Mazda MPV

chetbob

As a follow up to my post of several weeks ago when you would activate the cruise control and you would get a bump in the transmission and the rpm's would increase, took van to the dealer. They replaced something in the transmission nd that did not fix problem. Next they replaced the transmission and now when you set the cruise at about 60 the car goes into neutral. They again talked to mazda friday and they told them to try something different. Should know something tomorrow. They have the car since last Tuesday.Thinking of buying a different make car. Bob By the way its a 2003 lx ith 8400 miles

owr084

The filter is only available through Mazda... I'll know how much in a couple of days when I go buy one.

While waiting in the car today, I was bored and popped out the glove compartment door just to see how the filter is mounted ( I have a 2002). Well with the system on recirculation, the vent door is open and you can see the filter. So, I reached in and felt the filter. Yuck, I could feel the grit and even pieces of leaves or who knows what... I'm glad the filter was there to catch all that crud.

RBB

rutger3

I changed it myself, not that difficult. You must remove the glovebox door,then the filter is pulled out. I believe there are instructions back somewhere on this board which can be printed. Mazda rips you off for the filter, I do not think it is available eleswhere,paid about $20-$25 from dealer, it is a really flimsy item,but mine was quite dirty after 30k miles, will change it more frequently from now on. The tricky part is making sure the glovebox door is put back on right.

audia8q

Mazda shipped me a 2004 MPV-LX today....

The changes are very nice. The new nose is very obvious.

bsvoller

The cabin air filter on my subie runs about $30, but it's pretty well made.

With all the dust and grime around here, I'm glad to have it.

We change about every 12 months. Haven't had the van that long, but we'll do the same with it.

-brianV

stever

$25 isn't bad. Ones for my Quest run around $55. I used filter media from Home Depot to make my own last time.

Steve, Host

tccmn1

Ok, In my never ending quest to tinker with this unit, someone earlier had stated that they had mounted speakers in the dash where those little caps are. Mine is an LX with only 4 speakers.
Is the wiring under those caps on ALL 2003's with the in dash 6cd "Premium" tuner. I also have cassette too. Thanks.

PS: My tranny is still a jerking at cold take offs and other times between 1st and 2nd. They'd better figure out what this "normal" condition is soon! It seems to be worse in cold damp weather like we have now in MN.

Thanks for the info. on the air filter for the cabin...more$$$'s to spend.

bsvoller

Take a small flatblade screwdriver or penknife and carefully pry one of the caps up on your dash. You'll find the wire attached to the cap.

Can't say if it's there on all 2003's, but we have an LX with the stock head unit, so you probably have the same wiring harness.

-brianV

scott31

Hmmmm, if the wires are there, I'm tempted to install the speakers that would be there if we had the ES or the All-Sport pkg.

How hard is it to install the sub-woofer in the back? Are there wires there too?

mcadrecha

Well, I have 18,000 miles on my 02 MPV, and those cheezy Dunlops as far as life span is concerned. Anyone else have this problem with the OEM tires?

Now I am looking at Goodyear Aquatreads (better wet handling), Goodyear Regatta 2 (quieter ride), maybe a Yokohama Avid (heard about it here), and a few others. What kind of experience have any of you had on tire replacements? What is the best tire for the MPV?

Thanks,

Michael

big_guy

From what I have read elsewhere, the wiring is in place for the sub-woofer as well. You can get an OEM subwoofer designed to go in the space for $404 (Mazda part No. is LC72-66-960). I have read of others trying to get another manufacturer type to fit in the space but I haven't read if they have been successful or not. I want to upgrade my 4 speaker system as well. I plan on replacing the OEM speaker in the front doors with a component system and the rears with 6x9 3-way coaxial speakers. I would go for the sub-woofer as well but I don't know how much it would run to get an aftermarket unit that would fit in the same space as the OEM unit.

backy

I put Regatta 2's on my GCS last fall and have been very pleased with them. I've read good reviews on the Aquatread 3 (latest in C/D) but haven't used them.

bottgers

My 2-3 shifting problem resurfaced again yesterday. This is the first time it happened since our trip to Michigan 3 weeks ago. It did it on two consecutive accelerations, but hasn't done it since. This was the first time I noticed it acting as if it goes into neutral between shifts. I really don't think this problem is just going to go away, but on the same token, I don't want to take it to the dealership until the problem occurs often enough for the service tech to be able to duplicate it. I wonder if they've dealt with this problem enough to know what the fix is without being able to duplicate it?

steveeast

Trouble is, the fix doesn't always fix it. It seems there's a new TCM flash coming along sometime soon. The sooner the better; I had a sequence yesterday where I got the jolt on 15-20 successive 2-3 shifts. Today, none at all. But I'm getting really good at recognising when it's going to happen and easing off the throttle.

Steve.

rutger3

I put BF Goodrich Control T/A on my 01 MPV and have been happy. Have also heard good things about the Yokohama Avid, Pirelli P400, and Goodyear Aqua's. Perhaps choose based on price between these four?

bsvoller

There have been long discussions on that "other" board about whether the rear sub-woofer is wired or not. Several people, myself included, investigated this issue thoroughly. We have detailed information including wiring schematics, pin layouts, and part numbers, and have pulled the rear inside panels on a few MPV's to confirm.

I can tell you with certainty that the subwoofer is NOT pre-wired on 2003 LX's or LX-SV'S. They use a different wiring harness from the headliner at the C pillar rearward. There is a connector in the right general location that has caused a lot of confusion, but this connector is apparently for diagnostics, not the subwoofer (nor the power door motor).

However, the tweeters ARE pre-wired in the dash on the LX, and reportedly for the rear as well. I'm not certain about the LX-SV, but it's easy enough to find out (see my post above).

It's less clear about prior model years, but it's safe to say that Mazda is no longer pre-wiring the subwoofer if you didn't order it. I suspect that they didn't pre-wire the sub-woofer in some prior model years either. It may be related to when they stopped offering the super sound system as a stand alone option.

On the other hand, if you have a basic understanding of electrical circuits and access to the wiring schematic, making up your own harness isn't that difficult. The wiring schematic is quite straightforward.

As to cost, you can pick up an OEM sub-woofer for just over $300 from that dealer I mentioned recently (search for "mazda stuff"). It's the only sub-woofer I've been able to find that will fit comfortably in the available space, without getting in the way of cargo with the seats out.

I haven't pulled the rear panels on our MPV yet, but I hope to discover wiring for the rear tweeters when I do. Unfortunately, the rear tweeter covers are integrated into the inside panel, so adding them is prohibitively expensive. I'm thinking I'll either go aftermarket or get a second set of dash tweeters for the rear. They're finished nicely and would still match the interior. The OEM sub-woofer is sitting in my garage waiting on installation...

Someone in Mazda's marketing department deserves to be drawn and quartered for inventing all this nonsense... Why not offer the sound system upgrade as a stand alone option ?

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to save you folks some headache.

bottgers

I can't tell what type of fluid it is. I wiped some off the floor with a white paper towel, but the fluid doesn't seem to have any color to it. I'll have to keep an eye on the fluid levels to see if I can notice one of them going down. I suppose I could run it up on the ramps to see if I can see where it's leaking.

First it's the tranny shifting problem, now this. What the heck's going on with this thing? I thought the MPV was supposed to be one of the most reliable minivans? So far, I must say I'm not impressed with the reliability.

lazyfox

might be just condensed water from the A/C

lazyfox

from the schematicss it looks that the woofer is just connected to the rear left speaker wires

bob57

Lazyfox is probably right.
When it's humid (it's always humid in Houston...) and the A/C running (it's always running in Houston...) my MPV "puddles" the garage floor from the condensation dripping off the A/C lines.
If the fluid is transparent and no smell odds are that is what it is.

tomj5

I think the std LX speakers are great... Why waste money on Boom Box speakers for a car? Put a surround sound system in your home...

Leaks: Get the dog and see if he laps it up. If he does, it is coolent. (dog will probably drop dead)

Tj

lazyfox

"I think the std LX speakers are great... Why waste money on Boom Box speakers for a car? Put a surround sound system in your home..."

Eh perhaps because with DW and kids at home all the time I'd get no way to utilize it at home. At least in the car I'm occasionally alone and can blast it a bit. :-)))))

bottgers

Whatever it's leaking has a distinct patrolium/automotive fluid type look and feel to it. I don't think it's tranny fluid because you can definitely see the pink color in that. It doesn't appear to be engine coolant because you can see the color in that as well. The only other fluids that it could possible be because of its color is maybe engine oil, or more possibly brake or power steering fluid. My wife has the van at work right now, when she gets home I'll take a good look at it and see if I can tell where it's coming from.

nwng

any ocb type driver in your family who spray the windshied before heading out the garage?

bean3422

local dealer had 3 LX models...said he got them because they ran out of '03 LX and special ordered them.

I lik' it alot! Rear lamps are a little like RX-8 with the dark metallic reflection inside. All three had the body colored grills. Loved the look of the rear discs. Interior is pretty cool too, it has a lot of the dimpled plastic like my Protege.

I just want to see the ES model...the wheels should be pretty cool. Dealer says they look a lot like Rx-8 wheels. I forgot to check and see if they fixed the shifter problem (getting in the way of the stereo) but the door lock on the passenger side rocks. My wife might want to trade in our current 2002 just for that feature.

The Titanium gray looks pretty nice, the other was the same ol' gold, and the 3rd was a blue mix (not light or dark). Can't say I care for that blue...it may be similar to the Rx-8 blue, but it doesn't do it for a big vehicle imho. Toy blue is what I would call it.

bsvoller

The OEM "sub-woofer" measures just 6", hardly boombox material. I'm not interested in "thumpa, thumpa" either. It does balance the mid-range speakers found in the doors, which have no ability to reproduce either the tremble or the bass.

Frankly, the 4-speaker system is unusually poor, even for stock. I'd call it downright horrible, and I'm not one to spend on sound systems normally. The door speakers are the same ones used in the 9-speaker system, and have clearly been spec'd to have help on both ends of the spectrum.

Adding the dash tweeters made a huge improvement, but the bass line is still completely absent.

A matter of personal preference, no doubt.

-brianV (who listens to everything but twangy country, heavy metal, and rap)

dwsmha

OK, either I'm too lazy to look hard, or too lazy to call those mazda stuff people. Is there info on that website on the tweeters? I'm curious how much $$$ they are.

bsvoller

Sorry if I mislead you - I sent email regarding the tweeters, and they responded within a day - the tweeters aren't on their site as a regular item.

I paid $79 each as I recall. That was for the speaker, UV resistent cover, and cross-over filter as a single unit. They just snap in, and the color matched perfectly.

Hope this helps,

-brianV

pb17

Bean3422:
Where are you? San Diego dealers say January for new mpv's.

bottgers

I don't understand why anyone would try to upgrade the exsisting factory stereo system by installing more factory equipment. As someone who has many years experince with car audio, I can tell you factory systems aren't going to give you much performance in either sound quantity or sound quality. Even most of the lower end aftermarket equipment is an improvement over the factory stuff. If you're looking for more performance from your system, do yourself a favor, gut the factory stuff and install some decent aftermarket stuff.

tccmn1

I guess I started this whole thing with the speaker question months ago. In Feb, when I finally got my ordered MPV after 3.5 months, it was suppose to have 9 speakers with the indash/cass. tuner...per my naive dealer. Stupid me believed them!
Well, it came in with the plain jane 4 speaker setup.
I screamed, they knocked off $$'s and through in some toy options in for me. Anyway, the door speakers DO rock. Use the fader and you'll hear that the rear ones sound very dead and tinny. By adding the $70 each tweeters in the dash (simple adder I guess) you'll get more high end...but not more bass. My old DC had the INFINITY system and it really rumbled...sad but true, my new MPV's system is ok, but not like that one. I DID email with Mazda Stuff and they are temp. out of GRAY tweeters which would match my dash. They DO just snap into place.
The guy will let me know when they come in. Shipping and Handling extra $$'s.

Tranny deal: Fix is being worked on at Mazda Labs (LOL). There will be no bulletins, just word of mouth when it is released. The service guy mumbled his way through the process; they get a fix, try it in some vehicles and see what happens...how scientific is that! If the fix don't work, they go back to the d-board and try-try again. So it's like we're all ginny pigs while the high buck engrs. figure out this mess...Chrysler Corp., I'll never cuss only YOU again!
I can't type anymore of this sensless stuff for now.

bottgers

......80 years, someone would be able to build an automatic tranny that works.

bsvoller

-bottgers: Generally speaking, you're right, of course. It was the "gutting" part I wasn't happy about. I don't need or require top-of-the-line audio quality, and I really don't like the look and feel of the aftermarket stereos - they're overdone, full of features and tiny little buttons that I'll never use. Particularly given the MPV's dash, you're in for a major clash in styling.

I'm looking for halfway decent sound from a system that looks like it belongs in the vehicle, and isn't a throwback to my high school days...

I actually have a "premium" factory sound system in my subie that I'm very happy with - it sounds great, has the features I need, and it only cost $300 to upgrade the door speakers, add tweeters, and add a small subwoofer, installed. I upgraded to a 6 CD in-dash changer with a cassette deck for another $150. That's a very reasonable value for the money, and something Mazda could learn from.

I could not gut and replace the factory system for $300 or even $450 installed. In fact, when I priced aftermarket systems for the MPV, they all wanted close to 4 figures installed. That's just too much for a sound system, sorry, it's not worth that to me.

On top of that, I was going to end up with a subwoofer box behind the rear seat (and in the way of cargo), plus wiring and an amp somewhere forward, possibly under the driver's seat. I understand that the aftermarket speakers want more power to "light up", so driving them with just a head unit doesn't work well. Not my cup of tea...

I've heard Mazda's "Super" sound system, and it plays my music well. When I found out that the door speakers in the 4-speaker system are identical to those in the 9-speaker system, I decided to see what I could do with the OEM parts, since it was going to be a lot cheaper and involve less rumaging around inside the vehicle.

When I install the OEM subwoofer, I'll be at my $450 pain limit, and have a reasonably well-balanced system with 7 speakers.

If I can avoid cracking the dash, I do. I hate working under or inside the dash. I'm not fond of busting into my door panels either. You never quite get it back together the way it was... The rear quarter panels aren't as bad, because there's no need to seal against water intrusion, and no window mechanism or door lock mechanism to bother with.

Might strike some folks as an odd bit of reasoning, but it makes sense to me...

-brianV

bsvoller

Man, I don't know what to think...

Based on the statistical info available, this still sounds like a relatively rare problem - not that it being relatively rare is any help if you have it of course.

But if the stories of how Mazda is chasing this are true, it doesn't speak well to their business processes.

Ultimately, how you handle the problem is critical to your ability to fix it, and I'm afraid these rumors are not confidence-inspiring.

-brianV

bottgers

If your factory system sounds good to you, that's what matters. It's your system. Just don't listen to any high end aftermarket systems and you should stay satified with what you have.

bean3422

Northern Virginia/ Washington DC metro area...

We do sell a ton of MPVs around here...I would say it is one of Mazda's biggest markets for the MPV. Like the dealer said, they were completely out of LX models, which is why they were able to get a few 2004 Lxs.

I see almost as many MPVs as Odysseys around here...(or maybe it is just my imagination!)

dan2004

Came off the truck two days ago.

Very happy with the package which includes side airbags, traction control, 4 seasons, side skirts, and towing. Mazda seems to have optioned the 2004 intelligently, except the left out the roofrack!

The new 4 wheel disks are fantanstic.

pb17

Dan2004;

Were you able to negotiate on the msrp? Any rebates?

dan2004

I haggled a lot with several dealers but in the end I got quite a bit off. I did trade an old clunker which was not worth much and I think that helped. With the trade included I paid $22K against a list of $25.4K.

The dealer said there are no incentives but I think once the 2003 models go there should be $2K, the same as for the 2004 Tribute.

quest132k

Kings Mazda in Cincinnati is currently listing 20(!) 2004 MPVs on its internet site. I doubt they are all actually physically present - probably future allocations. Their site is offering these at $1400 UNDER INVOICE. I already got my 2003 last month, so I'm not inclined to look any further, but if you're waiting for the 2004s it might make sense to give them a call.

backy

I got a good look at the '04 LX Plus today. I liked the new 6-esque headlights but not the body-colored grille--I think it looks cheap compared to the '03. The tailights are the trendy clear, rounded ones. I didn't think the new alloys were any nicer than those on the '03. They are a little more rugged looking, if you go for that. Inside, the biggest improvement was the steering wheel, a 3-spoker that looks like the one in the 6. There's more flat plastic trim than in the '03, and chrome trim rings on the gauges, and different interior cloth. The salesman and I both tried stowing the back seat to see if the spring makes any difference--we didn't notice much difference. He did point out the support bar for the back seat, for when it's in the stadium position--did earlier MPVs have that?

Color-wise, I liked the palette for '03 better than '04. The Whitewater Pearl and Razor Blue are pretty nice, Silver is still available, and some people will like Titanium but it's not one of my favorites.

The big thing is that this dealer is offering $5000 off all '03 MPVs and $3000 off the '04s. Along with the price increase on the '04s, I think that makes the '03s a huge value. The improvements in the '04s aren't worth $2000+ IMO.

bottgers

I think our PeeVee has one, and it comes with an attitude problem. Some days it feels like shifting properly, some days it doesn't. Some days it feels like leaking fluid, some days it doesn't. I wish it would just make up its mind so I can take it in to the dealership. If I were to take it in now, I'm afraid they wouldn't find anything and it would just be a waste of time. Maybe I should just let it go until some catastrophic failure occurs. I bet they'd be able to find and fix that problem.

rumor24

I can attest to the new 04's as I just bought a new one 2 days ago in the Titanium Grey. I got the LX with power sliding doors. Had to take it in today because the timing belt was slipping in 3rd gear. They said it was minor and I will have it back Monday. I hope this is not a prelude of things to come. Say it isn't so, this was a expensive vehicle. But it is loaded with everything but leather.

subearu

The 3.0 duratec has a timing chain, the only belt is the serpantine belt for the power steering, water pump, a/c.

-Brian

rumor24

That is what they said was wrong. It slams between shifting from 2nd to 3rd gear. They said that sometimes happens with new vehicles and is easily fixed.

subearu

the timing chain has nothing to do with the transmission. It's the ECU that they can adjust with a new 'flash' to correct the shift behavior. There is a technical bulletin out there for this and even a rumored 'real' fix in the works. But, none of these involve the timing chain.

-Brian

rumor24

Is this an easy fix then, will it take care of the problem or is it a sign that this was not a wise choice?

subearu

FWIW, our '02 ES doesn't exhibit this behavior. I still think you made a wise choice.

The tranny computer is a 'learning' one, where it learns your driving habits to optimize shifting behavior. All Mazda is doing is adjusting this a bit (and in some cases replacing a valve body). That should clear it up, but there are some who continue to exhibit it. From what I understand, they're working on a new shift program that is supposed to address this once and forall.

-Brian

rumor24

Thanks for the moral support, I have owned many cars but all were used. I have read the other msg boards about the issue and there have been others but for the most part everyone raves about this vehicle. I traded a camry for it and it was hard to give that up. You have been encouraging and I will post after I get it back to let you know if it was fixed or not
Thanks again

tccmn1

I was told by the dealer that this cabin filter need not be replaced until 100K miles! Some recent posts were stating to replace at 16K miles....? Am I missing something here or is this a different filter? Hard to believe that the air filter for the intake into the cabin could plug up at 15-20K miles. Now the ENGINE Air Cleaner is a different story. I had mine replaced at 15K and IT was dirty....please explain.