where is the check plug on MT of a 95RS

[rayrrod]

the chitons book does not show a pic, just a drawing and it sucks.(for the check fluid plug)

the pic for the drain plug is not the same as my RS

the mitchell CD says this

transaxle fluid 1.6L
remove speed sensor housing hold down bolt and withdraw housing from transaxle. wipe speed sensor housing and fully insert into transaxle. use L and K marks on housing to determine fluid level. if necessary add oil througn sensor housing opening

heres my question:
where is that housing hold down bolt located?
ie towards the drivers door, passenager door, front, or rear?

the drain plug is on the bottom. that is the one that seems to be it. it just does not look excatly like the chiltons book. i guess the book is just general.

also what is the size socket? its larget than 22mm / the 15/16 in seems a bit large. do not want to mess up the bolt. i can not find my 23/ 24 mm socket.

i raised the car but guess my belly barely fits. so its a tight fit to see down there.
thats why i need a gereral direction to find that plug. also the hot/heat of the day does not help me. darn its hot here in houston.

[mykel78]

You'll want to look over the intake and down, its almost a straight line down from the TB-to-intake manifold. Get on the passenger side to see it better, a bright light will help. the tranny has a 'platform' that sticks out to the rear of the car, this is where the half-shafts enter. On top of it you'll see a wire harness plugging down into the sender, whose base is the hold down bracket. Pull the bolt (mine has one, may be missing one though?, maybe there's two?), give it a little wiggle and a tug and there you go! I'd add pics if I could...

[mykel78]

I decided to go look at mine. The wire connector is gray, the base is black, it's tricky, but not hard.
Are you talking of the back up light sensor?? The drain 'plug' is on the bottom, you have chilton, look at 1-37, fig 136. You see the B/U sensor, look below and to the right, at the bottom of the MTX case, almost looks like a bolt. Look underneath the car, you'll see it, I think it's a 10mm.
Hope these help!!

[rayrrod]

2 plugs,
one, the drain plug
two, the check level plug ( fill plug)

my page 1-37 shows spark plug info.
mine has mt info on page 1-59 and 1-60
book is 8411, 46802 chiltons mazda 1990-98
on page 1-59 it says, see fig 165 ( it is a drawing not a pic)
figure 165 says, to check the fluid level remove the inspect/fill plug from the side of the case.

step 2 says, remove the oil level plug and washer.

To confuse me more,
to check transmission oil level , mitchell cd says: remove speed sensor housing hold down bolt and withdraw housing from transaxle,

so as u can see they both say something different, ie one says remove speed sensor housing hold down bolt and chilton says remove oil level plug/remove the inspect/fill plug
size not sure yet cause I have not found the plug yet. Will take a good look tomorrow when there is light.

the drain plug is on the bottom , I am almost sure that is the one I saw. Size is 15/16, but fits a bit large. So it could be 23mm since 23mm is .905512in and 15/16 is .9375in

[mykel78]

WOW! That is confusing! My Chilton is also (8411)46802, published in 99, maybe that's the difference?
I recently did an engine swap and clutch install. I had to drain the gear oil by pulling the lower bolt, the little one on the very bottom of the case. When refilling it, I followed my books instructions, blindly, and filled it through the inspection/fill plug, which is a bolt, I think a 12 on mine. Took forever. Unfortunately, I didn't seat one C-V properly and the oil leaked. The car went to a shop, courtesy of a friend, where the tech looked up the info, seated the C-V, and filled it through the Speedo sensor.

[rayrrod]

you must have a mx-3 RS before 94. remember the 94 and 95 have a slightly bigger engine. And yes, my book says to fill the gear oil thru the speedo plug, but thats the 90-93
either way, i wiil raise my car and find it today, if not then off to the shop it goes. should not be much to fill it.
my car is hard to shift. i had the master and slave clutch replaced.
sometimes it shifts great and other times its a little hard to shift.
when i start the car, will the clutch all the way in, sometimes it the car tries to move like the clutch is not in. other times all is fine
i am thinking the gear oil at this point

[LongJohn]

Myador, if your car lurches a bit when you start with the clutch pushed in, then it has nothing to do with the oil in the tranny. If your clutch is disengaged, none of the engine's power makes it to the tranny.

It sounds to me like your system was not properly bled and that you still have some air in there, or either the master or slave cylinders you put in are bad (or the hose connecting them is bad).

Basically, your problem is that the clutch is not properly disengaging when the clutch pedal is fully depressed. Your tranny is not a factor as far as I can tell.

[mykel78]

yes, my friend, I have a 94, DOHC, The 'slightly larger engine' is my baby. I'm just not sure if mine is an RS. That's why I had the troubles I had, the Chilton manual, it sucks. And I don't understand why our books are different, mine doesn't even have 1-59, it stops at 1-48, there must have been a revision. Now, given the actual problem you are looking at, its possible that the gear oil, which just lubes everything like oil does, is not to blame. If you can't find the speedo hook up, take it to a shop. I think John may have a point...Good luck

[rayrrod]

i posted some pics of the tranny plugs/bolts. i see 3. they are 15/16 in. since i opened the front one.

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=4210096&a=31356548&f=

i do not think the wires come off. i just unscrewed the bolt/plug with the wires connected since they do twist.

my chiltons is a 1998, isbn # 0-8019-8954-x

i posted pics of some pages, check to see if its the same as yours, ie the inside front page where it says the year. Check to see it the bottom series of numbers matches mine, ie 123456578901
765432098

yes, i also do not think its the oil but at this point what else can i do?

i did have them replace the master and the slave cylinders. i bought them at autozone and took it to them. they gave me the old parts back.

what gets me is this.
yes, with the clutch pushed in..all the way..the car when i try to start it..tries to move forward. like the clutch is not pushed in..i have to use the brake to stop it.

BUT
at other times... it starts perfectly..like nothing is wrong.
i push the clutch in..start the car..and it does not try to move forward.

if it happened all the time, then yes i would say something was not connected properly..but it happens every so often.

[mykel78]

Yeah, the books are different. My apologies for assuming they would be the same...go figure! My numbers: 1234567890 8765432109
UPC:0-8019-9130-7
But your pics help. pic 9, imgp2162: The bolt above the plug is your check/fill(?). The little bolt on the bottom is the drain, rather that's how mine is. The procedure requires a few little wrenches.
Your problem is clutch related, I bet your oil isn't really a factor, on the other hand you may want to freshen it up with some new oil, likely won't help.
When starting er up, with the clutch depressed, is the tranny in gear or neutral? If its in neutral and moving the car, problem. If in gear, your clutch isn't fully disengaging when you first push it. Have you tried pushing the clutch a few times before starting the car, may build pressure...if then its good, the lines need to bleed. Or, just start the car in neutral...

[rayrrod]

in that pic, the only bolt i see is the check plug

on pic 6, that is the drain plug, its big, and on the bottom. 15/16 in

pic 2 shows a small plug, facing towards the passenger side. i do not know what its function is
the book does not help any. it looks almost like th plug on the front but this one is lower than the other one so i do not think its a check plug

pic 7 shows what i think is the check plug. just a plug, not dipstick like mitchelles CD says... i took it off and yes i can "check " the oil.

oh yes, the tranny is in gear when i start it cause i have not adjusted my hand brake yet. so i leave in gear so it will not roll.

case one.... i go out and with gear in 1st, i start the car, take off to the store, ie less than one mile away. all is normal
after a few minutes, i leave the store, do excatly the same to start the car, ie in 1st gear, and when i start the car, it tries to move forward. i have to use the foot brake to stop it.

i go to the next store, ie less than one mile away. go in and do my shopping , leave and do excatly the same to start the car, car might or might not act up,
this is what gets me. its not a thing that happens all the time. it might and it might not. i will ask the mechanic to bleed it again, just to be safe.

[LongJohn]

My master cylinder is going out, and I'm going to replace it when I swap in my BP. Mine is also intermittant. I've seen this many times before.

I'm not sure why they get bad this way. Perhaps the plunger gets a bit out of round, and the cylinder also gets out of round. Sometimes when you push it in it works great, and sometimes it doesn't. Perhaps it's like a bicycle pump going bad - sometimes the valve catches and sometimes it doesn't.

Sometimes the hose inbetween goes bad, but that is rarely intermittant. A bad hose makes the clutch spongy feeling all the time.

[mykel78]

I agree with John.

[mykel78]

Myardor, I'm wondering if your problem has been solved, and what was the problem. I'm getting a similar thing now, curious if yours did this. Inconsistent clutch feel: most of the time, clutch is fine and engaging predictably. But, now and then, the peddle goes nearly to the floor before disengaging, and engages right when I start lifting my foot. Has yours done this?

[rayrrod]

Problem has been solved. look at the last pic here to see what was wrong.
http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=4194676&a=31221768&f=

sometimes the gears/transmission/clutch would work great
sometimes it would be hard to shift. where i had to turn off the engine, shift gears and the restart the engine. shifting up would still be hard but i could force the gears