Slug's Genpu Newb Chronicle

Good thread, and I appreciate that you've done a ton of research. Nothing like bein' well-informed.

I didn't notice if it was mentioned, but another consideration regarding motor mounts is power level. If you decide to do the simple AP + internals, intake, test pipe, RMM, with ethanol (bang-for-the-buck combo) one day, you should easily hit 300/350 @ the wheels (up from ~230/260 @ the wheels stock). IMHO, this is a big enough power difference that you may want more than just a RMM. Sounds like you want to maintain the warranty coverage for now though, so just a thought with an eye toward the future.

I will say that at ~385/380, I'm very happy to be fully Damond mounted. I've had other mounts before, but I think this is the best combo in terms of a very solid performance bias while still retaining a modicum of DD-liveability. My balance shafts are intact too, because going to that level is just too much for me.

Also, bear in mind that durometer is just a measure of the material's hardness, and though related to amount of NVH is only one of many influential factors. The size of the bushing itself, and particularly the geometry of the mount's design can have a far greater impact on NVH. It is err to say, for instance, that an 88d would transmit more NVH than a 75 unless the ONLY variable is the bushing material itself. That's one of the reasons I like the DM mounts so much. They limit movement very well, but transmit less NVH than comparable mounts due to their design.

TL;DR just things to keep in mind regarding mounts if you ever want to start pushing your power level, which most folks end up doing in the end, LOL
 
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Update regarding the RMM install. I now have a metallic sounding rattle that seems to be coming from right in front of the drivers side firewall being transmitted into the cabin only on deceleration in 1st and 2nd gear.

No metallic rattle in 3rd thru 6th gear. It sounds like the RMM is transmitting some new gear noise and the rattle goes away immediately when I push in the clutch (vibes cut out too though). I will be trying to capture the sound. Didn't transmit with the stock RMM in. Nor did I notice this rattle when I first installed a new CP-e stage 2 to try it out a month ago.

I've already re-checked the torque of the bolts. Install still looks good.
 
I have similar goals with my '13 (mostly DD, with some long trips thrown in), and I found the Damond to have more NVH than CP-e stage 2, even new. I went Damond RMM, then added the CS insert to TMM and Damond PMM. Too much vibes (and even more importantly cabin noise), so I switched to CP-e stage 2 RMM. And I'm about to go to CP-e 60 duro PMM. I believe the CS TMM + cp-e 60 PMM + cp-e s2 RMM will suit my needs perfectly.

For a while I used a heavy brass shift knob (by happenstance) and while it made shifts seem smooth, I am much happier and more accurate with the CS leather knob (I miss 3rd almost never since getting rid of the heavy knob). Since going lighter there made me happier, I'm also going to play with lighter shift weights. I run the Damond SSP and it's excellent; I greatly prefer the car with it.

All the flow/power mods I plan to do are going on the car next weekend (see sig). We'll see how it goes.
 
Yesterday after rolling into the garage in first gear, coming to a stop, placing the car in neutral, the transmission gears began knocking/clacking. I quickly pushed the clutch back in and, what sounded like gear knock, went away.

It seems when pushing the clutch in to take it out of 1st gear, something wasn't fully disengaged.

I've been having finicky issues with this car's transmission since day one. The shifting performance seems incredibly unstable. Now this. The drive to work this morning was knotchy and with loud gear clangy/grindy shifts.

The car will be going to the dealer today. :(
 
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Ugh, sucks man. I hope they can work it out for you. My trans has never been as buttery smooth as all the Hondas and Acuras my family has had (no surprise, this one has to actually handle some torque LOL), but I have not had that level of problems. Usually nothing that couldn't be worked out with a cable adjustment. I have the FoMoCo fluid and I'm not really impressed so I'm going to the Red Line in 10k miles. Luckily I've had this car since close to new (the listing said 7 miles on it, it had 12 when I called and reserved it) so at least I know it hasn't been reefed on by someone with no clue how to drive a manual.
 
I have the occasional chattery clutch after I drive.... I always though that was normal [emoji30]


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Clutch out gear whine/chatter is totally normal for me. 67k miles on my Pu. FoMoCo in the tranny. I really started noticing the noise when I became fully mounted; it was always there, just not nearly as noticeable on stock mounts. No issues.
 
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When I added my DM RMM... My tranny started making all kinda noises lol... Whine on load got loader... Clutch out chatter got louder... I think that's all normal...


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dom said:
When I added my DM RMM... My tranny started making all kinda noises lol... Whine on load got loader... Clutch out chatter got louder... I think that's all normal...


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For sure, and adding the PMM and especially the TMM, even more so. I have the DM full set, which are very solid and quieter than some other options, but you can definitely hear a good deal more when soft rubber is replaced with solid polyurethane, haha.
 
On my car the DM RMM didn't really do so that much. But then with DM PMM on top of it, holy crap, racecar.
 
Yeah I didn't notice an increase in noise either until I added an aftermarket PMM.
 
Did you guy notice an increase in engine noise then?? I know my tranny definitely got louder as well as engine nose..: but I do have a race pipe so that could be what I'm hearing also..


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dom said:
Did you guy notice an increase in engine noise then?? I know my tranny definitely got louder as well as engine nose..: but I do have a race pipe so that could be what I'm hearing also..


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NVH all increases, in general. A race pipe would just make the exhaust sound louder/boomier.
 
John said:
Ugh, sucks man. I hope they can work it out for you. My trans has never been as buttery smooth as all the Hondas and Acuras my family has had (no surprise, this one has to actually handle some torque LOL), but I have not had that level of problems. Usually nothing that couldn't be worked out with a cable adjustment. I have the FoMoCo fluid and I'm not really impressed so I'm going to the Red Line in 10k miles. Luckily I've had this car since close to new (the listing said 7 miles on it, it had 12 when I called and reserved it) so at least I know it hasn't been reefed on by someone with no clue how to drive a manual.
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I've been using the Redline MTL for about a month and a half. It helped. But its hard to say how much because I've been having up and down improvements over the same period and now the more serious problem on Sunday.

I went into this car knowing its transmission was rough, but not this rough. I've been trying to figure it out since day one. But given the recent experience, I'd say mine has some underlying issue thats been causing issues for me since I purchased it.

Its already been back to the dealer 4 times in 2 months of ownership. The previous owner was a Mazda Corporate guy who was apparently a "race consultant." They assured me he didn't mod or beat on the car, hence the used car certification and they stated he got all service done at the dealer I bought it. However, based on the issues, first with suspension and ongoing with the transmission, it appears he probably tracked it or something related.

Thats just the risk we take buying used. Luckily the car is under the full certified used car warranty still and if its non-clutch related, they will cover the transmission rebuild under warranty. Although, my normal service writer wasn't there when I dropped it off and the dude that wrote me up was a total douche and pretty much blaming me from the get go. I was like "really dude, I've had this car for two months and complained about transmission issues since I picked it up. Its in your records" He didn't even want to put me in a rental to get me back to work. I had to argue with him.

Hopefully when my service writer comes back, she'll take good care of me (she's actually the assistant service manager).

I'll keep the thread updated. They will be taking a look sometime today. I'm sure the first response will be "its normal, we cannot duplicate the neutral gear knock issue, come pick it up" and I'll be out $130 for the "diagnosis" time.
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dom said:
I have the occasional chattery clutch after I drive.... I always though that was normal [emoji30]


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This was not chattery clutch noise. This was LOUD gear clacking. Heard in the cabin and outside the car it was incredibly loud (I had my windows down). I've heard the car's normal clutch chatter, its audible but not this bad.
[doublepost=1458657357][/doublepost]I should have noted also that my used CP-e RMM that I installed last week was uninstalled when this happened. I was on stock mounts again over the weekend. I had stocked out mid week last week and sold the RMM again.
 
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1. Find a new dealership to work with.
2. Does the transmission make the noise with all stock mounts?
3. When you installed the aftermarket mount did you ensure the engine position didn't shift to the left or right / the engine isn't sitting cockeyed?
 
neganox said:
1. Find a new dealership to work with.
2. Does the transmission make the noise with all stock mounts?
3. When you installed the aftermarket mount did you ensure the engine position didn't shift to the left or right / the engine isn't sitting cockeyed?
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1.) They are the only "speed certified" (not sure this means much of anything, but in any case...) dealer close to me and my job. Its convenient and my usual service writer is awesome. She has taken great care of me (her and her boyfriend also both own speeds). So, I'm not that concerned. I'll just avoid dealing with the tightly wound old codger.
2.) Yes.
3.)Yes. I've installed/uninstalled the mount more than 6 times. The last time, I ensured the vehicle was completely level. Every screw bore lined up perfectly without having to push on the transmission bell housing to align them with the mount. It was my easiest install yet. The vibes were almost pretty much at stock levels except at idle and with ac on. I think it was a good install. The re-install of the stock mount was the same.
 
Mazda dealer had car for 3 days and determined that they could not produce any issues. Thankfully, they did not charge me for the diagnosis time and still comped my rental car.

It appears they test drove my car for 8 miles and didn't do much of anything else to troubleshoot/inspect. I'm assuming if they even inspected the transmission mount, they would have had to disconnect the battery and my radio settings wouldn't be saved? But, my settings are the same, so I'm assuming they didn't even check the stock tmm.

I contacted Mazda corporate about the situation. They recommended taking it to another dealer based on the symptoms I'm having and they were "confident" the second dealer would open up a warranty transmission repair on it.

When I had corporate on the phone I asked them about this concept of "Mazdaspeed Certified" dealer service departments. They straight up told me they don't know what that is and have never heard of it. I have a feeling that any dealer that tells you they are "Mazdaspeed certified" is full of bologna and they are just attempting to gain your confidence in servicing your vehicle with them. I feel retarded for buying into it as the dealer that I've been working with (even though they have comped a lot of the services they shouldn't have) they've also fucked up a lot of repairs already and missed a bunch of stuff during their used car certification process.

I'll be taking the car for a second dealer opinion per Mazda corporate's recommendation.

In the mean time, I'm babying the transmission. As soon as I pulled away from the dealer upon getting my car back, going into second gear was a noisey/grindy mess. I've found I can avoid the more serious grinds and cringe-worthy gear bites if I slowly slide the car into gear. But I feel the gears bite, even when sliding out of gear sometimes still. Also, I can see this mode of driving will put more wear on the clutch because by the time I let it out, if I don't rev match, the engine decels a bit and bucks.
 
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