So what did I break now? - hard to shift

[NickD]

Car: 1995 Mazda MX-3 RS DOHC I4 with 5 speed.

Long story short, I porked something. I just got my car back Friday after being parted for almost a month, then drove it to get pizza tonight. So I pull up to a light next to a big diesel pickup that'd be driving like a jackass through town. Not to be outdone I play "who's the bigger jackass." Evidently it's me. I missed the one-two shift, although I can't say I'm sure if I missed it and it screwed something up, or I screwed something up and it made me miss it.

Anyway, it is an arm wrestling match to get it into any gear. Nothing grinds, it just feels like I'm trying to push the shifter through a shift pattern made of solid rubber. I am able to shift into any gear but it's nowhere near truly drivable right now.

I tried a search and came up with nil, and I've got to get to bed - luckily I still have a spare car. Anyone have any ideas? I remember reading of symptoms like this being a bent "shift fork" back in my Mustang days (only read of it, never had to replace one or anything) but don't have a clue if that applies to fwd at all.

Thanks for reading!

[onlytrueromeo]

First things first, jack up the car and find someone to help you. Go under the car while they fiddle with the shifter and see if you can see any problems in the linkage yourself. Loosen all the bolts (should be 3) and try again. If it's not the linkage, it's mostly likely an internal tranny problem. You can pick up a used one for rather cheap from a j/y, and consider it a good time to change your clutch too.

I guess before you do that, does it shift fine when your car is off?

[mitmaks]

next time don't pick on diesels lol Seriously with a chip and exhaust most diesels will beat slightly tuned mx-3 any day.

[NickD]

next time don't pick on diesels lol Seriously with a chip and exhaust most diesels will beat slightly tuned mx-3 any day.

I did think it was funny that I ripped through first gear, boogered the tranny, and finally found 2nd as I was taking a ramp onto the interstate when he finally passed me. He was beating on it, but I don't think it was chipped or anything. Irregardless, his still drives .

First things first, jack up the car and find someone to help you. Go under the car while they fiddle with the shifter and see if you can see any problems in the linkage yourself. Loosen all the bolts (should be 3) and try again. If it's not the linkage, it's mostly likely an internal tranny problem. You can pick up a used one for rather cheap from a j/y, and consider it a good time to change your clutch too.

I guess before you do that, does it shift fine when your car is off?

I'll get underneath and check things out when I can pick up a set of ramps (been meaning to for a while, just haven't had a chance to get them from mom's place).

The car seems to shift exactly the same on or off. It feels to me like a shifter problem, but I don't know how deep the "shifter" end of things goes. But I haven't had it grind going into any gear since it happened, and I've been through them all.

[mitmaks]

Get some jack stands and get underneath it. I'd inspect trans fluid also. how many miles on clutch/trans?>

[NickD]

Get some jack stands and get underneath it. I'd inspect trans fluid also. how many miles on clutch/trans?>

Clutch has always felt solid, but don't know if/when it was replaced before I got it. I assume the tranny is original with 125,000 miles or so. Only problem prior to now was having to bump the clutch when trying to get into reverse - it just seems like I had to do it a lot more in this car than I've had to in others.

[hgallegos915]

Did you check the shift linkage? same thing happened to me, the stabilizer bar bolt fell out of the transmission.

[NickD]

Friday night I spent about 2 and a half hours working on this thing. The joint where the shifter attaches to the linkage under the floor pan was still together. It looks like it used to have a bushing of some kind but it was just the linkage on a bare shoulder bolt. I took it apart and cleaned out a few pieces of old bushing (or whatever was in there) and tried a few different pieces of hose I had on hand to try and fill the void. I also noticed that the end of the linkage seemed like it might be a little tweaked so I tried to straighten everything up to right angles (I'm talking about the boxed out part of the linkage in the rear that goes around the shifter piece that's supposed to have the bushing, if that is in any way clear ).

I thought everything was back as it should have been, and it seemed to shift a little better from inside the car. I took it down and was going to take a short drive and as soon as I started to back out I could tell it was absolutely no better whatsoever. I just parked it and came inside, disgusted.

So it's still broken and I'm no wiser as to what the problem might be.

[mitmaks]

does online manual show you linkage system/parts, might check with manual.

[NickD]

does online manual show you linkage system/parts, might check with manual.

If it does I had no luck finding it. I could only find one broad overview that indirectly showed me what the linkage looked like.