Mazda6 Maintenance and Repair

jstandefer

My PCM was reflashed during this last visit (I got my car back a couple of days ago) to fix hard starts and hesitating/surging. On the repair order is "REPROGRAM PCM TO L3Y8-18881-P STATUS." I would assume that this is the latest version, 29.3?

rodlcw

Dealer has installed the supposed Mazda fix. What a joke. And I am told others, including a lady in the dealer's office has same problem.

Appears they need different BRAKE Pads?
If anyone has been able to get a true fix, could you let me know what was done.
THANKS.

aperry1

Did anyone else get their recall notice today for the gas tank? I am going to give the dealer a call to schedule my appointment.

liquid0715

Im curious does anyone have a passenger leather seat that is cracking too quickly...I seem to have one of those...i find myself constantly with leather conditioner in my hand to keep it somewhat new looking....Any suggestions? Are the seats expensive to purchase later on? would a cover help?

karyakarta

Thanks for your reply. I really appreciate it. I am going to go and look for it. BTW, do you live in Milwaukee? How's the weather there now? This coming fall, I am going to move into Madison as I am going to attend Univeristy of Wisconsin there. I am going to have a look whether I have stains on my car. So far, the car has been good. The only thing that I hate is that I should have waited a little longer rather than buying the car so early after its debut. With all the rebates now, I could save a few thousand dollars or maybe get a few more options. SIGH.

karyakarta

I also got a letter from Mazda about the fuel odor problem. According to the letter, only Mazda 6 owners from California, Masachusetts, and Vermont are required to do this.

jstandefer

According to the notices I have read, it affects ALL U.S. model 2003s and ALL Canadian model 2004s. If you got a letter, that means your VIN is part of the recall. Everyone that gets this notice should get the car fixed right away! This recall will fix a problem where fuel vapors could build up inside the passenger compartment and cause a fire. This is not a recall to play around with... the possible consequences are life threatening.

jstandefer

As it stands right now, there is no permanent solution to the brake moan problem. There is a modified brake caliper clip that was originally thought will solve the problem, but cars that had that clip installed are coming back with the same problem.

My car was just recently inspected by factory reps (a Technical Specialist and a Field Quality Support Senior Engineer). They looked over the problem and instructed the dealership to install the modified clip and chamfer the pads on all four brakes. The dealership informed me that this is a temporary repair and there is a very good chance that the moan will return. What is troubling is the note that the factory reps put on the repair order:

"Goodwill. This repair does not fall under the guidelines of the new car warranty on your vehicle. This repair was done for customer satisfaction only."

hboyd

So... anybody with '04 6's have any problems with their vehicles? Just curious to see if the factory and Mazda made their corrections to the model.

Thanks,
Martin

rbartyczak

I, too, have experienced the right turn signal malfunction. Shortly after I got my car, I noticed that the right turn signal did not light when I unlocked the car. Often it would blink quickly, like a bulb was out, at my first right hand turn. But it was intermittent! After about two miles or when the temperature was above freezing, the problem went away.

I had to leave my car at the dealership overnight for the service department to acknowledge the problem. It was evidently insufficient that they had received several similar complaints. They must think that the owners want there to be problems! The solution was that they "tightened" the connection. Now all seems well.

My "free" loaner was a bottom-of-the-line Ford Focus with AT. Makes me concerned about my future service visits.

mazda6s

Other owners have noticed this problem too. I observed it on a car I test drove, but it was the left signal. It corrected itself after I used the right signal.

zmzmzm

Just wondering if the Rotex pads have solved the squealing... seems like you've had them a couple months now.

Also, anyone out there having a moonroof seal problem? I've gone through three of them in the last 13 months - they tend to pop off the rear edge/corners and eventually tear.

mazdajk

Sorry gang! Off the Mazda track for a minute here.

Yep. Call Milwaukee home. You are going to have a blast at UW Madison! Madison is ranked top 5 nationally as a great place to live. UW is also ranked top 5 party school. Good? Bad? Depends on your party attitude. Academically ranked as a top notch school also.
I take it you're not from the snowbelt by your weather question. Just have to get used to it. Not that much snow on the ground , but we keep getting the little 1" dustings, so the salt trucks are ruthless.
Too bad you weren't here last year. The Harley Davidson 100 Anniversary party was a once in a life time bash. Milwaukee was a city under siege!

Beware of your first Halloween in Madison! 50,000 crazies on State Street! Bring lots of beads!
Come to Milwaukee last week of June/ First week of July. SUMMERFEST BABY ! 100,000 on the lake with some great music (15 stages).
Remember! Your parents worked hard for that educational money. Don't let them down !

Back to Mazda!
Hope your 6 ends up being clean. Your right in saying the rebates are getting better. Starting to warm up here (The avg. daily temp is up to 32). YEE HAA!!! Time to start looking for a new ride. Mazda6? Well just have to see about that.

P.S. If you get arrested for the result of using those beads. I will deny everything!

astonite69

I'm hoping someone can tell me about this problem... I've had my Mazda 6s stickshift since July '03, and I've been experiencing this squealing for several months. It only happens maybe 75% of the time, but when it does happen, it's when I'm backing out of a parking space with the steering wheel turned. It's a loud, sometimes prolonged, sometimes repetitive metal-on-metal noise, kind of like if you have a beat-up shopping cart at the store and the wheels squeak. It also happens when I'm making a relatively sharp turn, for ex into a parking spot or a U-turn.

Sounds like it's coming from the front, but not sure. Seems to have nothing to do with the brake; the brake is usually never engaged. It's not rust, either. Don't think it has anything to do with the clutch, because sometimes the clutch is partially engaged and sometimes it's all the way in.... help!!

jstandefer

More than likely, this is the same as the brake moan noise. Several owners have been experiencing it even without the brakes being applied. Some owners have also complained about the problem when backing up as well as going forward. The sound is definitely coming from the brake system. You should take your car into the dealership. They will probably install the modified brake clips and that may help for a while, but the problem will come back. At least the dealership (and Mazda) will have a record of your car having the problem, that way you will be contacted when the permanent solution is released.

cop414

zmzmzm
Yes, the installation of the Rotex pads as well as my own application of CRC brake squeal eliminator has pretty much stopped the problem. I have a bit of a squeal first thing in the morning-it usually goes away after the first stop, several stops required in very cold weather. Also if the car has been sitting and the brakes are wet it takes a couple of stops, then silence. Just as good as the squeal being gone is the fact that the dust has been eliminated.
When I applied the CRC reducer to the backs of the pads I saw and removed the "clips". How anyone thought that those would stop the squeal I can't imagine. I could have made sturdier clips from a coat hanger. I trashed them.

This week I'm taking my car in for the fuel tank ring recall. I am still having the clutch judder problem. I know that earlier protege's have had the same problem to the point of a TSB being issued to fix the clutch. I want to be armed with information when I go to the dealer. Does anyone know if the pro and the 6 share any of the same clutch components. Specifically I need to know if the clutch cover/pressure plate share to same part numbers. (I have the 6i) If they do I can't imagine any argument about having the same TSB cover the 6.
I (surprise) can not duplicate the problem when I have the car at the dealer. I'm to the point where I just feel like shelling out the $$ myself to fix it. The factory rep extended the warranty on the clutch to 75,000 mi since I was having the problem. That's great, but alas it doesn't solve the problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

jstandefer-I believe that some time ago you had given me some information on this, can you help with what I'm asking for here??
If I'm not satisified after this week I'll call Mazda and open up a case. I feel that it's horrible that I had to pay for aftermarket brake pads to fix a problem that should have been handled by Mazda. After numerous trips to the dealer for the brakes (4-5) and the service manager finally saying "Well, that must be how they're desinged" (in other words, I can't fix it and I give up) I take the problem into my own hands and $75.00 and an hour of turning wrenches later all is well. I'm not that much of a motor head that I'm going to purchase and replace my own clutch, but I feel that Mazda should do that for me. The saga goes on...
Otherwise the car is pretty perfect.

jstandefer

On the clutch judder, or chatter as Mazda calls it, Mazda is working on revised parts. I am not sure if they have been released yet. There has been a TSB on just about every manual transmission-equipped Mazda in the past few years. The tranny in the Protege is a completely different beast than the tranny in the 6. I would take it in to the dealership and see what they say. With some owners, they have replaced the clutch disk as a temporary stop-gap until the new parts are released. And who knows? Maybe the new parts are available.

There is still no permanent resolution for the moaning brakes. I am not sure what Mazda is going to do about it, but they are working on it. However, they are starting to point out that once you have passed the adjustment period (12 mos/12,000 miles), the brakes are no longer covered for problems such as this, which is "cosmetic" and does not affect the operation and safety of the braking system. And, this is not something that is covered by any lemon law, since the problem is not substantial and does affect the overall operation or safety of the vehicle.

bluem6i

I had the rust/stain TSB performed yesterday along with the gas odor recall, the "new" brake kit repair (for the parking space brake moan), and an oil & filter change. They were unable to reproduce the very intermittent hesitation/surge, so, no fix for that. Almost forgot, they re-dyed the dash on the passenger side, above the glove box, to remove the light colored spots that had appeared and wouldn't go away.

Cory Fairbanks Mazda in Longwood, FL did a very poor job on the rust/stain repair. I can't detect any seam sealer. It looks like they took some touch up paint and slopped it on. I can still easily see several areas of "stain" that they missed. Also, the brakes still moan when pulling into a parking space. Can't wait for the survey and the follow up call to let them know just how unhappy I am.

Otherwise, it is still a blast to drive this car!!!

mazda6iguy

My Mazda 6i now has 10,000 miles. Here is what happened so far...

1.) From day 1 I had the slight pull to the right alignment problem.

2.) At 4K miles, first oil change.

3.) At 10K miles, second oil change and Tire rotation. The tire rotation seemed to fix the pull to the right. Also they re-flashed the ECM. The car seems to be peppier!

4.) Also around this time, the Check Engine light came on. Turns out the Camshaft Position Sensor and Knock sensor was bad. Both replaced.

5.) To make matters worse, there was a big scratch on the back bumper that I found out about when I picked up the car. It's back in the body shop.

Today, I got the recall for fuel odor problems. I have not yet experienced problems there, but will have it fixed. I have not seen any staining problems.

So far, I have had the dealer provided rental car for two weeks. They provided a 2004 Hyundai Sonata. Not exactly my favorite, but it's ok.

Anyone else here had to replace a crankshaft position sensor or knock sensor on their cars?

mazda6iguy

I noticed that for 2004, all Mazda6 cars will come equipped with external radio antennas instead of them being buried inside the rear window. Won't that make any future replacement of the rear window both expensive and hard to find?

mazda6s

Well, the 03 window will only be for that one year, so it will be a little rare. Fortunately rear windows don't often get replaced anywhere near as often as fronts do. I've never replaced one on any car I've owned.

mazda6iguy

If I buy a car at "dealer A" and have service done there, but sometimes go to "dealer B" and have service done there, do
 all records of service go to Mazda for documentation, or does it stay at those respective dealers?

I am asking because I needed some emergency work done to my car and it came from a dealer that I don't really want to go back to in the future. I'd rather go to the dealer where I bought the car. Even though I will keep all the paperwork
in a file, will Mazda know about any warranty work that is done to the vehicle?

jstandefer

Any warranty work performed on your vehicle is reported to Mazda. Other work such as maintenance and accessory installation are kept on file at the local dealerships. Your best bet, of course, is to keep records of everything. Make sure you get an invoice for every visit and ensure that it contains all services performed.

However, any Mazda dealership can pull up a record of all warranty work performed, no matter what dealership performed the work.

mccullochb

I too have had several problems with my 6. I now have 22,000 miles on it (100 highway everyday!) To make a long story short.....my 6 has been in for repeated CEL's (6 if anyone's counting). Finally on this last visit, the dealer had my car for 17 days. They went through everything with Mazda Tech and they replaced the camshaft position sensors you mentioned as well as replaced the PCM 3 times. I have had the latest updates 29.2 and 29.3 done which should fix most of the CEL's (code 2404 and P0300)and the latest recall. I have also experienced several "phantom codes" meaning they don't know what they are or where they came from (not in any of the manuals)....they attributed this to a bad PCM. I've had my car back from the dealership a week tomorrow and so far no CEL and really no major issues. On my car it seems to appear at every 2000 miles. Just keep all of your paperwork and keep checking in to the website...it helped me greatly to know that I wasn't alone in this...others were experiencing the same thing.

mazdajk

I am now the proud PaPa of a bouncing baby Mazda6!

Went to the dealer and hashed out a deal my wife would be happy with today (critical). Take delivery Friday.

2004S Glacier Silver,1SE Sports Package,Sports Grille,Automatic(Wife has to drive it also),Auto Dim Mirror W/compass,Thats it-no more.

Payed $21963.00($100.00 over invoice). Did I do O.K.? Oh well to late now.

My hope is I will never post a negative word about my new baby. My fingers are crossed !!!

Come on Friday ! I feel like a 4 year old three days before Christmas !

golfrguy

After 6 months of brake squeal and 4 months of the dealer saying no problem, the resurfaced the pads and turned the rotors. Of course it was back in a week. Two months later after multiple promises a new pad was on the way, the dealer has installed the modofoed clips and turned the rotors AGAIN. It sounds like this is another temporary fix. Two questions, how long will this fix work, and how many rotor turnings can I expect on the rotor's life? I am concerned that 2 turnings in 10K miles is not a good thing.

cop414

golfrguy-
Welcome to the club-see my posts #785, 826, and 925. As I said in one of those posts-After 4-5 trips to the dealer (new clips, repositioned guard, anti squeal applied, ground pad edges) I felt enough was enough. To this day I have just a little bit of squeal when the pads are cold, other than that-silence. I ordered my Rotex pads from brake world.com. You may be better off to do the same thing. Good luck.

dgmosr

I've noticed fraying and pilling on the seat cloth of my wife's 2003 6s. For a vehicle that is only 6 months old, this is very disturbing. I've owned other vehicles with cloth seat coverings and never saw this kind of condition even after 12 years of use.

I took the vehicle to my local dealer this morning for an oil change and to inspect the fuel tank lock ring. When I showed them the fraying and pilling, they offered to correct the problem by "shaving" away the frays and pills. I was told that the fraying and pilling is normal for this type of fabric and that Nissan vehicles show the same condition. What a joke. Needless to say, I told them to leave the cloth as is. I now have an appointment with the Mazda regional technical rep. We'll see what happens.

troyben

dgmosr, I too have the same problem on my 03 6i, my only complaint about the car. I got the same spiel from my dealer, that this is "typical". To me, not acceptable. What process did you go through to set up appointment with Mazda regional tech rep? Thanks

dgmosr

troyben,
When the service writer told me that this was "typical", I elevated the problem to the service manager and insisted that he make an appointment for me with the Mazda rep. Unfortunately this may take awhile because the rep. only visits the dealership about once every six weeks and his last visit was in mid February.

I also sent a customer feedback email from the Mazda- North America website. Today I got the typical "you're the only one with the problem" reponse stating:
  "I am not familiar with any problems with our cloth seats on our MAZDA6. Please understand if there was a major problem with our vehicle, either the government would put out a recall or Mazda would issue a Special Service Program (SSP). Please understand recalls and SSPs are VIN specific. At this time, I am not familiar with any recalls or SSPs for cloth seats. I will forward your comments to our Product Planning Department to ensure they know exactly what our customers are saying about our vehicles."

Other than this very noticeable and irritating problem, I'm very happen with the car.

dgmosr

mazdajk,

Congratulations! Looks like you got a very good deal! The 6s is a blast to drive!

Hope you got leather instead of cloth. That cloth frays and pills like a cheap sweater.

golfrguy

I may be able to get my local dealer to put on the ROTEX pads for me. The keep swearing that there are no replacements and I have sent them the URL. Of well. I still wonder on average how many times the rotors can be turned safely. I would like to push for new rotors while I am still in whine mode.

mazdajk

I did get the cloth. Gray. What color is yours? From what I have read so far, black is having the most problems.

I have been reading about the Mazda 6 for about 9 months now. Hundreds of posts. Trying to make an informed purchase. The problems that are showing up in the Mazda 6 are not any different than any other car. They all have there own problems. The biggest worry I have is that the rust-stain problem has not been resolved at the factory. I have not read one post yet from an owner with a build date later than 7/22/03 with this problem. Not enough time on these cars yet ? We will see.

What made up my mind to take a chance, was the butt kick'n look and drivability of this car.

There is not a car out there that (In my mind) has combined the sporty look and backs it up with pretty good performance.

The Accord and Camry to me look like my dad should be driving them(He is 80). The other players in this class can not match the price.

Time will tell how well the Mazda 6 is built. But in the mean time I will enjoy getting looks from all the millions of Accord,Camry,and Grand Am owners as I drive buy.

Johnny's Mazda 6 ROCKS !!!

mazdajk

Picked up my 6 today! YEE HAA !
I gave it the bigtime once over. To this point I have inspected seven 6's and I have to say the paint job on this car is tight. I looked in every nook and cranny on this car. Build date 2/04. The 6 they had in the show room was a 10/03 build and you could see the lack of paint in the sash area. The factory must have made the corrections in the paint dept. As I said in my other post, I guess time will tell if this problem has been resolved.
Took it for a joy ride on some winding roads. Had to take it easy because of the break in, but I got a pretty good feel for the car. WOW ! Took a pretty sharp turn and I thought I was doing around 40. Speedometer said 55. WOW !
Mazda has taken a step in the right direction.
I just hope they stand by their product for the few that have had problems,so you can get back to enjoying the 6 as it should be.
Come on 500 miles !!! ZOOM ZOOM

mad6owner

Hi I would just like to start off with that I love my mazda 6. I bought my car April 1st.I can still remember when i got to the 500 mark and I sped off into the sunset.BUT!!!! It was all downhill from there.

  1. About a week after i got my car my wife went to pull down her sun visor, and the part the visor clamps into came out with thi visor. I thought no big deal. Nobody will ever know.

  2. Ckeck engine light comes on for the first time. I brought it to the dealership and they fixed it. They said I didnt tighten the gas cap enough. So I made sure not to do it again. But!!! Again and again the C.E.L kept coming on, and i know i was tightening the cap enough.
  So by now i was ready for my first oil change.

  3. One morning i start my car to go to town and the engine was making noise when i turned steering wheel. I take it to dealership and they said power steering hose busted. fixed that.

  4. Receive four recalls in a period of about five months as my C.E.L. problem continues. No rust spots or stains in doors but took it it anyway. No gas smell either. They said they didnt know about the shifting situation when in manual(going from 4-50). but I had to be getting on the gas and going at least 90mph. lol racing a prelude:)

  5. CHRISTMAS DAY. I was driving to baton rouge (90 miles away) when i stopped at a red light. when it turned green i went to go but car did not want to go into 2nd. Check engine light started flashing and i pulled over. Popped hood and engine was knocking harded the a jahovas witness on speed. Called wrecker service and they brought it to mazda.
   Manufacturer said right side of engine got so hot that it melted the converters and warped one of the heads. That was said after a month of me in mitshubishi lancer. Then they tried to replace just the head and that didnt work. So they had to order me a new motor. They got the motor in except for the head gasket. All in all they had my car for 56 days.(HELL ON EARTH)

  I just got my car back on the 20th of feb. I love my car. I never want to get rid of it, BUT!!! its going to the curb. Mazda has lost a customer and has received my papers. And i think that mazda needs to open up a fruit stand because they have the best looking lemons on the market.

cheesehead6

I seem to remember a review of the 6i you wrote on Epinions. Very thorough. Thought a lot of it. What sticks in my mind is a statement you made that after 3000 miles or so on the engine you were getting better response down below compared to the break-in period; even at 1800 rpms. How many miles do you have now, and is it still improving at lower rpms? Wd. be interested in a comment-- unless you've modded the thing since then. To what do you attribute this improvement by 3000 miles?

mazda6iguy

I've read several posts in the past about the alignment issue with earlier Mazda 6 's. Has anyone gotten to the bottom of this? When I bought my car, it had a slight pull to the right. When I had my tires rotated at 10k miles, the problem seemed to lessen quite a bit, but still I think it pulls to the right (albeit not as much).

audia8q

Here in CT the roads are built with a crown and the roads have a slight tilt to drain water...so almost all cars pull to the right, especially if they have big, thick tires...if we drove on the left they would pull left. I'm not saying this is your cause, just an idea.

mazda6s

Most roads have a crown in the middle. So, if the car and tire combo tends to follow the slope of the road, well then most of the time it will pull to the right on these roads. The way you can tell if it's the car is to find a road that slopes to the left and see if the car goes that way. If it does, then it's probably just the road. If it doesn't pull at all, or still pulls to the right, then it's the car or tires. Some cars are more susceptable to this problem,and some tires will make it worse. And, you can get individual tires that pull. The tire reviews at www.tirerack.com have plenty of complaints about this.

kaiserhead

I bought my Protege in Toronto, Canada and had it serviced for three years in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. All records were sent to Mazda and all warranties were honored.

rotarykid

Although I work on mazdas everyday, I didnt notice until purchasing a 6, that the power outlet in the center console is wide open. Personal experience with my kids putting coins in the lighter socket of my mpv and blowing a fuse tells me that the wide open socket in an area where coins and the like will tend to end up is NOT good. There is a plug offered on later mpv's that looks like a lighter element but is only a plastic knob with "12 volts" printed on the end. Part # is LD47-66-298. For 2-3 beans it's a wise investment in my book.......

r2s2

The outlet in the center console of my six has a hinged cap which flips up against the front of the console. It's hard to see when in the up position. I wonder if you just haven't noticed it . . .

r2s2

Mine is an '03 6s.

rotarykid

checked it before my wife left for work today and found the fold up cover- nicely hidden- my problem was that I looked inside almost ev ery stock unit on the lot and none were covered! oh well- live and learn......

mazda6iguy

I was over at Best Buy the other night, and looked at the XM satellite radio tuners. Has anyone had them installed in their Mazda 6 yet?

r2s2

It's REALLY hard to see in the up position. Glad yours wasn't missing . . .

rotarykid

I never actually saw it....had to feel for it and then it was there!

ashutoshsm

FYI - Mazda has partnerer with Sirius and it'll be offered as an option soon/already. I'd get those parts if you want a clean, non-aftermarket look.

That said, I prefer the programming on XM radio and will install the new Delphi (Roady I think) that has the ability to change display colors - one of them is quite close to the stock colors.

ashutoshsm

I have the same kind of car and can attest to a noticeable improvement in low end torque and smoother liftoffs without having to rev nearly as high as before.

I'd attribute it in equal parts to
- break-in, as the parts seat, they seem to mesh together better and offer less resistance
- synthetic oil - has made the car more rev happy, more easily, providing a bit of an illusion in increase low-end torque, although the (resulting) improved driveability implies an improvement in the overall condition, nonetheless

cop414

jstandefer-reference your post about the revised clutch components (post #926). I contacted Mazda last week about my clutch and told them that I had heard about revised parts being worked on. They said that they had no idea what I was talking about.
Could you let me know where you got this info. and who you spoke to or any applicable #'s.
Thank in advance