Mazda3 Maintenance & Repair

z71bill · December 2005

Just watched the weather - temps in Houston will be down BELOW FREEZING tonight (maybe even hit 29 degrees). It happens a few times almost every year - I hope it freezes the grass in my yard - I had to mow my yard on Monday - but I guess its better than shoveling snow.

The AC in my Mazda3 has always worked good until the temps hit 85 degrees - I will get to give the heater a work out tomorrow.

One thing I figured out about the heater - if you turn the air flow switch over to the left side of the dial - like you do when you run the AC - and then push the recirc button - until the car warms up - it stops the cold air from coming in through the vents.

kagedude · December 2005

One thing I figured out about the heater - if you turn the air flow switch over to the left side of the dial - like you do when you run the AC - and then push the recirc button - until the car warms up - it stops the cold air from coming in through the vents.

Thanks. This worked for me today. 37 degrees and snowing here in NYC.

allfiredup · December 2005

Hello everyone,

I'm in the process of buying a new Mazda3 (if I can actually find the color/model I want). I use my iPod constantly when I'm in the car and have used a cassette adapter up to this point. I tried an FM transmitter and the sound quality was horrid. I have two friends with FM transmitters and they stink as well.

I wish Mazda offered an AUX jack at least as an accessory. Since they don't, I'm thinking the best best for me is to have the accessory cassette deck installed. It's a clunky (but realistic) solution. I'm sure the dealership will think I'm crazy when I ask for it.

Anyone else found a way to hook up their iPod in the 3? I have found some sites that show a way to "hack" into the stereo and install an AUX jack, but I'm not technical in the least.

Any input is appreciated!

dride · December 2005

I purchased a DLO Ipod dock a month ago that hooks up to the lighter. It is AWESOME, totally fits in the space like it was meant to be there. Itrip sucked, the monster cable attachment sucked. This DLO dock works great, it is an FM transmitter, and it NEVER drifts like the other two did. It was $76.00 at Target, and the BEST purchase I have made for my Ipod. For the money and sound quality, I highly recommend.

allfiredup · December 2005

Thanks. Perhaps I should give that a shot then. Worse case scenario, if I buy it and don't like it, I can either return it or give it to a friend.

Thanks.

richml · December 2005

I grew up in Upsate New York and have had lots of experience with winter driving. I'd thought about getting winter tires for my 3, but decided to see how it handled in snow before making the purchase.
Last Friday I had to drive through rain/snow/sleet/ice from the Jersey Shore to Philadelphia to work. Who knew that there wouldn't be a plow on the interstates along the entire route? The 90-minute trip turned into a two and a half hour trip.
Lots of cars were experiencing traction problems, but I didn't like the feel of the ride (and I love my 3). I'm in the market for winter tires.

mz3 · December 2005

My daughter just took her 3 back to the dealer because of persistant vinegar odor when runing the A/C. Used to be occasional & now all the time. They said couldn't find anything, though admitted to me without taking apart really can't see anything. So I'll need to start making calls to get looked at & fixed. Anyone have info that would help us?

z71bill · December 2005

Sorry to hear you have the smelly AC - about a month ago the vinegar order stopped - could be the cooler weather - less humid air - reduces the chance of mold in the AC

I assume the vinegar order is mold - if not I sure don't know what else it could be.

I thought the problem was caused by a plugged evaperator drain line - you know the water that drips from under your car when you run the AC on a hot day. If this line gets part way plugged - the water backs up - dark & wet area in the HVAC is a good place for mold to grow.

It would be easy to check out .

allfiredup · December 2005

I have read somewhere (can't recall which website) that the '04 model in particular had A/C issues. Was this one of the problems or was is actually something mechanical?

I'm hoping the '06 won't have any problems. I'm picking mine up on Thursday afternoon.

autonomous · December 2005

I didn't like the feel of the ride (and I love my 3). I'm in the market for winter tires.

Wise.

A friend was giving me a quick ride to the local auto parts store this weekend in his Buick and grinding the ABS at every corner to get the car to stop in the freshly fallen snow. When I asked had he considered winter tires he retorted: "What do I need them for? All you have to remember is to drive more slowly." And then we sped up to make the light.

z71bill · December 2005

From what Mazda tells me the 2004, 2005 & 2006 AC (HVAC) are all the same - no changes - no improvements.

I even ask the parts department for the part number of the AC evaperator for both the 2004 model and the 2006 model - someone (on this board or another) had posted that a sales person had told them Mazda had solved the problem by putting in a larger evaperator. But the part numbers are the same.

I had my windows tinted - and that really helped -

As far as the vinegar smell - Mazda never figured out what the problem was - would show up for a few weeks then go away - then come back - the smell would only last 10 seconds or so - each time I started the car.

My theory - the AC evaperator was part way plugged with mold - that reduced the air flow & reduced the cooling capacity - and caused the smell - but over time the constant flow of condensation washed most of the mold away - now my AC works (a little ) better and my smell is gone. Only problem with my theory - when I opened up the side panel on the HVAC I could not find much mold. Very small amount of black dust (I assumed mold) on the diffusser plate. But not enough to plug the air flow.

dride · December 2005

I've had pretty decent luck with the Hankook 404s on 16" rims. All said and done, it was $650.00 (rims $60, tires $80) which beat the heck out of paying $170 for blizzaks (which I know are good, but out of my budget). Now, the changeover btwn seasons is free.

mrblonde49 · December 2005

FM will never offer as high quality as a direct line in. I got this for my MP3 player and it works great. This is the way to go, IMO

http://www.sylfex.com/products/AuxMod/

There are about 4 different kinds of solutions for Ipod Integration - you can search and find all about them at www.mazda3forums.com/

dride · December 2005

How hard was that to install? Were the directions easy? How long did it take, what does your stereo look like now? For $60 that looks cool, unless I need a phd in stereo installation...

mrblonde49 · December 2005

Unless you don't know how to remove your stereo, it's cake. Disconnect battery, pull head unit out, put Aumod into plug on back. Tie wrap your cable so it doesn't move and route it out. Done. My stereo looks stock - can't tell anything. Here is what my MP3 setup looks like now - power and audio cable routed out to cupholder area

http://img85.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img11472ti.jpg

perthguy · December 2005

I have a September '05 Mazda3 Hatch bought in Australia. I have a litany of complaints, I'm afraid :mad:

Rather than try to write them all down here, I've set up a website that I can keep updated with news as it becomes available. Click here

To comment to me, please use the email address provided on that site. I do not come here often.

allfiredup · December 2005

Um, how do you go about removing the stereo in a situation like the Mazda3 where it is so integrated? I changed out stereos in several of my Hondas over the years, but I'd just hate to scratch or break anything. Then again, I'm cheap as heck, so I need to figure out how to do it.

waygrabow · December 2005

I have heard that the Hankook tires are decent, but I wonder where you got the price ($170) for Blizzaks? Tirerack.com has them for $70-80 each. We put four Blizzaks, 195/60-R15, on my daughter's Protege for $360 including the roadhazzard warranty. She lives near Vail and says the additional traction of a dedicated winter tire is amazing.

dride · December 2005

I get the price from riding on 205-50-17's, which came on my 3. $135.00 at Tirerack, add changing out tires to rims ($10.00-$20.00 per tire), rotating and balancing ($10.00 per tire)and tax... Obviously, a 15" tire is quite cheaper than a 17" tire. Lower profile tires are usually more expensive. I went down to 16" and had way more selection, and the prices were substantially better. No complaints from the 404's. Although Tirerack may have them cheap, shipping and installation are all things to consider. Consider yourself lucky your daughter has 15 inch rims! $360.00, I'd laugh all the way to the bank.

richml · December 2005

Tirerack is out of the Blizzak 205-50-17s for the season.

The local Firestone center quoted me a price of $715 including mounting, tax, etc., for the Blizzaks

kagedude · December 2005

Hi. I just noticed this now. When I turn off the engine on my 3i and take out the keys, the odometer display is still on showing the mileage. Doesn't it normally go off? I thought it did. Thanks.

moontom · December 2005

after having the same slip/sliding problem that others here described using the original equipment, I went on a long search. eventually, after learning that snow tires were essentially sold out for the season, I investigated lesser-known all season tires. found four Nokian WR, an all-season tire with a AA traction rating, and had them installed before the latest snow. they held the road beautifully.

dride · December 2005

That is a great setup! How long did it take you to rig that up? Very well done!

katherine2 · December 2005

I bought my Mazda3S in August 2005 and it was great fun... til the snow came. Then it was an obvious threat to safety of persons inside the vehicle as well as outside the vehicle. Extremely poor performance in snow conditions! Had no traction whatsoever. Never been that scared behind a wheel!

mrblonde49 · December 2005

It is VERY easy to remove stereo. The key is removing the fake carbon fiber strip on the dash - you just carefully pull it out, starting from the right. Once it's off, you remove 2 screws holding in stereo, and slide it out. Loads of info for all of this on the site I mentioned above

mrblonde49 · December 2005

That is a great setup! How long did it take you to rig that up? Very well done! "

Thanks. The top of the center console is also easy to remove - only 2 screws. So hooking up the AUXMOD, and routing the cables, and drilling the holes for the cables to come out took maybe 2 hours total. And that's going along carefully

kagedude · December 2005

Nevermind. Checked this morning and it was off. I guess it goes off after a while.

lifestar · December 2005

The OEM tires on the Maz3 sedan and hatchback are notoriously bad in wet/snow conditions. There's been a # of complaints about those Goodyear tires, just go to tirerack.com to see what I mean.

I knew there was a problem with those tires once I hit my first pool of water on the road. The car JERKED to one side suddenly and I was thankful I had both hands on the wheel to correct the sudden change. The problem is those goodyear tires aren't designed to handle real wet/snowy conditions, they don't have enough traction, that's the problem.

So for the winter, I went to NTB and bought myself a set of winter tires and wheels for below 800 dollars in the end. The tires were Dunlop SP M3 tires, highly rated by tirerack specs and reviewers, even maybe better than Blizzak! I discovered that I would get 50 dollars off the for each tire at NTB, so that's why I had them installed there. The wheel size I went to was 16in cuz the higher profile wheel will give you better traction control in snowy conditions. Hope that helps.

apolloc70 · December 2005

hey all, 2 weeks ago, during the first really cold day of winter, my siter got into the car (and before starting the ignition) as she closed her driver side door, the rear windshield completely shattered.... the car is not even 1 year old and less than 500 miles...

have any of you had similar problems with the mazda 3 ?

thanks

allfiredup · December 2005

I will definitely be spending some time on that site. Loads of great info on there in addition to the stereo/iPod stuff.

I'll also let you guys know how things work out for me trying to install the AUX thing myself.

allfiredup · December 2005

Quick question- I'm picking up my new Mazda3 tomorrow night in Knoxville, TN and driving it back here to Atlanta. It's about 190 miles back, all on I-75.

I've always heard/read not to maintain a constant speed for extended periods of time during the first X amount of miles. Is this true? If so, how much should I vary speed and roughly how often? This has never been an issue before because I usually break them in here in Atlanta stop-n-go traffic.

Thanks!

kyfdx · December 2005

Drive an hour.. get off I-75, and get a Slurpee.... Drive another hour, get off I-75 to stop at a restroom.. Drive another hour home.... that should do it..

backy · December 2005

In addition, if I were you I would not use the cruise control but instead try to vary speed a little, depending on traffic and conditions. Or... is their a non-freeway route you can take?

z71bill · December 2005

Mazda3 break-in break in period - from the owners manual:

No special break-in is necessary - but in the first 600 miles Mazda recommends

Don't race the engine

Don't maintain one constant speed, either slow or fast -for a long period of time.

Don't drive constantly at full-throttle or high engine RPM for extended periods

Avoid unnecessary hard stops

Avoid full throttle starts

All sound like good ideas

Just don't use the cruise control -

I would take a tire gauge and check the PSI before I drove off the lot 90% of the time the dealerships put in too much air -think mine had 40 PSI -

mrblonde49 · December 2005

From the owner's manual:

allfiredup · December 2005

The non-freeway trip is over four hours. If I had more time, I'd probably return home that way since it is a nice drive. But, I'll be leaving the dealership at 8:30 or 9 tonight, so getting home as fast as I can is my goal.

Thanks for all the info. I'll stay away from cruise and not drive it too hard (for now). :P

kagedude · December 2005

Argh. Checked this morning again and it was ON. Not sure if the 27 degree weather has something to do with this. Anyone know if the odometer display is connected to anything major? I can live with this oddity but if its gonna drain my battery or mess up the ECU, I would want to bring it in.

wildthing · December 2005

Has anyone purchased satellite radio and installed it in their Mazda 3 ?? I'm wondering what installation choices people are making..??..where to install the attenna ?...where to install the unit and how to connect it to power..??..I know you can plug these units into the cigarette lighter but it pains me to think I have to mess up my interior with wires running all over the dash for power and attenna ?? :confuse:

daryl · December 2005

Here's a new topic. My daughter is learning to drive my 5spd 3. She got stuck on a little patch of ice on our driveway, and thought faster is better. So, she basically floored it in first, and after I yelled, she put the clutch in. I felt better for a second, then she said, "It's at 8,000" It was up there for about 5 seconds before she let off the gas. Before I talk to a far away Mazda service department that I will never take the car to, I'll ask this forum if anyone thinks any damage may have occured in those few seconds. Car continues to run well, though mileage is down, presumably due to the colder weather. I put it up to 8,000 for a couple seconds, and there seems to be a limiter because it choked a little at 7,500.
Daryl

Mr_Shiftright · December 2005

Well the engine has sort of answered your question.

At extreme rpm and especially with no load (in neutral), what your pistons want to do is leave their connecting rods and go for a ride through the hood; concurrently, your connecting rods would like to release themselves from the crankshaft and gain their freedom as well.

So you have this rather amazing levels of stress pulling pulling the pistons toward heaven (but not eternal life).

The question then becomes-- was this amount of stress harmful in the long run?

It's hard to say but I rather doubt it, or you'd know about it.

Basically any engine wants to run up to destruction. Without controls, every engine would destroy itself.

I suspect you do have a rev limiter and that it worked.

However, every over-rev is rolling the dice. One time, that connecting rod, or bolt or wrist pin or whatever, is going to let loose.

mdaffron · December 2005

First of all, there is a limiter; second, you didn't go THAT far over the redline; and third, the engine is pretty new. Oh -- and fourth, this only occurred for a few seconds. As long as your oil's in good shape, I don't think you did anything at all.

Meade

ggoins · December 2005

I did quite a bit of investigating while living above 7500 ft. last year. Michelin has an excellent from snow to ice. I purchased the MX series which was very high rated very deep tread. excellent on 2 or 4 wheel driving

ggoins · December 2005

anyone else had this. dealer says it is harmonics of the engine. we sat in 2 other mazda 3's same vibration...also preliminary gas mileage is variable..

allfiredup · December 2005

I seriously doubt you did any damage either. That's the reason for that rev limiter, to keep you from revving so high that you'll do damage. Also, I've always read that redlines are a bit conservative on a lot of cars.

But, in the words of Jeff Foxworthy, "Don't do that no more!"

chacobleu · December 2005

I asked the same questions 6 months ago. Dealer is correct. I noticed that the vibration has calmed down quite a bit, though (even at idle). Could be the engine mounts breaking in. The rubberized mounts will harden in colder temps - this could be part of it. Spring time will tell if this is truth or myth. Over time, rubberized mounts will harden permanently. I think Mazda had made mods to an engine mount (1 of 3 or 4) due to cracking or breakage on older models.

Time will tell; I was concerned for about a week - that has since passed.

chacobleu · December 2005

My only concern is those darn computers and drives. They keep record of everything. If the car were to develop an engine or emission problem, related to or unrelated to redlining, could the mfg. make an arguement that redling caused the problem?

chacobleu · December 2005

BTW - Daryl I brought the warranty issue up for a good reason.

Several months back I had read in a auto magazine (I believe it was Automotive News) that Mitsubishi voided warranty on someone's Lancer based on info they found on the internet related to that particular vehicle and its owner belonging to a race club.

Just wait till they start installing 'black boxes' like the ones found on commercial jets. We are doomed.

modock · December 2005

It was real cold last week (I'm talking high of 8F) and I noticed the same thing that he is talking about. I did not notice it during the summer or when I was doing anything but revving the engine to try and warm it up at a stop light. I have never noticed it while I actually had the car in gear. So I tried to stay right at 2100 rpm with the car in third gear and I got nothing. There was no vibration at all. That leads me to believe that the Dealer was correct and that the vibration is due to random harmonics in the engine. I think that is was just a coincidence that I noticed it when it was cold. Why would I be revving the engine to get it warm when the weather is warm. Just my 2 cents.

Modock

audia8q · December 2005

Just wait till they start installing 'black boxes' like the ones found on commercial jets. We are doomed.

Some mfg already use them....they don't inform the consumer either. Lawyers and prosecuters gladly use the information agaisnt you..

ggoins · December 2005

Thanks. the vibration can feel just like a motor mount problem.I wrote to Mazda still awaiting a response... also at 650 miles we notice a gulping of gas (we are doing a full tank then fill-up to check)...any body have this issue with the hatchback 3

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