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Mazda MPV: Problems & Solutions
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Comments
"A clicking type noise may be noticed when first applying the brakes after changing vehicle travel direction (Drive/Forward to Reverse, Reverse to Drive/Forward). This is a normal noise caused by the required brake pad-to-caliper clearances. When the direction of travel is changed, the brake pads may "shift" towards the new direction of travel. When the brake pad contacts the caliper, a clicking noise may be heard."
[The above description is taken from a Toyota TSB for 1995 Tercel, so it's not Mazda-only issue :-)]
Mazda has found a solution to reduce the noise significantly and they released a TSB that recommends installing "font disc spacer plates" whatever they are. They performed the fix on my '00 LX and it seems to have helped. The noise now is barely noticeable.
I hope this helps.
We have the Front Brake Noise. For us, it's not when the van changes direction, but when approaching and leaving a stop (and I recently heard it while going over a speed bump). When the van is warmed up, and all the associated components are warm, too, as we're approaching a stop sign (or congested traffic, or whatever), we hear a kind of clunk. Then, when we start going again, we hear the same clunk.
We've had the van to the dealer a number of times, but they can't fix the problem. They have, finally, been able to reproduce it, but they say that Mazda knows about it, and doesn't have a fix yet. I took the TSB about the tie rod ends to the dealer, but they say that's not the problem. I'm starting to wonder if we have a possible Lemon Law case, since there are obviously plenty of MPVs that *don't* have this problem, yet Mazda can't seem to fix ours.
http://www.vakcer.com/mpv/
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/tsb/index.cfm
It's easy to find on Vacker. On the NHTSA site, just be sure to choose MAZDA TRUCK as the make to get the MPV model. I went to both of these sites and printed out the TSB's for my rear-brake squeal. Even though you can't get the full-blown details of the fix (ie. parts involved/replaced, etc.), the summary info should be enough to get you going, as long as the dealer is competent in locating TSB's.
This TSB applies to '00 MPV's with a VIN lower than JM3LW28**Y0137197, though it could occur in higher VIN's (I've read). My VIN is not much higher, but I don't have this problem, thankfully.
evaddave, sorry to hear your dealer is giving you such a hard time! The Lincoln-Mercury dealer adjoining the Mazda dealer services my MPV (same owners), and my CSR said that their LM techs were more familiar with the TSB process vs. their Mazda techs. Lucky me, I guess, since I have received excellent service so far, probably due to that fact.
SC
me: "When will the brakes get fixed?"
them: "We don't know; Mazda hasn't published a fix for the brake problem yet."
aaarrrgh.
I hope this helps.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
----
Alex
Just wanted to let everyone know so you don't end up where I am.
I have after-market rugs that cover some of the carpeting and put plastic runners in other areas but it hasn't worked as well as it could have due to the little ones.
Good Luck
I remember back when I was a teenager, I had a little blue chevette. I'd drive that little smurf around for a week with the oil light on constantly before I could find time in my hectic social calendar to take it and have oil put in it. My dad flipped out one time he checked it and I only had around half a quart of oil left! And I don't think I EVER had an oil change. But I never killed a motor.
Anyway, I know I should have had the oil changed. I know better than to have let it go for so long. I just trusted that if anything were wrong, my oil light would come on. And I never imagined that my engine would blow up without ever having a warning light of any kind come on.
I've cried my eyes out over it. This happened Sunday, so my holiday was pretty much ruined. I just don't want anyone else to learn this lesson the hard way.
One last question, what kind of filter were you using?
and I am very sorry about your engine, I'll be changing our oil this weekend! ;(
BTW, my subie has run on little if no oil they are bullet proof! Of course it has had that Duralube stuff in it too.
Your oil warning light didn't come on if you still had oil in the engine, or at least oil pressure. I wonder if you can have the oil tested to see if it had broken down, but that's prolly too late to do. Do you know where you folks bought the oil, like what brand it was? Or, if it was at "Iffy" Lube? Those quick change places are not known for their quality service, or oils.
I think John's right, fight them on this, or at least try and come to a compromise... it sounds fishy to me that your engine went after 10k on oil, as it's not *that* much further than the OEM recommendations. My thought would be the filter clogged somehow and you weren't getting adequate flow, but still pressure (hence the light not coming on), but that's just a guess. I'd try and grab the filter (it's still your van, every piece) and have it tested at an independent lab or trusted mechanic.
/java
Others have used different products with similar results. A Rug Doctor would work wonders too I'd imagine.
Best of cleaning luck!
/Java
Also, isn't the warranty 3 years/unlimited mileage? Shouldn't all MPV' s sold still be under warranty?
I'm running synthetic oil and I am planning on leaving the oil in for 10,000 miles.
Don't you have some bills that suggest maybe you "forgot" some of the oil changes ???
However, if the oil was still within specification, then it makes Mazda's case weaker.
I think Mazda has to prove that the failure to change oil at recommended intervals was the cause of the failure.
Who is to say there wasn't a mechanical problem with the engine.
Given the several thousand dollars up for grabs here, it certainly would be worth your while to spend certainly under $100 for oil analysis.
However, it might be hard to find oil now that was not contaminated with coolant and other such items.
I believe the longest mileage interval Mazda recommends between oil changes is 7500 miles. (It could be 5K, but I don't have the manual with me right now!)
Food for thought. Most European carmakers recommend 10K intervals, or intervals dictated by the "computer" that gauges how the vehicle is being used.
I am very comfortable with 10K intervals in my 87 LeSabre given that I will still do three oil changes annually. Of course I'm using Mobil 1 and changing the filter every 5K.
The Mazda and the Contour get a change every 6 months, again with Mobil 1. That is between 3-5K on each vehicle.
I do recycle the Mobil 1 on the Contour since it is "low mileage" and use it in the lawnmower crankcase before it finally gets turned in.
Some of it may also find its way into the Buick as "top up" oil during the 10K interval.
FWIW,
TB
I wonder where one goes to have oil analyzed in your area Jubnem? I know you can send it to Amsoil if you're using their products (check amsoil.com), but there's gotta be some labs in any metro area. We have five labs in our town that test oils, but this is an oil producing state.
With today's technology, I can't imagine how a good lab tech couldn't sift through debris and junk already in an oil sample and tell you just what was up with the oil's makeup. Prolly tell you if it was from a Bronto or Stego-saurus for that matter!
FWIW, if you do your own oil changes, I've heard of cases where a lawyer would argue that a consumer couldn't prove that they actually changed the oil, even though they had receipts for oil, filter, funnels, shop rags, etc... unless they had dated pictures of said oil change. They had to prove they acutally used the oil for the car. Craziness.
Jubnem, plz keep our group posted on what's going on with your situation. I can't imagine Mazda being very unreasonable with this blown engine story, esp. if a newspaper got wind of it. I recall recently a story of a guy that had all kinds of (according to him) trouble with his VW, particularly with a certain dealership, and just wanted a rental reimbursed for around $50. Well, ugly things were said by both sides and lawsuits were filed, but then the news media got tipped off about it, and the dealership quietly settled the issue.
I hope it's all going to work out for you Jubnim!
/javadoc
Unfortunately, that same night my HD crashed on the computer and on the ATV the choke lever broke off. It was not a very good day for technology. I went to bed early!
With corporate, well, things got a little ugly. I talked to a different guy this time and he was just as obnoxious. I know I should have changed the oil, but I'm tired of these guys acting like it was just the crime of the century. They keep telling me that anything beyond 3000 miles puts the vehicle in grave danger. Puh-leeze! I've pointed out over and over that my manual recommends 7500 miles and they dismiss that every time. I ended up mentioning an attorney, something about small claims court, I also threw in something about putting a big sign in the window reading, "MAZDA ENGINE BLOWN AFTER 28K MILES," and parking it in front of the dealership. In the end, I told them I thought it was only fair that they offer me the engine at cost. I could tell the customer service guy wanted to smack me, but he just said that he'd forward my message to his boss.
I'm sure it won't do any good, but I did feel better after venting a little. I don't know what to do. I appreciate all this advice though.
My dad changed the oil last, and I doubt he's kept any receipts from anything. Besides, the service manager said it wouldn't make any difference if I could prove an oil change this summer. He said from looking at my engine, he knew it was lack of maintenance. He went back to his 31 years of experience bit.
Again, I do appreciate all your advice. I'll look into have the oil checked. I just feel like I'm fighting a losing battle here.
I hope this helps.
Because you seem to have told them at least once you didn't do the maintenance, you are going to have a tough time getting them to believe now, even if you have the bills, you did the changes. I would find out the cost of the engine, get at least two estimates and go to small claims court and sue. See what that does, but it may not do much since these guys really do get sued a fair bit and chalk it up as the cost of doing business. Depending on the judge you get, you may need a mechanic to testify on your behalf because the guy with 31 years experience is going to say you are the cause.
OK, I know how to tether my 3 yr old's car seat which is forward facing, but what about my 6 month old who needs to be rear facing for the next 6 months? I obviously want him in one of the middle row captain seats, but there isn't a tether bolt and I can't find a place where one could be attached. Anybody know about this? There's nothing in the manual. The only way I can see to tether his seat would be to put it in the third row and use a middle row tether. But there's no way I could climb back there with him to get him into his seat. Thanks in advance.
/java
/java
recommend tethering in either position. I've used it successfully
for #1-son in our Civic and Corolla, but attaching the tether to the
seat rails below the front passenger seat. We sold the Corolla and
got the MPV while waiting on #2's arrival. Now I need to bump him
from the carrier to the Britax, but still rear-facing. The tether
comes out of the same place (top of the seat) but since he's rear facing, the tether should really attach under the front seats. see
below - if my ASCII picture works
(where: t=tether, ||=Mazda seat, //=car seat .=nothing,
it wouldn't allow multiple spaces)
REAR-FACING
||.......//t
||......//..t
||.....//....t
||//////......t
=========......t
||.....||.......t
||.....||........t
FRONT-FACING
......ttt
......t||\\
.....t.||\\
....t..||\\
...t...||\\\\\\\
..t....=========
.t.....||.....||
t......||.....||
Big Kudos to you on getting a Britax, #1 rated child seat I do believe.
Maybe THIS will help you. The link is from the NHTSA site, and it features a Fisher-Price Safe Embrace II seat (what I use in my cars) and it's using a LATCH system, that I suspect you can easily convert to be used for the Britax seat and using the OEM tether hook-ups in the MPV. From the pictures on the Britax site, it looks like you can loop tether straps through the lower restraint pathway and run the strap thru the gap in the seat cushions to the tether hooks that Mazda provides.
Or, looking at the Britax site, they recommend you attach it to something like a seatbelt anchor point. Is this doable? I suspect you've already investigated all of these possibilities tho with every possible front-seat anchorage point. Can you install an anchor in the floor below one of the front seats and attach the anchoring strap there? Of course, if one is to drill a hole in the pan of your van, inspect the area first so you don't pierce something vital underneath the floor.
Hope this helps,
/javadoc
/javadoc
I did investigate under the seat, in fact there is a plugged hole under the passenger seat! I ripped the plug out over the weekend hoping it was a tether location, but alas it was not. I'm not sure what it is for??? The Britax site does mention a "connector strap" which should solve my problem. Worth the $4 to order it and find out anyway... Thanks again.
The connector strap works. We wrapped the connector strap around the base of the front seat "track", then connected the tether to that. It worked very well.
Good Luck.
On the back, you need to unbolt the coil pack (4 7mm bolts) and be careful that you reinstall the ground wire.
I used a rather long extension, a really small dab of anti-sieze on the plug (too little is probably better than too much), dielectric grease on the top electrode on the plug attaching it to the wire, and liberal amounts of WD40 on the spark plug socket so it would release the plug instead of the extension releasing the socket.
Took me less than 60 minutes the first time I ever did a Duratec, and that was with changing plugwires. (I had to have the 9mm Ford MotorSports wires because they looked good!)
TB
Waterpump, can you get pics. Autozone sells one with a metal impeller. If my guess is right, either the plastic impeller came off the shaft or simple broke up.
TB
My next question now is what DID cause the motor to die? If I keep the van will it just die again? There's no way I'll ever miss another oil change, but I just don't know if I can trust it now. If it were your van, what would you do? Keep it, trade it in, sell it, what do you think?
But it is, of course, my own opinion.
P.S. Are they going to replace the engine with a new one or rebuild the existing? Just curious.
P.P.S. Glad they agreed to fix it for you. You must be lucky :-)
I'd keep it.
WTG for keeping at it! I was figuring that they were going to need to prove that a missed LOF was the cause of the motor's expiration.
/javadoc
Whether I kept it or not would entirely depend on whether they replaced or rebuilt it. With a new engine in there, the chance of lightning striking twice would be pretty slim--the Duratec is too reliable. But if they rebuild it, who knows if they'll address the underlying problem [always assuming that your motoral hygiene habits weren't in fact the cause, which I don't see how they could have been]? I might not get rid of it tomorrow morning, but I'd be trading it at my earliest financial convenience.
On a 2002.
My $.02
RJ