gear and put it to the floor(wot)go up to 4,000 rpms,if it dont slip you need a trans rebuild
 
No, it slips and behaves proper 98% of the time.
Just sometimes off a stop the trans will not let me into first gear.
This is a problem with first gear, and ONLY first gear.
It is the Hydraulically actuated Mazda trans.
 
You do use Mercon III ATF in the Mazda 5-speed. The proper oil fill level is up to the bottom of the fill hole on the left side when cool and on flat ground.
 
Hydrolic clutch, it won't need adjusted. You can check for leakage at the master and slave cylinders just to make sure. My T5 in my Mustang had a hard time going into first sometimes, especially if I was moving. Just stick it in second or third first.
 
I run Mobil Synthetic Dex III ATF in mine.

Mine used to grind from N to 1 but I push the clutch and go 3-1 and it was fine. I could slide it into 3 for a second and then to N and sit and it would go smooth into 1 unless I let the clutch out, if I did, I had to go back to 3 before 1. You get used to it after a while. My car never made grinding noises when I drove it, you couldn't tell the trans needed synch's till my friend drove it (grind grind grind). I had it rebuilt and its fine now. I used brass synch's but if it comes out again I'm putting fiber blockers in.
 
Scott Long said:
I run Mobil Synthetic Dex III ATF in mine.

Mine used to grind from N to 1 but I push the clutch and go 3-1 and it was fine. I could slide it into 3 for a second and then to N and sit and it would go smooth into 1 unless I let the clutch out, if I did, I had to go back to 3 before 1. You get used to it after a while. My car never made grinding noises when I drove it, you couldn't tell the trans needed synch's till my friend drove it (grind grind grind). I had it rebuilt and its fine now. I used brass synch's but if it comes out again I'm putting fiber blockers in.

hm.
Maybe I can get away with it for a while longer.

-Ghost
 
Its a thread revival

Pulling this one down from the attic to see if anyone else has the same issue.

I have this same problem with my 5 sp. 1st gear grinds. There are 2 simple workarounds for this, but eventually I want to fix it.

The first workaround is to only shift into 1st from 2nd when stopped. Not neutral. The reason this works is neither shaft can spin with the trans in gear and the car stopped and the clutch depressed. This means that going into gear 1 the slider can move over the teeth w/o any problems.

The 2nd workaround is related to the first. When the car is stopped and in neutral, the input shaft is spinning at engine speed. With the clutch depressed, the shaft will stop spinning but not right away. It usually takes 2-3 seconds for it to stop. Then the shift into 1 can be done w/o grinding.

Now the big question I have is is this a synchro-hub + gear1 cone wear problem that prevents the synchro form stoping the shaft spin, or a blocker ring wear problem. :confused:
 
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