MX-3.com

Ok, I just got a 1992 Mazda MX-3 (hooray) and today when I was driving it, my transmission will only go into 1st, 3rd, and 5th. no 2nd, 4th, or R. So its screwing me over, what is going on?

is the shifter loose feeling?

if the motor mounts are realy bad or m.m. bolts come loose motor cam move away from the shifter and gears 1&3 &5 all are engauged buy pulling the shif rod away from the motor so if the motor is to far away from the shifter ypu wont be able to push the rod close enuph to the trans to engauge 2&4

but if your mounts are that bad off you probally felt the shiter moving when you hit the gas prior to when you lost half of your gears

anyways if the m.m. are good and tight and the shifter is tight than its an enternal trans prob and it is cheaper to get another used tranny instead of gettin it fixed

it was cheaper to do a bp swap on my 4cyl mx3 the to repair the 1.6 trans

Naw, but know it shifts, so I'll probably take it to get the tranny inspected.

i have the same problem.. happened right after i ran over part of a semi tire.. replaced the shifter linkage and the front crossmember (engine cradle) and still won't give me the other gears.. i think my problem might be the linkage that goes from the outer linkage into the trans... hope that isn't your problem also

I think I have the same problem. My '94 1.6L will sometimes only shift 1st, 3rd and 5th. But after a few meters driving it will shift normal again. I brought the car to a mechanic. He couldn't see anything wrong. Motor mounts are fine, shift linkage is lubricated. It must be something inside the gearbox that came loose and is blocking to shift into 2nd and 3rd gear.

it seems to have fixed itself as all my gears are working now, and it is shifting perfectly ... its really wierd.

That has GOT to be the linkage

If the mounts are good then it has to be the linkage

I had that problem up till monday. I replaced my master cylinder because it was slowly leaking. Now mine shifts perfectly. You may wanna see if yours is leaking.

Low fluid, air in the system, bad syncros, and bad bushings all can cause the issues you have.

One thing that will cause that is a broken gear tooth or other particle inside the transmission. I have had the problem several times but usually it causes reverse to go out. If the particle by some freak of nature ends up in the rear housing of the transmission(the one containing the reverse and 5th gears it can get lodged in between the shift rod and the casing ...therefore not allowing the shift fork to fully engage the gears.