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(i'm drunk, excuse me)<P>big suprise. everyday something has to break. this is by far the wierdest one though. my shifter fell out. yes, it fell out, and it fell right onto the cat. atleast i think it was the cat, it could've been just a part of the exhuast pipe, but for sure, it fell out. I can pull it back up into it's normal position, but if i give any kind of down pressure it will fall out again. (and has, i've shown my buddies my f'ed up car).<P>list of things that have broke in the past week of owning this wonderful machine...<P>1. starter (free from dealer)<BR>2. power window buttons ($179), window button broke while window was down... i had no choice.<BR>3. 4-wheel alliginment and 2 new tires and timing belt and serpintine belt ($360)\<BR>4. shifter fell out? ($ who know, going to mech. tomorrow)<P>the tires had no tread left on inside, wihle still retaining full tread on outside. I figured i should allign my newly bought POS.<P>what will break next, only time will tell.<P>BTW, wtf it up with the shifter... i have never seen this b4 in my life?

well man i am sorry your experience has sucked so bad, i warned you to take it to the mechanic , for real sorry man!

i did take it to a mechanic (but not b4 i bought it) they looked over the car and looked at the underside. cost me $32 for the inspection. they said nothing about the shifter mounts. I am going to complain and hopefully not have to pay the $32 again to have them "look" for the problem when they fix it for me. I already know whats wrong. I just don't have a lift or jackstands to fix it myself.<P>o well. the only thing a mechanic could have warned me about was the allignment situation. they wouldn't have known about the starter, or forseen the power window button to break. but seriuosly... i don't want to know whats gonna break next, because i know its gonna happen soon. every other day or so and something goes.

I had the same thing happen to me. Doesn't bother me much, I put it on the list of things to fix about 6 months ago. <P>Makes a nice "clink" sound when it hits the exhaust pipe doesn't it...<P>Anto

mine falls out with very, very little presure though. I have to pull it back up atleast 2-3 times everytime i drive somewhere. PITA!

mine fell to <BR>but i fixed it but wraping wire around the rubber brushings on both sides and then tieing around the bolts<BR>hasn't fell yet<BR>it's hard to picture it u want pics just ask

Ohh, hell yes! if you can get me pics... PLEASE. but i think i know what your talking about. is it in there solid? or like mickey moused in? I would rather it be bolted down, but if the wire thing works, i'm all for it.<P>thanks!

this sounds like a common problem...they seriously just fall out?? like just fall down while you're driving?? that's pretty screwy.

Ok, i pulled the left side of my car up onto the curb, and crawled under. All 4 bolts holding the mount to the body are still there and solid. The rubber fitting that connects the shifter to the mount is what broke. What do you figure for a whole new mount? $50?

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you mean like a whole new shifter? then you just unbolted the old one, bolt up the new one and connect those 2 bar things? (i wish i wasn't a 'tard and knew what those 2 big bars were called.

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The lovely folks at the shop wanted $360 to fix it. $240 for the shift mechanism, and some for labor too. SO, i go to a mazda dealship now, buy a whole new mechanisim, (I won't have to disasemble the broken one right? just unbolt it, shifter lever and all, and bolt in a brand new one? I really don't want to take the old one apart just to swap a sifter lever over) and connect those two rods coming out of the trany to it? I have to go buy some jack stands too. The sideways on the curb thing doesn't give me enough room to work.<P>You said $100 form mazda? why the hell do they want $240. damn mechanics.

Well for what it's worth here's my two cents. I did a ATX -> MTX swap a while back and the shifter that came with the tranny was broke in the same manner. Looks like a design flaw for sure. Here's what I did. I just took a 7/32" drill and drill a hole on either side of the shifter plate (the part with the bolts to the floor) and then tapped them for a 1/4-20 thread. A couple of short "coned" tipped set screws in and a very solid fix. It's been working for months now with no probs...and I'm hard on that poor little shift linkage. <BR>Good luck,<BR>Dylan

first 3 weeks of having my car.. had to pay 1800 dollars in repairs. I was lied to and dry. I feel your pain.