Slug's Genpu Newb Chronicle

This definitely used to be a thing based on things like this and this. It's also mentioned here. However, I think that stopped being a thing by 2013. It used to be a feature of the dealer finder on mazdausa.com the last time I viewed it (probably 2014) but it's definitely not now. The dealership nearest my GF's place has just become a Mazda dealer within the last year and they do my 'speed oil changes no problem. They even think they know things about it - the service writer reported the tech told him that running synthetic oil would blow my turbo because it's thinner. LOL.

When the clutch on my Integra broke, the mechanics that drove it couldn't tell anything was wrong either. It was obvious to me. When they took it apart, a small piece of one of the shock-absorbing spring supports had broken off and was floating around causing intermittent issues. So yeah, it can be difficult to get people to understand that there's something wrong with clutch/trans sometimes.

 

Yah one of the major issues here is the poor performance comes and goes.Interestingly as soon as I drive off the lot, the issue "comes." But when they drive it, it "goes." lol.

I think I'll take it to a local mechanic who pretty much only works on Speeds to diagnose. Then take the diagnosis to the next dealer I decide to play roulette with to get the warranty tranny service.

 

So I found a video of a (what I think is) an ms6 that is a perfect example of EXACTLY the noise I was getting in neutral:


The story on the video is that it is the transmission pilot bearing. Dealer still wants me to capture it on my own car before they do any work. Since the sound has not recurred, things are dead in the water.

 

Thought I'd stop by and just give an update to my speed's situation. I've pretty much put anything related to the car on hold due to finishing up a home renovation, home sale and purchase of a new home. That all should be tied up on the 1st of June.

My car is probably due for new plugs and could probably use a good walnut blasting. When at a stop after the engine is warm, idle stays at the expected RPMS, but the car feels like its idling rough. Doesn't seem to be a mount issue because it is so inconsistent and can feel just fine during one stop at a street light, then the next street light feels rough again.

My shifting is still crap on a continued inconsistent basis. The dealer still maintains there is nothing wrong with the car and won't do a warranty claim and stopped responding to my complaints.

I'm still getting (what seems to be) pilot bearing noise after long stop and go drives (clanky knockyness in neutral with clutch out), but it only happens very briefly and goes away pretty quickly after the clutch goes down and may or may not come back for the rest of the drive.

I had the pleasure of going fishing for spoiler bolts a few weeks ago. Which is surprising because the dealer was supposed to have tightened those down 2 months ago. WTF?! They really come loose this easily?

Its become quite apparent why so many speeds become available at the dealer around 35K miles when the warranty runs out.

I'm currently at 48,600K miles. If it wasn't for my extended used car warranty (100K miles), I probably wouldn't be keeping this vehicle at this point as it seems to be incredibly unpredictable. The car is no longer fun to drive and is a constant disappointment. I'd like to think I'll come around at some point. But chances are slim.

 

Clutch out tranny noise is totally normal, especially on upgraded mounts. You'll also get some clunking initially going into gear, like pulling out from a parking lot. Stock mounts just mask these noises. Are you on upgraded mounts?

 

Been on stock mounts for about a month now. I tried the CP-e stage II RMM a few times. put it in, took it out, put it in, took it out, put it in etc. but each time none of the shifting/noise issues went away. The issues were present before I installed the RMM. I hoped the RMM would make the shifting feel better (others told me it would). Not so much. Just exacerbated the issues. I got worse/more often grinds and when the AC was running the grinds got even worse in hot weather with the CP-E RMM installed.

The "clutch out" tranny noise I'm referring to is different than the normal clutch out noise. Watch the video I linked in a previous post to this thread. It doesn't occur all the time. But I can make it go away by "resetting" the clutch by pushing it in and letting it out again. My research has found that it usually means a bad pilot bearing. But until it causes a catastrophic failure and the dealer continues to refuse to pull things apart under warranty, the issue will remain.

My car is completely stock.

 

Hmmm, that does suck and definitely isn't normal. You mentioned a 100k extended warranty. What did the dealer say, exactly? There could be play in axle splines regarding some of the noise; not sure about the rest of it. My dealer is awesome with my 100k warranty, even though there's not much I HAVEN'T touched on the car, LOL (see my sig). Sorry, bud...

 

Ugh, sorry to hear that man. Mine's been solid and I love it, though now that I have mod parts if I WOT in 3/4/5 my clutch slips. Everyone says that's impossibru! So we'll see what happens with that.

My 1/2 is not quite as good as it could be but I am certain I can adjust the shift cable and be rid of that. I have two lighter shift weights that I'm going to play with as well, in order to (a) optimize shifting and (b) help ensure the car doesn't do the racecar stuff like drop out of 2nd under heavy braking.

 

The dealer has not been helpful. They keep telling me things are normal and they can't reproduce the pilot bearing noise. They've turned me away 4 times now. I got Mazda corporate involved. They only suggested taking it to another local dealer until I find one that will open a warranty claim. Problem is the only other convenient dealer told me to take it to the one I've been taking it to because they are the only dealer who do a lot of speed work.

I've owned the car for 5 months now. Their certified used car inspection missed a bunch of issues with the strut mounts and other bearings that they fixed within the first couple weeks of me owning the car (among other issues). I had them put in Redline MTL tranny fluid. That helped slightly, but its no longer providing any improvement.

There is a local "speed only" mechanic that I spoke with, but he can't spend any time looking at my car because he's backed up with engine rebuilds for the next 2 months.
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I spent many hours trying shift cable adjustments as well. I'd dial it in, then a week later, its back to crap. In the last week, I've actually been blocked out of 1st gear a few times at a stop (the cable adjustment is back to the stock location currently). Sometimes to the point people start honking at me. I'm so frustrated at this point with this car, its depressing.

 

May be time to step up your game with a certified letter to Mazda Corporate, and to look at the possibility of getting a lawyer involved. Having the 100k mile warranty is usually because PRECISELY this kind of thing is trying to be avoided. I know it's little solace, but your experience is very atypical. Speeds generally are very reliable, when treated well. Being stock, I'm sure you've done your part in terms of car care.

 

Understood, and I do recall that. I wasn't suggesting it, just an update where I am. Some tribulations but mostly just reliable daily running.

 

I have 59,500 miles on my 2013 Speed3 and it has been very reliable. Even more reliable than my old 2010 Mazda3. The only issue I've run into was a broken throttle body bolt, which was entirely my fault. It is unfortunate that you have this problem on your car and that you have to deal with a crappy dealership.

As far as RMM goes, have you tried a CP-E Stage1 65A duro RMM? I have one on mine and the NVH levels are stock like with a noticeable improvement in shifting. Not as much improvement as a DM RMM, but it also doesn't come with the NVH penalty of a stiffer mount.

 

I haven't tried the stage 1 yet. I'm on the fence regarding another RMM. I was going to just throw in the corksport inserts or try the E-focus mount. I can't stand NVH. I'll be doing a CS trans mount insert regardless when I do my spark plugs in a couple weeks to see how that improves things.

 

I highly doubt the stage 1 mount would be better than the stage 2. It's unfortunate you have such shifting problems that you can't feel the improvement from the stage 2. Of course it's all anecdotal. I think I felt improvement when I upgraded my PMM/TMM also, but I could just be convincing myself that the expense in mounts was worth it. Either way I love my current setup (cpe s2 RMM, 60duro PMM, CS insert in stock TMM) and expect to never change it unless I break the 60duro PMM and have to go to the 75 duro.

 

Do you think a CS insert in the TMM alone would help with shifting improvements? Do you know how much NVH it adds by itself? After everything I've tried I've come to think that nothing would be excluded from adding extra vibration.

Also, I'm basically taking a shot in the dark that its transmission movement/engine movement that is causing the rough/grindy shifts. Although, solving the engine movement with the Stage 2 didn't do anything for grinds. Just made them more cringe worthy due to the added noise into the cabin, haha. Maybe containing the TMM will resolve some grinds?

 

I put in the CS TMM insert at the same time as a Damond PMM so I can't say what it does by itself. If I had to guess I'd say it's pretty minimal because my car with that combination is very stock-like (both for sound and vibes) except for the racecar shake at startup. However since I went down to what I have from Damond RMM/PMM (with CS insert TMM) I am pretty sure I don't 100% remember stock either.

I will estimate that 85% of the shifting improvements came from the RMM and only 15% come from changes to PMM/TMM. From your descriptions I agree you have a trans problem especially if there was no improvement with RMM. Shoring up the TMM a bit isn't a bad idea but don't expect it to fix it. Luckily the CS inserts are very inexpensive so you kind of can't say anyone is throwing good money after bad (or whatever that damn phrase is) or anything.

Oh I have forgotten to comment on spoiler bolts... about a month ago I pulled mine. One was rusty and fairly loose but not off, one was about half the normal torque, and two were fully torqued still. I replaced them all with flanged nylock nuts which I was shocked to find at the hardware store. I probably should have put on threadlocker but I forgot. I'd expect to be OK just with nylock anyway. I did drop a couple into the liftgate with it open. Magnetic pickup tool with a light in it FTW. It did reduce my spoiler rattle when closing the liftgate and I don't hear it on bumpy roads while driving now either. Excellent, and hoping that's handled for good.

 

Replaced the original spark plugs last night @ 51K miles. I replaced them with NGK 3787 ILTR6A-8G and gaped them at 0.028. I used a gaping tool and a feeler gage to verify the gap. Pics below. I had a rough idle and that is gone now, the car is driving much smoother. I should have changed them right when I purchased the car. I think they all look relatively normal with the exception of 1 having slightly more carbon on it. If any plug gurus are reading this, please add your input regarding how they look.

I also ordered CS RMM inserts last Friday so hopefully those will come this week and I can try them out later in the week.

 

Pics aren't really close-up enough to offer any specific reading of potential issues. But based upon what I can see from afar, they look good. I forget what mods you have (can't read the first page of the thread as I'm typing this, if the info is even there), but you may want to consider 1-step colder plugs later on. A general rule of thumb is once you get 50+hp over stock, it's a good idea. Plug reading is a more accurate way of telling, though.

 

Still stock, no performance mods for now while warranty still in play. Note taken on the step colder for when I start the mods. Thanks for that!

 

Installed CS RMM inserts last night. Compared to a CPE-Stage 2, there are only 1/4 of the idle vibes. No added vibes while cruising or decelerating. Initial clutch slip to get the car going has a rougher feel, but still about a 1/4 of the vibes I experienced from the CPE-Stage 2. There is still pretty much the same engine growl on startup that I experienced with the CPE-stage 2. Which is awesome.

The butt dyno feels a bit more pep on initial acceleration through any gear. The engine feels like there is about 2/3rds less movement on shifts and throttle blips. This is enough to satisfy anyone who just wants to rid the normal drive experience of the floppy shifts/engine movement in this car.

Any of you that have been following this thread know that I've been constantly aggravated by poor shifting performance and transmission feel in this car. So far the inserts offer the best trade-off between transmitted gear/shift noise and improvement in shift feel. I feel like my transmission is shifting right in the pocket now, at least for my liking. But with this said, I've only driven the car in 74 degreeish weather and the shifts get real shitty at higher and lower temps. This afternoon should be a good litmus test.

For the daily driver, who wont be rampaging through gears like a 600lb gorilla, the inserts are probably more than enough for satisfaction in engine movement control and comfort. If I was making more power, I'd probably go back to the CPE-Stage 2, but for now, these are great. I'm sure they will loosen up slightly after being worn, but I'm not expecting too much loosening of the feel because I really don't drive the car very hard or pound through gears.

The install was more annoying than putting in a full replacement. The inserts make stuffing the stock RMM back in the car a miserable chore for anyone laying on their back with the car on jack stands. I had to get creative and put a cloth on the end of a socket wrench extension, stick it in the open side of the RMM and pound it in with a hammer. Then wrestle the damn thing to turn it and line it up perfectly to get the bolts in and line up the transmission bracket completely. I did this install/unistall 3 times with the CPE-Stage 2 and it was never such a pain in the ass. The inserts add about a little over a 1/4" of thickness to the stock RMM.

For a regular Joe, who doesn't wrench very often, a job that took me 30 minutes with the CPE-Stage 2, ended up taking me 2 1/2 frustrating hours with the inserts and I've got bloody knuckles, a bruised back and a sore neck. Therefore, for the regular Joe, I recommend only taking your own time to install these if you have a lift. No lift? Save yourself the pain and anguish and have a shop do it, unless you love frustrating, soul sucking, time wasting challenges.