Hello,

I have a problem with my Mazda right now. I drive a manual transmission car. Basically, what happened a couple of weeks ago is that I started noticing that my 1st 3rd and 5th gear didn't properly want to go in. Took alot of different positionings of the stick to get them in, otherwise it felt like a bubble or something was in the way of getting the gears on. Now, a couple of days ago, when I started driving my car, I noticed that my stick was in a very weird position, didn't feel right to the hand, kept looking at it not properly understanding what is going on, had no 1st 3rd and 5th gear. Suddenly I understood what was going on with the stick itself, its positioning is wrong. Now its positioning on free gear spot was like it was positioned to be in 1st, 3rd or 5th gear, had nowhere to push the stick for those gears hence I didn't have the gears either. 2nd 4th and 5th gears position is now on the free gear position. A mechanic suggested that the whole transmission has to be repaired, which is a very costly procedure but it doesn't click to me to be a transmission problem, when the stick itself is positioned wrong. Any ideas on how to fix such a problem or should I go with the mechanics suggestion? Personally I feel like it has more to do with the sticks mechanism than the whole transmission itself. If any suggestions or ideas, please let me know. Thanks!

 

You need a second opinion from another mechanic.

 

I agree, get a second opinion. Find a small shop with good online reviews. Big shops and dealers are in hurry to make big $$. Had a dealer tell me I needed a new A/C compressor for $1,800 installed...took it to a small shop, it wasn't the compressor and it was $180 to repair.

 

Update:
Got a second opinion from a lesser known repairman. He found out that gearbox is completly fine, but one gearbox cable is completly busted and the 2nd one is about to. I can't really find the neccessary cables for that particular vehicle. Are there substitute cables I could use that are compatible?

 

If Rock Auto doesn't sell it, then a junk yard is your only hope. If you can remove the cables, it may possible to make them yourself or have them made. Let us know how it ends.