5 spd manual, draggy/clunky shifts

I'm beginning to sense that this is "a thing" with Mazdas of a certain vintage, mine included ('97 DX)...I had a 1999 626 with a manual as a company car and it had the same horrible, draggy, reluctant shift action. I've since read where others experience this with models around that age.

I did notice some time ago that there seemed to be a ridiculous amount of pedal feeplay on top for a hydraulic clutch...there's no reason to have that much in a hydro system. And it has nothing to do with clutch disc wear, as it would with a cable-type system, a hydro clutch compensates for wear by simply having more fluid in the line as the friction parts wear...same as why your brake pedal height never changes as your disc brake pads wear.

So something is wrong.

Today I twisted myself up under the dash as best I could, and was able to easily locate (by feel, mainly) the push rod that comes off the top of the pedal lever. And it is a stud/locknut design....Joy!

The pushrod was so loose with the pedal at rest, I could easily rattle it around in the cup on the back of the hydro cylinder. That small amount of slop translated to about 2" or more of pedal travel before the cylinder plunger even began to be depressed.

So there is two 12mm nuts on the pushrod. One up against the bracket, towards the pedal, which is the locknut, and the other, which is part of the rod, and is used for adjustment...although mine turned easily by hand once the locknut was loosened.

Once the locknut is loose, backing the rod out of the pedal bracket will lengthen it, making the business end move closer to the hydro cylinder.

You'd want a slight amount of gap between them, just to be sure you weren't applying any force to the cylinder with the pedal at rest. So I twiddled the rod back about 2.5 turns, until it ran up against the cylinder plunger.

Now there's no way I was gonna be able to get TWO 12mm wrenches in that tight spot, just one was a little bit of a trick. So holding the adjuster nut (the one made onto the rod) while tightening the locknut was just not gonna happen.

But when you tighten the locknut, the rod is going to rotate with it a bit just as it tightens up, which in effect is screwing it back in slightly, shortening the rod.

So with the rod run out to where it lightly contacted the cylinder plunger, I simply tightened the locknut and let that slight rotation of the rod provide the small amount of shortening I needed to have a bit of space between rod and plunger.

Tap the clutch pedal lightly to verify I can hear the rod tapping the plunger (indicating a slight gap, as needed) and head out to test drive.

So much better. Easy to get into 1st or reverse from a stop, no more resistance when shifting between gears...why didn't I do this sooner?

I can't believe they were like this when new....it must be an issue of some unexpected wear either of the pushrod and/or plunger, or down at the other end, where the slave presses on the fork...somewhere a lotta slop got introduced into the system. Get rid of it. You'll like it.

Oh that reminds me...next time I'm under the car, I'll lube the contact point between the slave and the fork...that seems like the most likely spot for wear.

The pushrod was so loose with the pedal at rest, I could easily rattle it around in the cup on the back of the hydro cylinder. That small amount of slop translated to about 2" or more of pedal travel before the cylinder plunger even began to be depressed.

That's no good, there shouldn't be any play in that pushrod and that sounds like the root of the problem. Although, as you mentioned, you definitely don't want to overtighten it. If it's too tight and putting pressure on the clutch it will cause slippage and eventually burn out the clutch. It should be snug so it will give the clutch pedal a more accurate feel.



Once the locknut is loose, backing the rod out of the pedal bracket will lengthen it, making the business end move closer to the hydro cylinder.

Sound like a good fix, it still may be a good idea to check the rest of your linkage and the hydraulic fluid level, just to be sure.



Now there's no way I was gonna be able to get TWO 12mm wrenches in that tight spot, just one was a little bit of a trick. So holding the adjuster nut (the one made onto the rod) while tightening the locknut was just not gonna happen.
But when you tighten the locknut, the rod is going to rotate with it a bit just as it tightens up, which in effect is screwing it back in slightly, shortening the rod.

Here's a trick for holding the rod in place; find a spot to grip it, wrap a cloth or a piece of rubber or something soft around it, then clamp down a small set of vice grips around it. The cloth or whatever you wind up using will protect the rod from getting chewed up by the teeth on the vice grips.



Oh that reminds me...next time I'm under the car, I'll lube the contact point between the slave and the fork...that seems like the most likely spot for wear.

Good idea. Go to your local auto parts store and look for for white lithium grease in a spray can. It's good stuff and a little bit goes a long way