How do you remove the transmission in a 1988 Mazda 626 if it is jammed in 3rd gear and will not shift?

Answer 1

Removing the Transaxle is easy, the best thing to get is one of the Haynes manuals - I just put a clutch in my son's 626 this past weekend -

1 raise the front end of the car and remove the tires and disconnect the battery.

2. have someone stand on the brakes and remove the center nut out of the wheel

3. Remove the steering joint, if done correctly no harm will come to it.

4. Disconnect the front struts from the front hub assembly

5. Remove the Cross member on the Driver's side of the vehicle.

6. You should be able to twist the front end to a point to where the axel will come out of the front end - take a pry bar and put it in between the transaxel and axel and pop out the other end, cover both ends with a plastic bag or greasy rag to keep dirt and moisture off of it.

7. Repeat 2-4 on the passenger side.

8. There are some brackets on the back side of the engine that need to be removed prior to removing the axel on the passenger side. Again cover both ends.

9 place a jack under the transmission and disconnect the mounting brackets.

10. Remove all the bolts around the bell housing - to include removing the starter and disconnecting the clutch cable or slave cylinder.

11. place the pry bar between the engine and the bell housing and carefully separate the two - at this point you should be able to slowly lower the tranny and slide it out from under the car.

I may have skipped a few parts but this is what I remember I did to replace the clutch.