almost 500 miles…

…and the Briata’s latest transmission is still working. Can I exhale yet?

I don’t think so quite yet, but so far this is better than the last transmission, since that one started freaking out before I hit 200 miles. I really hope this one stays working, since I have the last new RX7 transmission that exists at the moment, with a 3-6 week lead time on another new one to be manufactured from scratch. They had not been able to reproduce the problem when I was gone that whole week the end of January, so they released it back to me the following week, when in less than 24 hours I had it back to them, experiencing the problem real-time – “Get in & drive it RIGHT NOW!” I said when I got there! It was taking a full 30 minutes of driving freeway speed to start shifting problems you see. They still suspected the central computer, so they hooked it up for live diagnostics while driving and having the shifting problem. The week they had it the problem got worse enough that even just one mile down Stevens Creek it would freak out, so they were able to tell that the computer was sending the proper signal to the transmission while it was freaking, so it was the transmission not the computer. After putting them through their paces with a billion tests that took another week, Mazda HQ finally agreed that the transmission must have been bad when shipped and accepted it back under warranty, which came cross-country since they only keep transmissions in Pennsylvania. Now it seems okay, for which I am very thankful, especially with such nice weather we’re having, but I won’t believe it’s completely fixed until this one has worked for a few months.

For anyone keeping track, I had my cute little car for only 6 days of the first 7 WEEKS of 2008. Let’s hope it’s still working reliably by the time her 10th birthday comes around next month!

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