Mazda6 Maintenance and Repair

jason777 · February 2003

I test drove about 3 of them, and 2 honda accord ex's and personally found the build quality to be equal to if not better than the Honda's.

Very quiet and smooth and tight.

In all about 50 test drives of almost every car you can think of.

I am a customer from hell and I put a few sales people through hell before I chose the Mazda.

In my opinion the best deal on the market.

Jason.

rodlcw · February 2003

I am now told they are replacing the seal where the axle goes into the transmission. Guess it first mislead them due to it traveling and then coming off the side of the tranny or something.
They are suppose to get what they need tomorrow and if that is the real problem, I guess that should not be a long term issue with the car?

So far not overly impressed with what Mazda is turning out in Flat Rock.

rodlcw · February 2003

Dealer has fixed the leak. 1800 miles on it now.
Car has been in the rain and no leak in trunk.

seaf · February 2003

Rodlcw, thanks for your posts. I was getting suspiscious at how quiet this forum was.

What kind of transmission do you have? Auto or Manual? Also is your car a V6 or I4? Any other specs so we can get a better idea so we don't think ALL Mazda6's might have transmission problems. Thanks.

rodlcw · February 2003

V6 AT RedFire Metallic Loaded.
Fixed and I expect no other problems. This is my eighth Mazda since 1980.

glutz1 · February 2003

I'm getting ready to place an order for an automatic 6S (I know, after 26 yrs of driving manual transmission, I hate to give in to traffic) & would appreciate knowing of significant probs that other new owners have encountered. It sounds like rattles and trunk and auto transmission leaks have been encountered & I was wondering if there are other major issues ?

BTW, I'm currently driving a 5-speed '93 626 ES that I purchased new & it hasn't been the most reliable car I've owned, so I'll be purchasing a Mazda6S despite the fact that it's a Mazda.

skyray · February 2003

Actually, overall Mazda has a quality reputation that's right up with there with Honda and Toyota. Miatas tend to be bullet-proof (although they're built in Japan), and my '89 Probe (a Mazda MX-6 with a Ford body, built in the same plant as the 6) went for 11 years with its only problem being a couple of alternator suicides.

I'm buying an automatic 6s *because* it's a Mazda. :-)

Given that the preponderance of messages here are "rattling sunglasses holder," things sound pretty good. The transmission problems were disappointing to hear about, but you're talking a couple of reports out of many, many cars.

stretchsje · February 2003

on another forum, a guy who works at the Mazda6 plant in Flat Rock commented on build problems.

They've all been just squeaks and rattles, and they've been eliminating them as they're discovered. Nothing serious at all.

On the other hand, another person saw a few 6's- some built in the USA and some in Japan- and felt the Japanese ones were better put together. There were some minor differences in the way seals were applied, etc., even though all the USA and Japan models were consistant with others from that country.

Surprisingly, it seems Honda owners have had worse complaints about the Accord. Mazda's release was like Toyota- the Camry is rock-solid, but initially had rattles, dropping Consumer Reports' rating.

cobra801 · March 2003

So, where are the 6's are being made? My understanding is that they are all made in the USA.

skyray · March 2003

Flat Rock, Michigan (combo Ford/Mazda plant that will also build the 2005 Mustang) for US and Canada 6s.

Japan for everywhere else.

gsemike · March 2003

I test drive a 4 cyl AT model over the weekend with cloth seats. The car seems to be very well built and fun to drive. I'm so close to getting it, but I'm concerned that the seats may be too firm. Anyone out there that has had one for a while not like the seats? I'm about 200 lbs and should be 180. The car seems like such a good deal otherwise.

mike1770 · March 2003

I think the seats are great. They don't seem too firm at all, and I weigh around 160. I recently made a couple of 4-hour highway trips, and the seats were fine. My 6s has leather; I don't know if the cloth offers a different level of support. I've put around 3400 miles on the car since I got it in December, and have no complaints at all about the car -- I like it more each day I drive it.

mazdafun · March 2003

Especially on longer trips (30 minutes or more, varying by condition of the individual). They support you better than soft seats. The softer seats force your muscles to work harder to support your spine and other bits, so are more fatiguing.

stretchsje · March 2003

I've never had butt-fatigue, something that happens in my wife's Camry. I'm 6'5" tall, so I dunno if I'm the norm. I wish, if anything, the seats were skinnier for better side support during turns.

aromas · March 2003

God I've never seen a board so quiet, what's going on. I'm a new Mazda 6 owner so I guess I understand. This is the best freakin car I've ever had, go to the Honda problems board and you'll understand why, they seem to have every problem under the sun. One owner said his new Accord's steering keeps drifting and they don't what to do about it. I tried to help by saying he could fix it by trading in and buying a 6. Sounds like a good solution but I'm sure it will be deleted before long. I'm in a fiesty mood after a buddy argued that his new Accord is better than my baby because of reliability.

maltb · March 2003

I think it's a funny remark, but you are inviting the same over here...think about it.

aromas · March 2003

You're right but I couldn't resist. I just can't stand the arrogance of Honda owners and I can't see the 6 having as many problems as the Accord does right now. I hope I don't jinx myself.

combustible1 · March 2003

to tally the number of new Accord owners on the board vs. the number of 6 owners. If it's 5 to 1, and the list of problems is roughly 5 to 1, then, the cars are experiencing a similar number of problems.

Without this data, we can't really say the Mazda 6 is of better quality. Could be that there are many more Accord owners, so you would expect a higher number of problems.

but I hope you are right, aromas.. as I am buying the 6 soooon!

cookie01 · March 2003

I have the sport cloth seats. They are very firm, but I was shocked that after my 5+ hour drive home with the new car that my back felt great!
I've had back problems all my life. I really expected to have tired-buns, or stiff shoulders from this drive and I did not!
I would say most people will be fine with these cloth seats. I had an Impala before with a bench seat as soft as a couch! My hubby really liked those comfy seats, but for support, they weren't that great.

skyray · March 2003

Well, I did have a Check Engine Light come on within hours of leaving the dealer.

Turned out to be a small exhaust system hose under the hood. Known problem with the first batch of V6 6s cars, and it didn't affect the car's running. The dealer popped the hose back on, and Mazda overnighted a redesigned hose/sensor. The next day they put that on, reset the CEL, and all has been fine since.

They're now using the redesigned part at the factory, so this shouldn't be an issue going forward.

aardog21 · March 2003

Besides the initial rattle that turned out to be an improperly attached catalytic converter heat shield, there is only one other problem that just turned up. I had to take the 6 in for a check engine light that turned out to be a glitch in the computer. The dealer said that Mazda is aware of the problem and will send a fix by the end of this week.

I hope my car's OS was not written by Microsoft!

skyray · March 2003

Was your glitch on a 6i (4cyl model)?

Just curious as someone reported the same thing about the software over on Mazda6club.com.

alcjew · March 2003

Skyray: I haven't had that problem after 2000+ mi already. If you don't mind me asking, When did you pick up your 6? What is the factory assembly date stamped on your 6? I have a 6s also and has a Feb 03 stamped.

jason777 · March 2003

I have ordered a Mazda 6, been waiting for it for over 6 weeks now.

Anyhow the demo at the dealers, has some problems.

There is a humming noise coming from the dash, sounds like a vibrating flurescant lighting tube.

Also the engine light is on, good old ford duratec junky engines!

Jason.

alcjew · March 2003

jason777, check post #47 from skyray. You won't be disappointed with the 6 if you get it, guaranteed!

r2s2 · March 2003

"There is a humming noise coming from the dash, sounds like a vibrating flurescant [sic] lighting tube."

Jason777 said this in this thread on January 27. Are you sure it's still humming after all this time, Jason? And the CEL is still on? Goodness.

By the way, about two weeks ago I posted that I had driven and would buy an Accord. Went back and drove another 6 and couldn't stand the thought of the Accord. So, I'll wait until I can get the appropriate 6s MT. Yeah!

aromas · March 2003

I smell a troll! Why would you trash a car that you just bought? Begone!

maltb · March 2003

troll? why try to hide an issue if it exists? this isn't a battle about who's better, this is a probs forum where we can talk about problems we experience. There is no perfect car and every make will have their own issues.

stretchsje · March 2003

I'm a lazy fool, and still haven't gotten my sunglasses holder rattle or my center compartment squeak fixed (despite being one of the first on this board to buy one!)

I don't know if I ever mentioned that squeak- it happens when I rest my hand on the lid of the center compartment. The weight of my arm pushes the plastic latch down, which has just enough "play" in it that it will rub (hence squeak) when I go over bumps (thus vibrating the car slightly). It's another extremely minor problem.

Thought I'd mention that both of those problems went away once the weather went above 50 degrees, which explains how they could have not been discovered in the first place.

jason777 · March 2003

Just telling the truth, I have a loner Mazda tribute right now, curtesy of the Mazda dealer while I wait for the 3 week over-due 6, just like to mention that after 2 weeks the engine light has come on. Took it in and they said "oh one of the cylinders is mis-firing, but we can't fix it now because the computer is broken and it won't be fixed for 2 weeks"

Amazing, this dealer has got to be the worst I have encountered, lets just say its in Ontario.

I had a ford explorer for 3 years (leased) just took it back, and right on time because the engine in that had problems.

Ford really needs to over haul it engines, the Japanese leave them at the starting post.

Jason.

jason777 · March 2003

Thanks I did see his post, the humming noise they have no excuse for because it has been like that for weeks, doesn't this dealer want to sell its cars??

The Ford dealers do a much better job at moving fords, even though they are much inferior cars.

Jason.

skyray · March 2003

If that was a 6s, the dealer could fix that in less than 20 minutes, with a hose replacement that Mazda will overnight them at no charge.

Any dealer too lazy/dumb to fix that -- on a car that they're using to sell people on the car -- would worry me.

gregoryc1 · March 2003

With all these problems with the "Demo", why would you order this vehicle? Doesn't this tell you something about the quality of the vehicle and the dealer??? ------Greg

skyray · March 2003

It's indicative of an incompetent dealer, sure, but not the vehicle. If you read the Mazda 6 boards on Edmunds, Mazda6Club.com, Mazda6Forum.com, Car & Driver, etc., you'll see VERY, very few problems. To date I've seen:

1) A few isolated cases of rattles. (Sunglass holder, center console, dash, etc.) This is not common (not a single rattle on my 6s), and is going to happen on isolated vehicles with ANY car.

2) Check Engine Light issues. Known problem on a few cars, due to a hose design on the 6s and a software problem on the 6i. Both fixable in less than 20 minutes at the dealer, for free, and both now fixed on new cars coming off the line. Neither actually affects the car's running.

That's *IT*. Not bad at all for a totally new car design, and nothing that can't be fixed very quickly at the dealer under the 4-year, 50,000-mile warranty.

Hey, I had a Check Engine Light come on driving home from the dealer! But the resolution was quick and competent, and the car's been a load of fun since then.

mazda6s · March 2003

Some high quality cars have been known to arrive with minor problems that are easily fixed by a competent dealership. The recent alignment and wheel balance problems noted on the Accord is one example of this. One incompetent dealership or service department doesn't tell us anything at all about the quality of the car itself. If you want to be assured of a high quality car AND dealership, you'll have to go with something like Lexus, and even then you are not 100% guaranteed that everything will be perfect.

stretchsje · March 2003

and a software problem on the 6i.

I've read this once before, but can't find where I did.

Where is there any information on this "software bug"?

skyray · March 2003

Saw it mentioned in a couple of messages over on MazdaAtenza.com...

stretchsje · March 2003

Found it. To clarify, the dealer hasn't fixed this individual's car yet. The fix is still "on the way".

jason777 · March 2003

I had the dealer sign a statement saying that if the car isn't delivered by March 31st my deposit would be re-funded.

I really want this car, but yes the dealer does worry me.

I'll hang on until the end of March, if it doesn't arrive by then, I'll get something else.

Jason.

skyray · March 2003

Are there no other Mazda dealers in the area?

Heck, I drove 140 miles to get my 6s. No big deal at all.

jason777 · March 2003

Yes there is one about 150 miles away.

Will ford service the car under warranty?

Jason.

skyray · March 2003

Yikes, only one dealer in a 150-mile radius? I'm in Vermont and there are about 8 in that range.

I don't think Ford will service it under warranty, but here in the USA, you can take the car to ANY Mazda dealer for warranty service. I don't know if it works that way in Canada.

stretchsje · March 2003

I just did some highway driving this weekend. I filled up soon after my highway driving had begun and again after my return. Only 20 miles of nearly 300 were city driving, so my tank was over 90% highway.

Now, I've reported here earlier that when I bought my car new, my speedometer would read 78mph at 3000rpm. It now reads 73mph at 3000rpm.

Being quite anal about my car, I wanted to calculate my highway mileage. However, since I was traveling a known distance, I calculated it two ways.

My odometer informed me that I had driven roughly 280 miles between fill-ups. I calculated the distance I had driven to be roughly 300 miles.

Interestingly, I multiplied 78/73 (my difference in speedometer readings) times 280 (miles my odometer read), which results in 299- about what I calculated my actual distance to be.

My conclusion? My speedometer did indeed fall out of wack.

Now, should I get this fixed? This means I'll eclipse 100,000 miles, yet have an odometer reading 93,000 miles. It'll deceivingly help resale value.

I got 10.3 gallons of gas. That means according to my odometer I got 27mpg and according to my physical calculations I got 29mpg. Either way, that's pretty poor for the 4cyl engine.

However, 2/3 of that was with the defroster accidentally on, and hence the A/C compressor. Furthermore, since I had the cruise set for 77mph, I was actually going nearly 83mph. Since I occasionally sped up to 85mph, that means I was actually going over 90mph. Not good for mileage.

That's a lot of statistics. Your thoughts?

stretchsje · March 2003

Change in tire size, inflation, or tread wear could not account for the difference that the speedomter reads.

My speedometer has changed in relation to my tachometer. In the same gear, it no long reads the same speed at a given RPM. It did this well before my new tires, but even so, this measurement has nothing to do with the tires since it is a measure of axle rotation (independent of tire size), not actual travel speed.

Differently sized tires (or tread wear) would throw my speedometer off though, you're right, and I did just get new 17" tires. However these tires have not made any change from my 16" tires. With both, I still read 73mph at 3000rpm, whereas when the car was new I would read 78mph. This change happened well before I got the new tires.

I used radar to confirm that 78mph at 3000rpm is a legit figure- it's accurate. Since my clutch is not slipping, either my tach or my speedo must no be reading correctly.

What I didn't expect was that my calculations show that the difference the speedometer is reading matched up EXACTLY with the difference in distance I calculated that I had driven.

78/73 * 280 = 299, whereas I estimated I actually travelled 300 miles on a tank, not 280.

So, again, my speedo is out of wack. I probably was driving over 90mph, not knowing it. My mileage sucked as a result. At least, I hope that's why. No wonder I made good time!

Anyway, I hope I get better than 29mpg in the future. And, if somehow I'm wrong about this and my speedo is correct (and my calculated distance wrong), then I got an even worse 27mpg.

This is with the 4cyl engine and manual tranny. It's rated for 32mpg highway.

I'm anal. When I first got the car, I was gentle on the engine during break-in. Consequently, I averaged over 30mpg in city traffic! I actually got 540 miles on one tank. After Mazda's recommended 600 mile break-in, I opened it up a few times and had some fun.

I've since not been able to break 30mpg.

Not that I should be getting over 30mpg in the kind of congested beltway traffic I drive in, but I had been, and I want to again.

Since I figure I'm getting about 24mpg city and 29mpg highway, there's nothing wrong with my car. It's in line with what the EPA says it is, but my first few fill-ups showed it capable of much more.

How does this relate to the speedometer being out of wack? I don't know how far I've driven! It's hard to be certain if my mileage is problematic!

Consequently, I love to hear about what kind of mileage others are getting. Three things seemed to happen after break-in: my mileage dropped, but my low-end torque clearly went up, and my speedometer went out of whack. All at the same time, and yet none really constitutes a real "problem" per say, as the car still sounds and feels great.

mazda6s · March 2003

Keep in mind that if you do decide to get the speedo fixed, if they change out the unit, you could end up with what is called in the car biz a "branded title". This could greatly reduce the trade-in or resale value of the car. If a dealer changes out the speedo, they are required to put a label on the car stating that the actual mileage is unknown. Just a heads-up.

jason777 · March 2003

Just got my car, very nice but it has a couple of rattles, one on the left rear door (speaker I think) and one near the right rear, although that could be a seat belt not sure yet, now I have to deal with my awful dealer, to try and sort it out.

Jason.

alcjew · March 2003

Jason777: Sorry to hear you have rattles on your new 6, hope it's something minor and can easily be fixed. Keep us inform on what the rattles were.

mazdafun · March 2003

Shockingly loose, but I think it's true. They usually try to err high though, so you're usually not going as fast as you think.

jason777 · March 2003

I took it into the dealer, he was very helpful,
he came with me for a drive and did here the rattle.

He said that they would have to take the door apart and put it back together again to fix the rattle.

Jason.

alcjew · March 2003

jason: Does it sound like something is rolling around inside the door? Or it could be an unrestrained speaker, pwr window or pwr door lock wire harness banging inside the door. Let us know what they find.

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