Super stiff shifter problem! Any ideas?

[MistaChin]

Hi all,

This problem just started happening last night. I got to a red light and car was in neutral. Getting ready to go at the green I tried popping the car into 1st but moving the stick to the left seemed a bit more difficult than usual. To give you an idea of the amount of force required to actually move the stick (no homo), I'd say it's comparable to moving a 10lb weight. Eventually, I got the car moving but turned into a side street to have a look at it.

I assumed it was some kind of "synchro" issue so I tried moving the stick to the right and then back to the left (while in neutral) but it wouldn't even move to the right without that same amount of force! That same amount of force is required when shifting into any gear, just not all at the same time. I took the centre console apart to look at the shifter and the cables but nothing looking out of the ordinary. The issue comes and goes when driving and out of my 3+ years of owning the car I've never had this happen before.

This morning on my way into work, shifting was smooth until I had to take the 401 off-ramp. I attempted to downshift from 5th to 4th, but it wouldn't let me put it into 4th so I had no choice but to coast in neutral until I slowed to a speed suitable to downshift into 3rd. No problems after that.

I'm going to take it into Jimmy for his diagnosis but wanted to see if any members experienced this. Any ideas?

[Eddie81]

I do have problem in first gear sometimes when I am at light. It's very hard to shift from neutral to first gear then I shift into 2nd gear and go back to first an that solves it. Let us know what jimmy says after l

[peterm15]

It's happened to me. I just hold the clutch put it into another gear and try again. Like pop it in third. Don't release the clutch and back into neutral, then into first.

[MistaChin]

It's happened to me. I just hold the clutch put it into another gear and try again. Like pop it in third. Don't release the clutch and back into neutral, then into first.

I know the issue you're referring to because that's happened to me too. I pop it into another gear then back into first and it's smooth. The issue I'm having is much worse because at times it wouldn't let me move the stick to the left from neutral to even put it into first.

[gabbygenier]

did you check to see if the bolts holding the shifter assembly were still tight. that would be my first thing id check. also maybe one of the base bushings is screwed up and its throwing it off a little bit and that little bit is giving you issues.

probably dont need to but i re grease mine once a year. just rub off as much of it as i can without taking the whole shifter out and re grease it.

sounds weird that its hard to move from left to right when in neutral. to me that points to the shifter since going from right to left doesn't do much in the transmission itself. only moves it a little bit.

[slam525i]

The synchro issue (which almost all manual drivers are familiar with) should only occur when the stick is being put into gear. If you're having trouble moving the stick left/right, it's not a synchro issue as they haven't moved at that point. It's likely a linkage (cables in our MZ3s) or base issue, as gabby said.

[MistaChin]

The synchro issue (which almost all manual drivers are familiar with) should only occur when the stick is being put into gear. If you're having trouble moving the stick left/right, it's not a synchro issue as they haven't moved at that point. It's likely a linkage (cables in our MZ3s) or base issue, as gabby said.

This is what I thought. After doing some research last night I do believe it's the shifter linkage. I don't believe it's a base issue because of the upgraded bushings I installed when the TMW SS was installed (doesn't hurt to check though). I just hope this fix is as easy as re-greasing some stuff, however, I don't think it is because this problem happened almost instantaneously.

Question though: Is the top white part of the top cable (the cable that connects to the upper portion of the shifter) supposed to always be perpendicular to the base? I noticed that the cable twists.

[gabbygenier]

this might help and might be all you have to do. ill go take a pic of mine and post it in a bit when i go outside if you want.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duIbdq-MQtw

[MistaChin]

this might help and might be all you have to do. ill go take a pic of mine and post it in a bit when i go outside if you want.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duIbdq-MQtw

Thanks gab!! That would be awesome.

[MistaChin]

As he shifts it definitely looks like the top shift cable doesn't twist or move and mine does.

[gabbygenier]

allright. got a few pics and made a video of all the parts while they are moving. hope this helps.

http://i354.photobucket.com/albums/r418/gabbygenier/36be2295.jpg
http://i354.photobucket.com/albums/r418/gabbygenier/78d304d7.jpg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw91pRWlOGE

[MistaChin]

You're awesome Gab. My shifter and cables look exactly the same. I guess this is more of an unseen and internal issue. I'm going in to see Jimmy tomorrow so he can inspect everything and see if he can spot anything that looks wrong. I'll keep you posted.

[gabbygenier]

Y thanks you :p. hope you figure out what's wrong and it doesn't cost too much

[Dave_The_BMXER]

Ya my car does this too. I figured it was a cold thing until yesterday.

[Booostin]

Update?

I just started having this issue

[MistaChin]

It comes and goes and hasn't really happened in since I saw Jimmy on Friday. When I took it to him I asked him if the selector cable could be the culprit which is why the shifter wouldn't go left or right while in neutral and he agreed that it could be a problem. When he checked out the cables in the engine area he couldn't find a problem. There was quite a bit of play in the cables so he wanted to check out other MZ3's to make sure that's not the problem.

Since the problem hasn't happened in a while I'm going to assume it's because of the sudden change in weather...if the problem persists and if I find the culprit I'll update.

[Booostin]

Sounds good :)

[goodbye]

I had this exact issue happen the other day. Like you said, it's not a synchro issue - the shifter became extremely stiff for any any movement, including moving left and right in neutral. When I stopped at a light and had to move it into 1st, I really had to yank hard on it to move it far left enough, at which point it kind of broke loose and went back to normal.

Just wondering if you ever found out what happened, since I'm scratching my head and want to know f there's anything I need to fix or replace right now before it happens again and causes a bigger problem.

PS sorry to bump an old thread, but this is the first/only relevant link I found when searching google so I thought I'd continue the discussion here

[peterm15]

Happens to me once.

I greased the shifter plate area under the hood and problem fixed.

[christ]

Did you ever find the cause of the stiff shifter? I seem to be having a similar issue. It seems to only happen after driving long distances on warmer days.


It comes and goes and hasn't really happened in since I saw Jimmy on Friday. When I took it to him I asked him if the selector cable could be the culprit which is why the shifter wouldn't go left or right while in neutral and he agreed that it could be a problem. When he checked out the cables in the engine area he couldn't find a problem. There was quite a bit of play in the cables so he wanted to check out other MZ3's to make sure that's not the problem.

Since the problem hasn't happened in a while I'm going to assume it's because of the sudden change in weather...if the problem persists and if I find the culprit I'll update.

[MistaChin]

Did you ever find the cause of the stiff shifter? I seem to be having a similar issue. It seems to only happen after driving long distances on warmer days.

Never found the cause! Weird. It just went away and never came back. But during the time I experienced the problem it was a good couple weeks.

[Atlantis]

Hi Christ, I'm glad you wrote this. I've been having exactly the same troubles with my Mazda 6 2009 manual transmission. I'm a Brit working in Saudi Arabia and on long five hour drives in summer when it gets up to 50 degrees C the gear stick gets stuck completely and I have to coast with the clutch to the floor and then brake to a standstill at remote garage stops, let the car cool off a bit, then try to get it back into neutral and then into gear again. It's a real safety issue so I'm keen to fix it. It's been happening steadily for about two years now but I just want to get this problem resolved. Did you resolve your M3 transmission troubles in the end? Any pointers would be useful. I just came across GabbyGenier's postings below so I will give Gabby's ideas a run for their money.