Hello,
I'm new to the site and I'm hoping that possibly all of you Mazda3 enthusiasts might be able to help me identify a problem, if it even is a problem, with my 2004 mazda 3.

when I push the clutch in when I shift from first to second and from second to third, I can hear this high pitch noise that I havent heard before. I was almost thinking that the clutch is slipping, but i only have 48,000 on the car and there is no delay when I accelerate.

any ideas?

Any responses would be most appreciated.

Thanks

Tom

 

Well, just a guess now....
When you are pushing the clutch pedal in to engage the clutch, and transversely disengaging the transmission from the engine basically two things happen:
1. The throw-out bearing is being engaged to the pressure plate putting a lot of stress on the bearing itself.
2. You are relieving the forward motion stress on the transmission causing the gears to stress in reverse, if you will. What I mean is that instead of pressure being on the front of a gears tooth, it's now on the back of the tooth. (I hope that makes sense???)

BUT, you state that this noise only happens in the two lower gears. Guess what? They are both on the same shaft inside the trans and share the same bearings. It sounds like it might be internal bearing failure due to excessive stress (very hard acceleration over a period of time, or towing, bad shifting techniques, etc...,) or running the trans low on fluid, or a defective bearing from the manufacturer.

Let me again qualify my statements by saying,they areonlyguesses based on past experiences.

 

what is the best shifting technique with the mazda 3's? Ive heard that the clutches have a tendancy to burn out. I have driven manual for a long while now but the 2007 3 i bought has a very clunky feeling clutch. every time i shift i feel like im hurting it in some way it just doesnt feel very smooth is anyone else getting this or am i just being nuerotic?

 

Nope.. my 08 3 has a very smooth clutch. Now coming from a Subaru Impreza as my previous car I'm sure anything feels smooth.