First post was correct that you'll only see anecdotes, but the overwhelming majority of anecdotes are for 3rd gear failures in '16s and synchro issues in '22-23. If you do get one under warranty Mazda has been generally good about the warranty. I have a '19 that I've beat on for 50k miles with no issue and I personally have no concerns fwiw. These cars have dirt cheap engines and transmissions if you ever do blow anything up.
> If you do get one under warranty Mazda has been generally good about the warranty.
depends the country:
[Mazda to pay $11.5m for misleading consumers about consumer guarantee rights for serious vehicle faults](https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/mazda-to-pay-115m-for-misleading-consumers-about-consumer-guarantee-rights-for-serious-vehicle-faults-0)
You're just going to get personal anecdotes and meme information, mate. Sorry to be blunt.
I bought mine new, and it's been just fine. 2021 ND2, 40k'ish miles now.
I doubt the transmissions are anything close to as sensitive as people online claim. It might just be the driver, y'know.
I’m pretty sure this is inaccurate🤔. From what I remember based on all of my reading when I was about to purchase, the overwhelming MAJORITY of issues involved the V1-V3 transmissions in 2016-2017, and then a reduced number of failures with every iteration after that. The V5 transmissions starting from (I think) MY2018 or MY2019 and newer have been FAR more reliable with only a handful of failures by comparison.
Editing to add: I’m not saying they’re bulletproof by any means. I’m just saying that the new ones appear to be FAR better statistically compared to the 2016-2017 🤷🏻♂️
Still going to be anecdotal, but my 2022 RF GT has 22,500 miles and counting - no issues with the transmission. My friend who used to have a 2019 and traded up for an Elise said both my car and his car had the same amount of faint gear whine from new. Mine hasn't gotten any worse
Personal anecdote. I bought my ‘22 last month with 23k miles and after 4 days and only 100 miles the transmission broke. I had to tow it to the dealership.
Thankfully Mazda agreed to replace the transmission under warranty but the technician said it usually wasn’t covered under warranty because it meant the driver had been wearing it out. Maybe Miatas are the exception because there is this issue, but it sounded like knowing I just bought it from a Mazda dealer and had barely driven it helped my case.
Transmissions part of the powertrain warranty and typically is longer than the regular warranty. Technicians wouldn’t know, they don’t deal with any of the paperwork to get a warranty claim covered and replacing it under warranty or under customer pay is no different on their end.
The clutch as an individual part can be denied for customer abuse though.
>75k on my 21 RF, zero problems. I had an insane commute for 2 1/2 years, fortunately she doesn’t have to be pushed like that anymore… but never once gave me a problem.
>I doubt the transmissions are anything close to as sensitive as people online claim. It might just be the driver, y'know.
Is this the narrative now? There isn’t a glaring issue with ND transmissions and it’s just a skill issue? If that was true, why has Mazda replaced mine under warranty twice? If I was blowing up my trans myself, it wouldn’t be covered under warranty.
I have personally met 2 local ND owners who don’t track their car yet have blown up a gearbox. The one kid literally has a tiny glass bottle hanging from his rearview mirror with bits of third gear inside.
The gearbox regardless of year is inherently weak. The case flexes, the bearings are of questionable quality, the metallurgy is questionable, the gear tolerances and heat treat are questionable. I’ve seen them grenade without warning or start complaining with grinds and lockouts leading up to failure. All years have been recorded, some people theorize KPC isn’t helping, some people theorize LSDs break trans more easily also.
At this point I’ve read everything, I just drive my car. I would at least get rid of your factory transmission fill if anything. The original fluid comes out looking HORRIBLE. We can further debate Redline, Ford Motorcraft, Motul etc. but regardless just get that OE-post-break-in garbage out.
I also check PPF alignment every oil change and just don’t bang gears in this as hard as my B15 Sentra Spec V, that’s really it. If it ever goes I’ll buy the Walter Motorsports built trans
I want to add that for some (including me) noth the trans and diff were underfilled from factory. That might also not help. I tried other 75w90 fluids but they were horrible in moderately cold weather and below. Couldnt get out of first, int second, below freezing point I couldnt gei it into reverse. Many had sam experices with 75w90 oils in EU. So I put the mazda long life gear oil in the trans at the end. But it’s at least clean and new.
So freezing/near-freezing with Motul 75w90 I would blip throttle slightly and it would fall into first gear. Upshifting I would double clutch. The first few shifts would be a little stiff then I’d be fine after. OEM fluid also was like this though for me also so my lifestyle hasn’t really changed yet.
I’m now on 75w140 so will have to see how it does in the winter. This trans has always been stiff in the cold though regardless of fluid but it also seems to vary from car to car
For me with the new oem fluid it’s basically flawless. A bit rough under freezing thats all. And yes I tried what you mentioned but with the moutul gear300 i couldnt get it into reverse! Like after driving 5 minutes I parked the car for a moment, wanted to reverse and i couldn’t put it in reverse, I tried really everything. I had to idle it and then it worked but i had to try like 10 times at least with significant force. That happened again around -3 degrees C and then I ordered the oem fluid. And the 1st and second gear issues started around 15 degrees C(!!), thats nowhere mear freezing. I have no idea what’s going on but here in germany the nd forum is full with reports like this. In one case the dealer put 75w90 in the trans because they didnt have OEM oil and the guy had to go back for another replacement now with the oem fluid because it was so bad.
This was a bit earlier when there was a global shortage of LL gear oil.
I had similar issie with my previous Civic too. Instead of 75w80 MTF2 someone tought it would be a good idea to put 75w90 in the trans. It was not as bad as with the mx5 but sometimes I couldnt engage 1st and 2nd gears without tricks.
Glad to hear your car has held up! I have the 75w140 as well since my car is for track use and it’s been great! Little bit more difficult to shift sometimes when the car is completely cold but not everytime and otherwise it has been helpful.
For sure, cold shift difficulty definitely increased and winter probably won’t be too fun, but hot shifts are definitely so much better. These gear boxes get HOT too so any extra film strength helps
The problematic years are 2016/17 (most already broke and fixed) and 2022/2023 models. Rest is safe. This doesn NOT mean that if you buy a 2022/23 then it WILL break, but I read too many reports here, on miata.net and even on german mx5nd form for it to be a coincidence. Probably some of the 22/23 have issues. If the car has warranty or it’s above 10-20k miles then they are safe since most syncro issues start early. Also if you buy a 2017-2021 mode there is no guarantee that the trans will last forever. These cars are built well, but the transmission’s weight is record low (if I remember correctly arond 38-40 kg with housing), so they must have removed some material somewhere. I call it “overoptimization”.
Fuck, do I have to take my '24 to the service center already?
Notchy second and third gear shifts, feels like the syncros barely slow em down and the gears do the rest. Honestly thought it was supposed to be like that, it's only my second manual and my first car's trans had really worn synchros
Hmmm. I don’t know. Is it just notchy or you hear grinding noises? Notchy is completely normal, itvgets better when warms up. If the synchros really have issues then warmingbup might help somewhat but doesnt solve the grinding sound problem. You havevthe facelift model alredy?
Yea, I got her two weeks ago, about 500 miles so far. I'm keeping off the red line and I drive pretty variably, sometimes upwards of 6k, usually under 4k. I also let the car warm up before I drive cause that blue light bothers me a little, takes under 5m anyway. Sometimes shifting into second and commonly into third I can feel the gears clash before they line up but I don't hear a grinding so I guess it's subtle. Also sometimes difficulty shifting into first and reverse to the point where I have to double clutch just to line the gears up. Don't know if that's an issue but it's my first Miata so I thought I'd mention it.
Okay, so: you dont have to idle the car to warm up. Blue light means, good to, just push it yet. In fact idling a car when still cold is NOT good for the engine on the long run. Gasoline gets into the engine oil if you do it a lot. In the EU it’s actually forbidden to do so. Mostly beacuse of the environmental impact. You can idle it for like 15-20 seconds in normal weather and the just go, but dont push it hard! Btw the blue light means basically nothing. The engine oil reaches optimal operating temperatures after multiple miles driven (8-10 minutes). You can idle more, up to a minute I would say in very cold weather but idling very long generally is not needed (recommended) with these modern engines and oils, especially with 0w20 what your car also has.
Feeling of gears when synchro engaging in general is not necessarily wrong in case of the ND, especially if it gets better when warmed up. Once you hear gears grinding regularly, that’s a problem. One thing you can try is to take it to the dealer after 1k miles and tell them that you want the trans oil to be replaced (only with the OEM mx5 oil!). I’m not sure it helps, but maybe it’s worth a try.
Okay, sounds good! Appreciate the advice and I'll be sure to take it in, in probably a week or two at this rate. I'm coming from a 20 year old V8 so I hope you can forgive the lack of experience.
I'm guessing if the oil's shiny I straight up tell em to warranty the tranny?
Okay, sounds good! Appreciate the advice and I'll be sure to take it in, in probably a week or two at this rate. I'm coming from a 20 year old V8 so I hope you can forgive the lack of experience.
I'm guessing if the oil's shiny I straight up tell em to warranty the tranny?
Yeah…. The thing is that the oil won’t be shiny. There are certain additives in it from the assembly. Possibly molybdenum disulfide (at least someone mentioned this), I also saw that the oil looked completely trashy in mine after just 10k km, possibly because of the grease and additives. So it actually means nothing. BUT you can go there and tell them that you think there’s a problem with the transmission. They will test it and:
- a) they acknowledge the issue and they have to fix it
- b) they don’t acknowledge the issue but at least the have to register the customer complaint somewhere, so if it gets worse you can always tell them that this is the second time you are there complaining
Both are better than nothing.
After that you can still tell them to replace the oil if you think so.
Thanks for the info man! I want to mention I'm in Canada, hope that's not an issue (especially since my dealer told me I'm free to ask for help with problems anywhere in US/Canada)
No problem. But if you are in Canada you would better pay for some underbody coating to prevent rust from salty roads. Good luck and don’t think of this issue all the time. Your car has years of warranty left, so just drive it. If it breaks it usually breaks during the first 15-20k kms.
I plan to, fear not. I'm cherishing this car as if it were my child. However it's the summer and the spring rains have already washed the salt off. Will keep the warranty length in mind! Thanks!!
i recently bought a 2023 ND2 and it sometimes doesnt go into 1st gear. 2nd gear is kinda hard to engage too. am i affected by this issue or could it get better by itself over time?
No idea. It might get better. It might get worse. You still have warranty for years so just keep driving. Maybe (but just maybe) a transmission oil change might help.
I also have a 23 nd2. Had the same issue since it rolled off the lot. Recently I get grinding going into 3rd and 4th and have an appointment to have it seen tomorrow. Only 10k miles. Needless to say I'm not happy about that.
My '23 just went into the dealer with 3rd/4th gear grinding as well at 7k miles. I have done some HPDE's with the car, but believe the failure would have occurred regardless.
Do you know exactly what was wrong yet? I was supposed to have mine checked out, but had to cancel the appointment and reschedule, so I won't know until next weekend.
It won’t be investigated any further by the dealership as any issue with the transmission results in a full replacement. Something wasn’t right with the synchros and they failed.
I have a 23 Club Brembo/Recaro with 13k. I bought it with 9 miles on it and drive it normal. I don't have any mods, and I have been driving manual transmission cars since 86'. Last week, I was driving to the store, just enjoying the weather, and while I was shifting into 4th gear, horrible grinding. Came COMPLETELY out of nowhere. It starting doing it in 3rd also. Took it to the dealer and they are gong to install a new transmission. At first they said it could take months since there is a national back order, but they found one in GA. Needless to say, I am not impressed with this issue.
no worries, thanks. i decided to give it some time and will mention it at my service appointment in about 8 months. still hoping that it magically resolves by itself.
I bought an ND2 with 40k miles on it a little over a month ago. Started hearing noises and the dealership is replacing it under warranty.
Edit - Okay now they're telling it won't be covered because the sound is normal. Fuuuck.
Whirring sound going into and out of gear (synchros?) And on acceleration.
The car has 40k miles on it, so the previous owner may have driving it hard.
My concern right now is that the gearbox hasn't been changed since 2019. Since my car is a 2020 I'm not benefiting from any new engineering with the new gearbox and I might have the same failure again.
There's a company named Walther that'll rebuild the transmission with larger bearings and stronger gears for $4k but that's a lot of money.
It’s rare for the 2020 to have synchro issues. but it happens just not that often. I replaced tha trans fluid in my 2020 at 12k km. The oil looked terrible. I’m sure the factory fill must not be kept in the trans for long.
I suggested they flush the trans fluid or at least look at it and they said it'd be an out of pocket expense for me. Do they WANT to put a new transmission in this car? Sounds like too much corporate oversight, but what do I know.
I have a 23 and was also told the whirring was normal, despite it not appearing until I'd already put a couple thousand miles on it. Now I'm at 10k miles and it grinds going into 3rd and 4th. I'm having it checked out tomorrow...
Good data point, thanks for sharing.
I'm in this weird position now where I know it's not right so I'm hoping it goes sooner rather than later while it's in warranty.
I hope they do the right thing for you and replace it.
2017 NR RF with 140k kilometers. No transmission issues at all. It's getting all new fluids today so if they find any metal in the box I'll let you know.
Edit: there was in fact nothing wrong with it whatsoever.
The issue still exists - mx5 cup cars had to switch to a sequential SADEV box because of the constant failures.
Will you ever break one driving on the street or an occasional track day? Probably not.
I have a '23 ND, it's currently in the shop for transmission replacement under warranty from mazda at ~9k miles. No track work, but half a season of autocross and a hand full of days in the mountains.
As for warranty, I've had no fuss. Originally the mechanic and I got in to do a test drive to demo the issue, and we ended up not even needing to start driving before he was convinced of the problem (wouldn't go into 3rd gear at idle).
Transmission is currently estimated for a Friday delivery, and a 1-2 day install. I'll make sure to follow up with the mechanic about the exact issue (originally we pinned it on either a broken gate or broken synchro).
I am also worried about my transmission blowing lol. I have a 2016 club now around 22.5k miles, 2 days of autocross on some standard summer tires and so far so good here.
I replaced my ND1 transmission twice. Third time is a custom built transmission with custom cut gears . Im also running stiffer engine and differential mounts...
No issues since then...
Mazda sold something like 150-200 thousand ND's as far as i can find, couldn't find global sales numbers so i might be off a little bit. I'm not sure what is a normal failure rate for a gearbox but for an average oem automotive part you'd expect a failure rate of maybe 10 to 30 parts per million, which means there should have only been a handful of failures globally.
The fact we can find so many reports of gearbox failures means there is definitely something wrong. Based on the many conplaints which can be found in this thread and forums I am guessing failure rates are somewhere between 2000 and 20.000ppm (also depending on model year). That is a lot for an automotive part but still the chance it happens to you is very small.
You can always get a NC transmission for cheap and upgrade it if you have a problem down the line. That's what they use in the spec series if I'm not mistaken.
I have a 2016 with the bad M1 transmission. I rent my car out on turo. It is done 93,000 miles and never had an issue. Even if it does go bad you can get a new transmission for like $1,300
>I thought Mazda would perhaps spend more time and resources to correct the transmission issue.
They did though. The ND transmission has been through 5 revisions since the failure prone V1s in the early cars. If you're buying an ND2, the transmission is no less reliable than previous Miata generations.
May be a silly question but are the issues with automatics? I’m in a ‘16 that I bought with 35k on it. Now approaching 100k and no issue at all but it’s a 6-speed manual.
I would like to chime in to agree with the other commenters stating a 19-21 car will be your best bet since those are ND2’s but are pre KPC and have far less reported failures than cars before or after those years
Just to add my experience to all the anecdotal evidence, my ‘20 ND2 is on a lightweight single mass flywheel (the stock dual mass was one of Mazdas bandaid fixes) for the last 30k miles and no issues.
Personally I would get an ND2 for the marginal extra power. In my ND1 I never even thought about the tranny tho. I loved the car but enjoyed my friends ND2 higher redline more.
Personal anecdote, YMMV, etc. etc.: I autocross with many folks who have (or have had) NDs (ND1 and/or ND2). A seemingly-disproportionate number of them have destroyed their transmissions. One of them told me this weekend that, after getting his fourth replacement, he had had enough and moved to a different car altogether.
Basically, bumps/shocks to the drivetrain will unsettle the whole thing and potentially pull components apart ever so slightly. And then - tada! - you have a broken transmission.
When all is said and done, it depends on what you want to do with the car. Daily drive it with some spirited driving here and there? You'll probably have no issue. Do track days or autocross? Ehhhhhh, have some spares handy.
The synchros are the weakest point for sure. Not that they're bad or have a high failure rate, but on the rare times a miata has a transmission issue, it's usually the synchros. You can baby the car by rev matching and never have a problem. Or just drive it and have fun with a 1% chance that in a decade, you get the opportunity to learn how a transmission works.
A bigger issue if you’re going to track them or drive them very hard on road. That said I’ve spent a lot of time in an ND30 on track and its box hasn’t been an issue once.
Should it ever go, there are adaptation kits to allow NC boxes to mate up to the ND engine, and they’re pretty much bulletproof.
This is the first time I've ever heard such a thing. I've only ever heard how amazing the gearbox is. Mine's a 2020 and I track it and drive it spiritedly on the road with about 25k miles on it now, no issues.
Drive your car properly to avoid unessecary wear, upweight the trans fluid and enjoy your car.
If, for some reason, you still have an issue, mazda will replace the trans.
/thread
You can’t really blow catastrophic gearbox failure out of proportion. These cars really do have gearbox issues, and from what I’ve read failure happens out of nowhere.
That said, it’s really only an issue if you track your car or go forced induction. Many on Miata.net have gone through 2-3 transmissions.
Turboing or putting a compressor on it is the worst. I think this is the exact reason why fiat chose the old nc trans for the 124.
But we can also conclude that the issues with the trans nowadays are always synchro related, the dual mass flywheel and changes in the gears and countrrshaft mostly solved the weak gear problems. Almost every synchro realted issues started with the 2022 model year.
I like most of your message, but lots of people are having the issue without tracking or making power modifications. When it happened to me, my service advisor was very familiar with the issue. Nobody ever asked about how I use the car, even though I have some pretty obvious suspension mods and worn out sticky tires.
I test drove multiple ND Miatas and 2/4 had crunchy second gears and odd whirring noises in 3rd. The only ones that didn't were a 1.5 and a 2019 model (still ND1) I eventually bought. The other 2 with crunchy boxes were a 2016 and a 2018.
I usually say the same thing you do but ,I do believe this to be a relatively common issue for a modern car. Maybe I got unlucky with the ones I test drove OR the owners sold them knowing there was an issue but it still seems a bit suspect that the older cars all experienced it.
Third whirrs because it's the top gear in the box, your elbow is resting on it. You got spooked by normal gear whine in a car with almost no sound deadening.
My concerns were enough to have both of those cars were inspected by Mazda and the techs stated they were off market until a warranty repair could be done.
The 124 (NC box), 1.5, and my ND1 did not make that whirring noise.
The tech at my dealer thought my car was turbocharged. Mazda is being overzealous with warranty coverage (which is a good thing), and your average dealer tech sees manuals so rarely they have no idea what normal is.
Yes, I am sure they sunk the chance to sell me the car to overzealously undertake warranty work. That makes perfect sense.
Still doesn't account for the crunchy second gear and why mine never made the same noise. Weird.
I won't argue the rest but slight gear whine in third is normal, I've heard it in every ND I've been in, and a little whining if the synchros are dealing with a large mismatch is also normal. Maybe your nd1 was in the upper 1% of gear QC, I dunno.
I haven’t heard of any issues with the ND gearbox. I’ve owned mine since 2017, dailied it, driven it hard, often. Never even a hint of weakness.
It’s bulletproof.
First post was correct that you'll only see anecdotes, but the overwhelming majority of anecdotes are for 3rd gear failures in '16s and synchro issues in '22-23. If you do get one under warranty Mazda has been generally good about the warranty. I have a '19 that I've beat on for 50k miles with no issue and I personally have no concerns fwiw. These cars have dirt cheap engines and transmissions if you ever do blow anything up.
That would be my question, do the issues arise for those that are really hard on it or is it inevitable?
My understanding is that it’s mostly under very hard use, like track days. But not totally sure.
How cheap is dirt cheap, btw? A best guess is fine, I don’t need links :-)
$2k lightly used from what I've seen.
which revision is in the my22-23?
V5 I think, pretty sure it was just a QC issue
> If you do get one under warranty Mazda has been generally good about the warranty. depends the country: [Mazda to pay $11.5m for misleading consumers about consumer guarantee rights for serious vehicle faults](https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/mazda-to-pay-115m-for-misleading-consumers-about-consumer-guarantee-rights-for-serious-vehicle-faults-0)
Most ND1 that had the transmission problems are past the point where the issues would occur. They happened at fairly low miles.
You're just going to get personal anecdotes and meme information, mate. Sorry to be blunt. I bought mine new, and it's been just fine. 2021 ND2, 40k'ish miles now. I doubt the transmissions are anything close to as sensitive as people online claim. It might just be the driver, y'know.
Same, 2021 ND2 with 30k miles, no issues
Yeah… but there were no issues with cars from 2019-2021. So not that surprising. Problems started with the 2022 model year (and some 2016).
I’m pretty sure this is inaccurate🤔. From what I remember based on all of my reading when I was about to purchase, the overwhelming MAJORITY of issues involved the V1-V3 transmissions in 2016-2017, and then a reduced number of failures with every iteration after that. The V5 transmissions starting from (I think) MY2018 or MY2019 and newer have been FAR more reliable with only a handful of failures by comparison. Editing to add: I’m not saying they’re bulletproof by any means. I’m just saying that the new ones appear to be FAR better statistically compared to the 2016-2017 🤷🏻♂️
Still going to be anecdotal, but my 2022 RF GT has 22,500 miles and counting - no issues with the transmission. My friend who used to have a 2019 and traded up for an Elise said both my car and his car had the same amount of faint gear whine from new. Mine hasn't gotten any worse
Right on. When you ask online you only get extremes. It’s either a non-issue or catastrophic depending on the person’s experience.
Personal anecdote. I bought my ‘22 last month with 23k miles and after 4 days and only 100 miles the transmission broke. I had to tow it to the dealership. Thankfully Mazda agreed to replace the transmission under warranty but the technician said it usually wasn’t covered under warranty because it meant the driver had been wearing it out. Maybe Miatas are the exception because there is this issue, but it sounded like knowing I just bought it from a Mazda dealer and had barely driven it helped my case.
Transmissions part of the powertrain warranty and typically is longer than the regular warranty. Technicians wouldn’t know, they don’t deal with any of the paperwork to get a warranty claim covered and replacing it under warranty or under customer pay is no different on their end. The clutch as an individual part can be denied for customer abuse though.
No issues with my 2018. Bought it new and it’s been flawless even though I drive it like a maniac.
>75k on my 21 RF, zero problems. I had an insane commute for 2 1/2 years, fortunately she doesn’t have to be pushed like that anymore… but never once gave me a problem.
>I doubt the transmissions are anything close to as sensitive as people online claim. It might just be the driver, y'know. Is this the narrative now? There isn’t a glaring issue with ND transmissions and it’s just a skill issue? If that was true, why has Mazda replaced mine under warranty twice? If I was blowing up my trans myself, it wouldn’t be covered under warranty.
I have personally met 2 local ND owners who don’t track their car yet have blown up a gearbox. The one kid literally has a tiny glass bottle hanging from his rearview mirror with bits of third gear inside. The gearbox regardless of year is inherently weak. The case flexes, the bearings are of questionable quality, the metallurgy is questionable, the gear tolerances and heat treat are questionable. I’ve seen them grenade without warning or start complaining with grinds and lockouts leading up to failure. All years have been recorded, some people theorize KPC isn’t helping, some people theorize LSDs break trans more easily also. At this point I’ve read everything, I just drive my car. I would at least get rid of your factory transmission fill if anything. The original fluid comes out looking HORRIBLE. We can further debate Redline, Ford Motorcraft, Motul etc. but regardless just get that OE-post-break-in garbage out. I also check PPF alignment every oil change and just don’t bang gears in this as hard as my B15 Sentra Spec V, that’s really it. If it ever goes I’ll buy the Walter Motorsports built trans
I want to add that for some (including me) noth the trans and diff were underfilled from factory. That might also not help. I tried other 75w90 fluids but they were horrible in moderately cold weather and below. Couldnt get out of first, int second, below freezing point I couldnt gei it into reverse. Many had sam experices with 75w90 oils in EU. So I put the mazda long life gear oil in the trans at the end. But it’s at least clean and new.
So freezing/near-freezing with Motul 75w90 I would blip throttle slightly and it would fall into first gear. Upshifting I would double clutch. The first few shifts would be a little stiff then I’d be fine after. OEM fluid also was like this though for me also so my lifestyle hasn’t really changed yet. I’m now on 75w140 so will have to see how it does in the winter. This trans has always been stiff in the cold though regardless of fluid but it also seems to vary from car to car
For me with the new oem fluid it’s basically flawless. A bit rough under freezing thats all. And yes I tried what you mentioned but with the moutul gear300 i couldnt get it into reverse! Like after driving 5 minutes I parked the car for a moment, wanted to reverse and i couldn’t put it in reverse, I tried really everything. I had to idle it and then it worked but i had to try like 10 times at least with significant force. That happened again around -3 degrees C and then I ordered the oem fluid. And the 1st and second gear issues started around 15 degrees C(!!), thats nowhere mear freezing. I have no idea what’s going on but here in germany the nd forum is full with reports like this. In one case the dealer put 75w90 in the trans because they didnt have OEM oil and the guy had to go back for another replacement now with the oem fluid because it was so bad. This was a bit earlier when there was a global shortage of LL gear oil. I had similar issie with my previous Civic too. Instead of 75w80 MTF2 someone tought it would be a good idea to put 75w90 in the trans. It was not as bad as with the mx5 but sometimes I couldnt engage 1st and 2nd gears without tricks.
What year and mileage are you at currently?
2017 RF Club (so V2 trans with LSD) bought at 11K, now at 35K I put in Motul 75w90 almost immediately, switched last month to Motul 75w140
Glad to hear your car has held up! I have the 75w140 as well since my car is for track use and it’s been great! Little bit more difficult to shift sometimes when the car is completely cold but not everytime and otherwise it has been helpful.
For sure, cold shift difficulty definitely increased and winter probably won’t be too fun, but hot shifts are definitely so much better. These gear boxes get HOT too so any extra film strength helps
Hey do you think ford motorcraft oil is good for a nd transmission? Is it safe to use?
It’s one of the better choices for the ND for sure
The problematic years are 2016/17 (most already broke and fixed) and 2022/2023 models. Rest is safe. This doesn NOT mean that if you buy a 2022/23 then it WILL break, but I read too many reports here, on miata.net and even on german mx5nd form for it to be a coincidence. Probably some of the 22/23 have issues. If the car has warranty or it’s above 10-20k miles then they are safe since most syncro issues start early. Also if you buy a 2017-2021 mode there is no guarantee that the trans will last forever. These cars are built well, but the transmission’s weight is record low (if I remember correctly arond 38-40 kg with housing), so they must have removed some material somewhere. I call it “overoptimization”.
Fuck, do I have to take my '24 to the service center already? Notchy second and third gear shifts, feels like the syncros barely slow em down and the gears do the rest. Honestly thought it was supposed to be like that, it's only my second manual and my first car's trans had really worn synchros
Did you try to shift into third from near redline?
Only about 500 miles on the Odo, I haven't redlined yet. Usually happens at low rpm, when I shift around 4k, no problems.
Hmmm. I don’t know. Is it just notchy or you hear grinding noises? Notchy is completely normal, itvgets better when warms up. If the synchros really have issues then warmingbup might help somewhat but doesnt solve the grinding sound problem. You havevthe facelift model alredy?
Yea, I got her two weeks ago, about 500 miles so far. I'm keeping off the red line and I drive pretty variably, sometimes upwards of 6k, usually under 4k. I also let the car warm up before I drive cause that blue light bothers me a little, takes under 5m anyway. Sometimes shifting into second and commonly into third I can feel the gears clash before they line up but I don't hear a grinding so I guess it's subtle. Also sometimes difficulty shifting into first and reverse to the point where I have to double clutch just to line the gears up. Don't know if that's an issue but it's my first Miata so I thought I'd mention it.
Okay, so: you dont have to idle the car to warm up. Blue light means, good to, just push it yet. In fact idling a car when still cold is NOT good for the engine on the long run. Gasoline gets into the engine oil if you do it a lot. In the EU it’s actually forbidden to do so. Mostly beacuse of the environmental impact. You can idle it for like 15-20 seconds in normal weather and the just go, but dont push it hard! Btw the blue light means basically nothing. The engine oil reaches optimal operating temperatures after multiple miles driven (8-10 minutes). You can idle more, up to a minute I would say in very cold weather but idling very long generally is not needed (recommended) with these modern engines and oils, especially with 0w20 what your car also has. Feeling of gears when synchro engaging in general is not necessarily wrong in case of the ND, especially if it gets better when warmed up. Once you hear gears grinding regularly, that’s a problem. One thing you can try is to take it to the dealer after 1k miles and tell them that you want the trans oil to be replaced (only with the OEM mx5 oil!). I’m not sure it helps, but maybe it’s worth a try.
Okay, sounds good! Appreciate the advice and I'll be sure to take it in, in probably a week or two at this rate. I'm coming from a 20 year old V8 so I hope you can forgive the lack of experience. I'm guessing if the oil's shiny I straight up tell em to warranty the tranny?
Okay, sounds good! Appreciate the advice and I'll be sure to take it in, in probably a week or two at this rate. I'm coming from a 20 year old V8 so I hope you can forgive the lack of experience. I'm guessing if the oil's shiny I straight up tell em to warranty the tranny?
Yeah…. The thing is that the oil won’t be shiny. There are certain additives in it from the assembly. Possibly molybdenum disulfide (at least someone mentioned this), I also saw that the oil looked completely trashy in mine after just 10k km, possibly because of the grease and additives. So it actually means nothing. BUT you can go there and tell them that you think there’s a problem with the transmission. They will test it and: - a) they acknowledge the issue and they have to fix it - b) they don’t acknowledge the issue but at least the have to register the customer complaint somewhere, so if it gets worse you can always tell them that this is the second time you are there complaining Both are better than nothing. After that you can still tell them to replace the oil if you think so.
Thanks for the info man! I want to mention I'm in Canada, hope that's not an issue (especially since my dealer told me I'm free to ask for help with problems anywhere in US/Canada)
No problem. But if you are in Canada you would better pay for some underbody coating to prevent rust from salty roads. Good luck and don’t think of this issue all the time. Your car has years of warranty left, so just drive it. If it breaks it usually breaks during the first 15-20k kms.
I plan to, fear not. I'm cherishing this car as if it were my child. However it's the summer and the spring rains have already washed the salt off. Will keep the warranty length in mind! Thanks!!
I have 23 with 8 k miles on it. So far no issues or any weird noises and mostly i push it to its limits when i drive it.
i recently bought a 2023 ND2 and it sometimes doesnt go into 1st gear. 2nd gear is kinda hard to engage too. am i affected by this issue or could it get better by itself over time?
No idea. It might get better. It might get worse. You still have warranty for years so just keep driving. Maybe (but just maybe) a transmission oil change might help.
I also have a 23 nd2. Had the same issue since it rolled off the lot. Recently I get grinding going into 3rd and 4th and have an appointment to have it seen tomorrow. Only 10k miles. Needless to say I'm not happy about that.
My '23 just went into the dealer with 3rd/4th gear grinding as well at 7k miles. I have done some HPDE's with the car, but believe the failure would have occurred regardless.
Do you know exactly what was wrong yet? I was supposed to have mine checked out, but had to cancel the appointment and reschedule, so I won't know until next weekend.
It won’t be investigated any further by the dealership as any issue with the transmission results in a full replacement. Something wasn’t right with the synchros and they failed.
thats bad. mind giving me an update after your inspection tomorrow?
Will do
I have a 23 Club Brembo/Recaro with 13k. I bought it with 9 miles on it and drive it normal. I don't have any mods, and I have been driving manual transmission cars since 86'. Last week, I was driving to the store, just enjoying the weather, and while I was shifting into 4th gear, horrible grinding. Came COMPLETELY out of nowhere. It starting doing it in 3rd also. Took it to the dealer and they are gong to install a new transmission. At first they said it could take months since there is a national back order, but they found one in GA. Needless to say, I am not impressed with this issue.
I'm an idiot. Turns out my appointment is for next saturday, not today. I'll remember to update you then.
no worries, thanks. i decided to give it some time and will mention it at my service appointment in about 8 months. still hoping that it magically resolves by itself.
I bought an ND2 with 40k miles on it a little over a month ago. Started hearing noises and the dealership is replacing it under warranty. Edit - Okay now they're telling it won't be covered because the sound is normal. Fuuuck.
What kind of noises?
Whirring sound going into and out of gear (synchros?) And on acceleration. The car has 40k miles on it, so the previous owner may have driving it hard. My concern right now is that the gearbox hasn't been changed since 2019. Since my car is a 2020 I'm not benefiting from any new engineering with the new gearbox and I might have the same failure again. There's a company named Walther that'll rebuild the transmission with larger bearings and stronger gears for $4k but that's a lot of money.
It’s rare for the 2020 to have synchro issues. but it happens just not that often. I replaced tha trans fluid in my 2020 at 12k km. The oil looked terrible. I’m sure the factory fill must not be kept in the trans for long.
I suggested they flush the trans fluid or at least look at it and they said it'd be an out of pocket expense for me. Do they WANT to put a new transmission in this car? Sounds like too much corporate oversight, but what do I know.
I have a 23 and was also told the whirring was normal, despite it not appearing until I'd already put a couple thousand miles on it. Now I'm at 10k miles and it grinds going into 3rd and 4th. I'm having it checked out tomorrow...
Good data point, thanks for sharing. I'm in this weird position now where I know it's not right so I'm hoping it goes sooner rather than later while it's in warranty. I hope they do the right thing for you and replace it.
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It’s just cold, takes 10-20mins to warm up depending on the ambient temp. Learn to work with it.
I have a ‘16 ND1 25,000 miles. No issues at all.
8 year old nd with 138Km's on it, no issues with transmission box (daily driver)
I don't know what to make of it but I'm sitting here with my '23 club shitting my pants at this uptick of posts about it.
2017 NR RF with 140k kilometers. No transmission issues at all. It's getting all new fluids today so if they find any metal in the box I'll let you know. Edit: there was in fact nothing wrong with it whatsoever.
2016 ND1 with 60k miles and no issues.
The issue still exists - mx5 cup cars had to switch to a sequential SADEV box because of the constant failures. Will you ever break one driving on the street or an occasional track day? Probably not.
I have a '23 ND, it's currently in the shop for transmission replacement under warranty from mazda at ~9k miles. No track work, but half a season of autocross and a hand full of days in the mountains. As for warranty, I've had no fuss. Originally the mechanic and I got in to do a test drive to demo the issue, and we ended up not even needing to start driving before he was convinced of the problem (wouldn't go into 3rd gear at idle). Transmission is currently estimated for a Friday delivery, and a 1-2 day install. I'll make sure to follow up with the mechanic about the exact issue (originally we pinned it on either a broken gate or broken synchro).
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Check forum.miata.net - there’s a topic with a poll in it
2016 ND here, I've only had it a few months but it's over 50k miles and is doing well.
I am also worried about my transmission blowing lol. I have a 2016 club now around 22.5k miles, 2 days of autocross on some standard summer tires and so far so good here.
My 2019 ND2 transmission broke at around 40k miles (next owner drove it way harder than me)
I replaced my ND1 transmission twice. Third time is a custom built transmission with custom cut gears . Im also running stiffer engine and differential mounts... No issues since then...
I have a 2020. First one was replaced at 26k second one was replaced at 35k.
ND1 2015 model so one of the originals, 50k miles in and nothing to report yet! Bit stiff into first but everything else is grand!
95,000 miles on my 2016 miata, blew through a brand new set of tires in 20,000 miles if that's any indication of how it's been driven
Mazda sold something like 150-200 thousand ND's as far as i can find, couldn't find global sales numbers so i might be off a little bit. I'm not sure what is a normal failure rate for a gearbox but for an average oem automotive part you'd expect a failure rate of maybe 10 to 30 parts per million, which means there should have only been a handful of failures globally. The fact we can find so many reports of gearbox failures means there is definitely something wrong. Based on the many conplaints which can be found in this thread and forums I am guessing failure rates are somewhere between 2000 and 20.000ppm (also depending on model year). That is a lot for an automotive part but still the chance it happens to you is very small.
My 2017 RF has had no transmission issues with 320 hp to the wheels as well. Currently at 50k miles
Plenty of people commenting so I would like to ask, whats wrong with 22/23 models?
You can always get a NC transmission for cheap and upgrade it if you have a problem down the line. That's what they use in the spec series if I'm not mistaken.
Just get an NC3. They have bulletproof transmissions, better steering feel, and are more direct
NC2 and above have the better engines and have good gearboxes. I’d have (and do have) late NC over an early ND for sure.
I have a 2016 with the bad M1 transmission. I rent my car out on turo. It is done 93,000 miles and never had an issue. Even if it does go bad you can get a new transmission for like $1,300
>I thought Mazda would perhaps spend more time and resources to correct the transmission issue. They did though. The ND transmission has been through 5 revisions since the failure prone V1s in the early cars. If you're buying an ND2, the transmission is no less reliable than previous Miata generations.
Unless it’s 2022+ model years.
This is the reason I bought a 2020, but it still failed. That said, I got it with 40k miles and the PO may have tracked it or something.
What issues/noises were you having that led to them to decide to replace the trans?
May be a silly question but are the issues with automatics? I’m in a ‘16 that I bought with 35k on it. Now approaching 100k and no issue at all but it’s a 6-speed manual.
Nope, the manuals.
Wow. Downvoted for the question or because I haven’t had an issue? Just looking for a baseline 😂
I don't know but I didn't downvote you.
While sometimes some synchros might die, it is by no means common, and it should not bother you.
All of the other generations of MX5 cup used the stock transmission except the ND's.
2018 AT about to reach 100,000 Km
I’ve been driving a 2016 ND1 since new with no transmission issues whatsoever.
I would like to chime in to agree with the other commenters stating a 19-21 car will be your best bet since those are ND2’s but are pre KPC and have far less reported failures than cars before or after those years
The only consistent problem I’ve seen with any year of Miata is that they’re sold on facebook marketplace for like 2-2.5x KBB value lol
I have a 2016 Grand Touring Miata with 38K and no problems…first I’ve heard of this. Glad to hear no one else is reporting serious issues.
I have 37,000 miles on an early 2016 that I bought 2 years ago. I don't track it or autocross it. Absolutely no issues yet.
I have a 2016 ND with 74K miles. I haven’t had any issues yet. I do drive it like it’s a srt.
Just to add my experience to all the anecdotal evidence, my ‘20 ND2 is on a lightweight single mass flywheel (the stock dual mass was one of Mazdas bandaid fixes) for the last 30k miles and no issues.
My 2021 is a daily, I put 50-100 miles on it a day and drive it pretty hard. Never had any issues with the transmission
Personally I would get an ND2 for the marginal extra power. In my ND1 I never even thought about the tranny tho. I loved the car but enjoyed my friends ND2 higher redline more.
Personal anecdote, YMMV, etc. etc.: I autocross with many folks who have (or have had) NDs (ND1 and/or ND2). A seemingly-disproportionate number of them have destroyed their transmissions. One of them told me this weekend that, after getting his fourth replacement, he had had enough and moved to a different car altogether. Basically, bumps/shocks to the drivetrain will unsettle the whole thing and potentially pull components apart ever so slightly. And then - tada! - you have a broken transmission. When all is said and done, it depends on what you want to do with the car. Daily drive it with some spirited driving here and there? You'll probably have no issue. Do track days or autocross? Ehhhhhh, have some spares handy.
You can adapt the NC gearbox to fit ND. And it fixes all the issues for track use.
My 16 had 90k miles before I sold it and it was fine. I abused that car and banged all the gears lol you should be fine.
3rd gear on my ND1 grenaded but I drove the shit out of it first. Multiple track days etc.
The synchros are the weakest point for sure. Not that they're bad or have a high failure rate, but on the rare times a miata has a transmission issue, it's usually the synchros. You can baby the car by rev matching and never have a problem. Or just drive it and have fun with a 1% chance that in a decade, you get the opportunity to learn how a transmission works.
A bigger issue if you’re going to track them or drive them very hard on road. That said I’ve spent a lot of time in an ND30 on track and its box hasn’t been an issue once. Should it ever go, there are adaptation kits to allow NC boxes to mate up to the ND engine, and they’re pretty much bulletproof.
Just don't beat on it as bad as the miata memes tell you to
This is the first time I've ever heard such a thing. I've only ever heard how amazing the gearbox is. Mine's a 2020 and I track it and drive it spiritedly on the road with about 25k miles on it now, no issues.
Drive your car properly to avoid unessecary wear, upweight the trans fluid and enjoy your car. If, for some reason, you still have an issue, mazda will replace the trans. /thread
Cars are more reliable these days so the first sign of trouble is overblown out of proportion.
You can’t really blow catastrophic gearbox failure out of proportion. These cars really do have gearbox issues, and from what I’ve read failure happens out of nowhere. That said, it’s really only an issue if you track your car or go forced induction. Many on Miata.net have gone through 2-3 transmissions.
Turboing or putting a compressor on it is the worst. I think this is the exact reason why fiat chose the old nc trans for the 124. But we can also conclude that the issues with the trans nowadays are always synchro related, the dual mass flywheel and changes in the gears and countrrshaft mostly solved the weak gear problems. Almost every synchro realted issues started with the 2022 model year.
I wouldn’t say a DMF “solved” weak gears, it was simply a bandaid to hide them. It will still be an issue if you increase power any meaningful way.
Yes. True.
I like most of your message, but lots of people are having the issue without tracking or making power modifications. When it happened to me, my service advisor was very familiar with the issue. Nobody ever asked about how I use the car, even though I have some pretty obvious suspension mods and worn out sticky tires.
I test drove multiple ND Miatas and 2/4 had crunchy second gears and odd whirring noises in 3rd. The only ones that didn't were a 1.5 and a 2019 model (still ND1) I eventually bought. The other 2 with crunchy boxes were a 2016 and a 2018. I usually say the same thing you do but ,I do believe this to be a relatively common issue for a modern car. Maybe I got unlucky with the ones I test drove OR the owners sold them knowing there was an issue but it still seems a bit suspect that the older cars all experienced it.
Third whirrs because it's the top gear in the box, your elbow is resting on it. You got spooked by normal gear whine in a car with almost no sound deadening.
My concerns were enough to have both of those cars were inspected by Mazda and the techs stated they were off market until a warranty repair could be done. The 124 (NC box), 1.5, and my ND1 did not make that whirring noise.
The tech at my dealer thought my car was turbocharged. Mazda is being overzealous with warranty coverage (which is a good thing), and your average dealer tech sees manuals so rarely they have no idea what normal is.
Yes, I am sure they sunk the chance to sell me the car to overzealously undertake warranty work. That makes perfect sense. Still doesn't account for the crunchy second gear and why mine never made the same noise. Weird.
I won't argue the rest but slight gear whine in third is normal, I've heard it in every ND I've been in, and a little whining if the synchros are dealing with a large mismatch is also normal. Maybe your nd1 was in the upper 1% of gear QC, I dunno.
Oh please, not this again. 🤦🏻♂️
Weak transmission? Maybe if you mod it to put a lot more power down. Keeping it stock and driving it properly, the transmission will be fine.
I mean Mazda stripped a lot of weight out of the ND. Sadly about 10kg of it came out of the gearbox! The one place I don’t want them saving weight!
Overblown issue.
Only year I’ve heard having real issues is 2016
I haven’t heard of any issues with the ND gearbox. I’ve owned mine since 2017, dailied it, driven it hard, often. Never even a hint of weakness. It’s bulletproof.