WTB: S5 N/A Transmission
 

My father's 91 Vert lost it's transmission. All the sudden it would not go into any gear other than reverse. He opted to have it towed to the mechanic he has always used. I haven't talked to the mechanic directly, but my father tells me that the transmission needs to be rebuilt or replaced.

My father is ok paying for it to be rebuilt because he's not all that content with the idea of putting an unknown history part on his low miles pristine baby.

I feel like I should at least look for a good used transmission. I'm looking for a no grinds in any gears transmission. I'd like to avoid shipping if possible. If you are within driving distance of Evansville, IN...aka:Southern Indiana let me know what you have and how much you want for it.

Does the transmission shift with the engine off?

Is it possible that just the pilot bearing is dead?

It's unlikely that the transmission lost all of it's forward gears at the same time unless it had a catastrophic failure like loss of fluid...
Unless your dad is ham-fisted with the shifts? :)


-Ted

It's a common problem with these transmissions. Replacing it with another trans seems to be the easiest way to "fix" it. I think if you take the shifter housing or the reverse sensor off you can mess with the shift fork rods and knock it out of reverse but chances are it will happen again down the line.

http://www.miata.net/garage/stuckreverse.html

This. I had this happen to my rebuilt transmission when I was testing the gears. You should be able to pop it out of reverse with the transmission still on the car but it'll be tight. There's no real fix but Mazda did release some revised parts but that will require a rebuild. The best way to avoid this is to make sure to guide the shift level out of fifth rather than throwing it back.