Mazdaspeed3 help!

KooshaS

Member
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2008 Mazdaspeed 3
Hello everyone! I am totally new here so please work with me. I just bought a 2008 Mazdaspeed 3 with 95000 and Im in love. Ive been driving it for a couple hundred miles or so and went and did an oil change by myself. While under the car before even attemping the oil change, i noticed that the bottom right of the car underneath was dripping with oil and it splattered because the axle was splattered with oil too. I got worried and thought that my transmission or something big was leaking. I wipe down the bottom and waited a bit and there wasnt any more oil dripping so i guessed that it was leaking from somewhere up top. I worked my way up and saw that there was a lot of fluids around the shift linkage underneath the intake. The fluids seemed kinda red so i think it was transmission fluid. Anyway, (sorry im dragging this on) the shift linkage bushings seemed to just be dangling there so i forced one of the bushing around the bottom and hoped that there wouldnt be anymore leaks. I drove it for the next couple days and checked everytime i got out and saw that it wasn't leaking anymore. Woohoo! Everything was smooth until i started her up a couple days ago in a cold morning aka like 40-50 degrees and i waited about a good 5 minutes to warm the car up and myself. However when i went to changed from 1st to 2nd I had to almost force it in and i was surprised. 3rd wasnt so bad and there rest was okay but the gears were noticeably more notchy than when i first got the car. As the car warmed up more and the temperature went up, it got easier to shift but still felt very notchy and kinda sticky changing gears. Do you guys think that its the shift linkage? Or what is it? I thought I was the transmission fluid being low but it was already full when i went and checked. The clutch feels the same as when i got it. Just shifting feels much more sticky/notchy. Any help is appreciated
 
Have you been driving the car aggressively?

It just sounds like some worn synchros. Trying slicking it in and out of gear a few times with the clutch in and see if that helps. Shift smoothly and carefully, even if you are driving fast.
 
Have you been driving the car aggressively?

It just sounds like some worn synchros. Trying slicking it in and out of gear a few times with the clutch in and see if that helps. Shift smoothly and carefully, even if you are driving fast.

I did drive it hard for a day to see how it handles but other than that no, i try to baby my cars. But thanks! Do you think replacing the synchros will help?
 
I did drive it hard for a day to see how it handles but other than that no, i try to baby my cars. But thanks! Do you think replacing the synchros will help?

No point in a transmission rebuild unless the synchros are grinding or the car doesn't want to go into gear at all. Just the easy on the car and the car will shift smooth again.

Are you rev matching your downshifts? Try double clutching (clutch in and out, then in, shift and clutch out all at once) and see if that makes the shift smoother.
 
Thank you. Hopefully i wont need a rebuild because the gears go into place and never grind. Its just very notchy switching gears and you can hear it very loudly from the outside. Im a newbie to manuals so im still trying to master smooth shifting. I just got how to upshift smoothly. However revmatching is still kind of new to me so hopefully i can get it down before i break something lol.
 
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