Hello everyone! I am totally new here so please work with me. I just bought a 2008 Mazdaspeed 3 with 95000 and Im in love. Ive been driving it for a couple hundred miles or so and went and did an oil change by myself. While under the car before even attemping the oil change, i noticed that the bottom right of the car underneath was dripping with oil and it splattered because the axle was splattered too. I got worried and thought that my transmission or something big was leaking. I wipe down the bottom and waited a bit and there wasnt any more oil dripping so i guessed that it was leaking from somewhere up top. I worked my way up and saw that there was a lot of fluids around the shift linkage underneath the intake. The fluids seemed kinda red so i think it was transmission fluid. Anyway, (sorry im dragging this on) the shift linkage bushings seemed to just be dangling there so i forced one of the bushing around the bottom and hoped that there wouldnt be anymore leaks. I drove it for the next couple days and checked everytime i got out and saw that it wasn't leaking anymore. Woohoo! Everything was smooth until i started her up a couple days ago in a cold morning aka like 40-50 degrees and i waited about a good 5 minutes to warm the car up and myself. However when i went to changed from 1st to 2nd I had to almost force it in and i was surprised. 3rd wasnt so bad and there rest was okay but the gears were noticeably more notchy than when i first got the car. As the car warmed up more and the temperature went up, it got easier to shift but still felt very notchy and kinda sticky changing gears. Do you guys think that its the shift linkage? Or what is it? I thought I was the transmission fluid being low but it was already full when i went and checked. The clutch feels the same as when i got it. Just shifting feels much more sticky/notchy. Any help is appreciated

 

Here is a picture of the shift linkage after i put a bushing around the bottom. It never leaked more than that. So i think thats good

 

Did you check & top up the gearbox oil?
If not, do it ASAP before you cook/destroy your gearbox.

 

if youre talking about the transmission oil then yeah its already topped up.