If you do some research this problem was common enough for Mazda to create a service bulletin (though I learned this after). I had problems getting locked out of 3rd as well as a couple of other gears when I first bought the car. If you really needed the gear you had to re-clutch and ram the shifter repeatedly. After the dealership ignored me and said it was normal and break in (contrary to the TSB haha) I started being overly forceful with the shifter. I don't know if it helped or not but it seemed to get locked out less frequently over time.
shifter will not go into gear (mt)
If you do some research this problem was common enough for Mazda to create a service bulletin (though I learned this after). I had problems getting locked out of 3rd as well as a couple of other gears when I first bought the car. If you really needed the gear you had to re-clutch and ram the shifter repeatedly. After the dealership ignored me and said it was normal and break in (contrary to the TSB haha) I started being overly forceful with the shifter. I don't know if it helped or not but it seemed to get locked out less frequently over time.
- vins, Calgary, Canada