Mazda5 Owners: Problems & Solutions

ginaandy

My mazdas idle is way to high and I can't bring it down.

velveteendad1

Just got this same error message on our new (1000 miles) Mazda5, too, so they're replacing the Evap pump. Second time we've had it back for the engine check light in a week, and we also had to have the rear suspension lubricated because it was creaking. Hope this isn't representative of what the rest of the car's life will be like - we love the car, other than these problems, and are holding out hope that it'll be perfectly reliable from here on in!

caliaghi

Hi there,
I have the same carbon gray Mazda 5 standard transmission like yours and I was wondering if you experienced the same problem like me. I have a hard time to engage the first gear, the stick is really reluctant to be pushed in the first gear. This is true just for the first gear, the other 4 including the reverse goes smooth and clean. Is it just because is a new car with just 3000 km on bord or is it a problem with my car? Thanks for answering me at caliaghi@gmail.com

vinnyfast

I bought my 5 last Sept, and so far with 20k on it, been running well. I'd like to know if it's possible to add (3rd party) a supercharger/turbocharger to the car without voiding the warranty? If the same engine is in the 6 and the new CX7 with 240+ HP, then I think this car can handle the extra HP without too many issues. I realize it'll probably need some suspension/tire/exhaust modifications as well, but I think if I can get away with spending an extra $5k, it'll be worth it. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know as I'm quite serious about doing it. I've already tinted the windows and installed a 1000watt amp/spkr box without voiding any warranties. I'm planning on replacing the Toyo factory tires with 225/40ZR17's before the winter. ">

whipped95

I'm pretty sure that adding a turbo charger would void the warranty, unless it becomes a factory upgrade (which is highly unlikely). It would be a nice to have some extra ponies though.

My next plan is to upgrade the stereo and speakers. Nothing too fancy but I need a little more bass, maybe an "8 low profile sub and some boston acoustics or infinity separates for the doors. My main problem is deciding what to do with the stereo itself, Upgrade with the auxmod for my mp3 player? or just install a new stereo with a AUX jack built in. What did you do?

vinnyfast

I'm definitely going to look into the possibilty of adding a turbocharger or supercharger after the warranty has expired. As far as the sound is concerned, there was definitely some bass lacking, so I bought a Rockford Fosgate 300watt amp, and hooked it up with a dual 12" subwoofer i picked up at Xscargo for $130.00. I had it installed at Best Buy (Mazda certified), with a custom bass dial in one of the dummy switches at the left side of the steering wheel. I wasn't sure how it was going to sound, but it exceeded my expectations...BIG TIME!!! Totals cost with installation was $600, but well worth it. The car really rocks, not to mention shaking everything in its path within a 100 foot radius!! I will be adding an MP3 player which I'll have hooked up to the AUX pretty soon. I'll email you a pict and the links.

vinnyfast

I had the amp hooked up by splicing thee wires from one of the rear speakers and using a high level input, with the addition of a good noise filter. There is absolutely NO noise at all. I also added a custom 0-18db bass control knob in one of the 4 dummy switches so I have more control of how much bass I want. The added bass really exceeded my expectations, and the bass is clean and loud enough to set off car alarms! For $600 Canadian, I think it's worth it. I want to add an MP3 player, because the CD's I keep in the sun visor cd holder keep coming out when the music gets too loud! The other cool thing is that the quick disconnect plug makes it easier to remove the box and amp (amp bolted to the back of the box), so I can still have the 6 seats availbale, or extra cargo space when necessary.

pique

If anyone would like to, we are looking for the name of a dealer in Montreal (or near) where you have had good service.

I've searched an noticed that bob_welsh seems to have had a good experience so I hope he replies.

Thanks!

whipped95

Thanks for the details! I received the AUXMOD this morning, soon I'll have 30 Gigs of music on tap

c3po

Are you installing it yourself. Does anybody know if its difficult to take out the unit for the Mazda 5 in order to install the AUXMOD. I see alot of DIY pics for the Mazda 3\6 but the 5 is a little different.

whipped95

I plan to install the AUXMOD myself sometime this weekend. I found some great information over at mpvclub.com. One of the members posted some instruction along with pics, overall it looks like a simple install. Here the link AUXMOD Installation

wxcrawler

I was a little worried it might be too complicated for me to install the AUXMOD when I got mine, but it was pretty easy. It took me about 30 minutes. The pictures and diagrams mentioned above helped a lot.

Lee

mazda5lover

I am thinking of adding an amplifier to my Mazda5. I want to do it myself to save myself some dough. I have a good idea of what I am doing. I need to know where a good place to run the cable from battery through firewall is. I will be using the speaker level line to the amp. any ideas/comments/suggestions, please let me know.

whipped95

I can't find the site at the moment, but I remember seeing someone route their amp power wire through an existing gromet on the firewall however, I don't know the exact location. I think it was somewhere on the drivers side.

whipped95

I installed the AUXMOD this morning which took about 45 minutes. Overall a simple install, however some of the panels were a bit stubborn coming off. I didn't mount a jack, i just ran the whole length of cable under the carpet to the center console where I have it plugged into the docking connector of my Creative Zen Vision M. At first I tried listening without the ground loop isolator but there was noticeable background hiss and alternator whine. So I stopped by Radio Shack and picked one up for $17 and hooked it up. Sounds so much cleaner now with no alternator whine. I found using the Zen line out sounds much better than using the head phone jack.

Oh Yea, I noticed that the stereo head unit is made by Clarion, which is a pleasant surprise. Speaker upgrade is next, any suggestions?

mazda5lover

Boston Acoustics is what I went with for my speaker upgrade. The only thing I left alone so far is the tweeters in the front door. I did change the front and back speakers. The front door ones (not the tweeters), I changed to Boston Acoustics S55, for the rear panel speakers I upgraded to Boston Acoustics SL80. These are nice speakers, a little pricey but sounds way better. Still I will be installing and amp just to get more BASS. :shades:

menmy5

These boards were extremely helpful in making the decision to by a 5. Thanks to all of you. We looked at the RAV4 but went with the 5 because of the handling, the thousands in price difference, and the cargo space to carry our 3' x 2' x 27"(h) dog crate (in the RAV it filled up the entire back). We also looked at the CRV but went for the 5 because of the cargo space, price, and lesser road noise. So far we are getting along fine without a front arm rest -- I just wish it had one of those rubber pads to the left of the clutch to rest my foot on, but I'll survive.

We're happy to report no rattles or creaks, no wind noise, and a whole lot of fun driving. We'll wait to see about the handling in snow and get new wheels and tires as needed.

Thanks again to all!

wcollins73

Our auto mazda5 now has about 750 miles on it. Once after driving about 10 minutes in traffic, it almost stalled when trying to take off from a red light. Another time the car had been running a few minutes and it completely stalled when trying to take off from a stop sign. The latter happened a couple hundred miles ago, and we are waiting to see if it happens again before taking it into the dealer.

c3po

I got this problem about 6 months ago, when it was still in breakin period, under 1000 miles. After driving about 10 mins from a red light I acelerated and the car hesitated and sounds like it was going to stall. It has not done that since.

mazda5lover

How did you get to the rear panel speakers?

mazda_addict

Noise over speed bump - Mine too has a problem like that. The car produced too much noise, coming from below when speeding in the freeway's uneven road.

Engine shaking on starting - I noticed that my car's engine shakes on starting when the engine is cold or been idle for 24 hours.

isda65

Guess what they the service center told me the upteenth time I brought this up? "They're normal". I will bring this up everytime I go for service, I don't care what they'll think. This is not normal. I'll do this until a fix comes up or until somebody in this forum has found a resolution.

About the engine shaking at startup, I noticed that most of the time when it's cold it doesn't shake. Only when the engine's warm does it do this.

mazda5lover

Hey, NOT all of the time but some times my engine would shake. I brought it up to the dealer and of course when they wanted to see the problem nothing happened. OK.. Well I told my mechanic friend about this and he gave me the easiest $7 dollar fix. He got me a 1 foot 4gauge ground wire and replaced the factory one that was probably an 8 gauge. Guess what, I haven't noticed the shaking again. So on with his theory about better grounding, I looked it up on the internet and I guess they have grounding kits for cars. The point there would be to run anywhere from 1 to 6 99% copper or higher to different points. I have not done this since I don't see a need for it.. but it's just an idea. Anyway, thicker Ground wire worked. Hope it helps you.

isda65

This is definitely a good lead mazda5lover. Thanks. So I brought this up with my friend thinking he might be able to provide me an explanation about how this is related to grounding (He's retired and restores cars for a hobby). He couldn't come up with anything definite though. So I just left it at that. I was wondering what your mechanic friend told you about his reasons for suspecting that it had something to do with the grounding. I surfed the internet for it and I only found stuff that links it to improved audio. Could you have found sites that would have offered better info? If so, I'd be very thankful if you can share me the links. Anyway, I'll bring this up again with the dealer. If they play dumb again, I'm changing to another one.

Thanks.

mazda5lover

:shades: Well, my mechanic friend, who works for a custom repair shop tells me they do this to improve performance. Here is the information from the following website.

http://www.sfxperformance.com/parts/TAY21533.htm

Track proven to add up to an additional 5HP when properly grounding engines. Helps prevent voltage drops and increases spark energy which eliminate power loss, thus improving overall engine performance of electrical components under extreme racing conditions. The grounding kit comes complete with; head to head, head to block grounding straps, battery to starter and battery to ground/block cables with the heat shrink sleeve tubing and all necessary mounting hardware.

How does it stop shaking I don't know... but the car feels better at idle. It starts up like a baby.

c3po

Our Mazda5 automatic has about 5000Km , yesterday I notice on the on-ramp merging lane as I was accelerating , I notice the car really hesitated at about 90 km/h , close to 3000 rpm. I tried flooring it , but the car won’t respond. Anybody experience this hesitation at about 3000 rpm. If this happens again …the dealer is going to hear from me. I heard from other Mazda forum that this is a common problem with 2.3 L .

wcollins73

Follow up: Our mazda5 now has about 2000 miles on it. It has done the hesitation at least 6 times now. Three times from a dead stop and 3 other occasions while accelerating from about 15mph in 2nd gear. Our car has been at the dealer for two days and they are not able to duplicate the problem. They say they've checked it with the computer twice, but nothing comes up. I believe the service manager is doing everything he can. He has talked with "Mazda techs" but they say they've not seen this problem anywhere else. He has no solution and thinks it was probably temporary since he can't duplicate. I guess I'll be watching my car closely and be very weary of pulling out in traffic.

If anyone else is having this issue please take it to your dealer and report the problem so at least Mazda is aware of the problem. From what the service mngr told me Mazda hasn't seen this issue anywhere.

mazdahead

I just got my mazada 5 and a few people outside of the vehicule noticed when I started the car that it as a weird rattling sound like a metal rattling. I called my dealer today and got the "its a normal mazda 5 noise" and mentioned something about starter or something along the line of noise close to the starter I couls not ear him well as I was on the cell phone when I called him. did anybody experience the same noise or know of this noise. It seems to be near the front passenger side.

velveteendad1

If it's a buzzing sound (rather than a rattling sound), then we have it, too. But it goes away within about 5 seconds.

bobw3

Actually, I have a Ford Freestyle and it makes a rattle too for a few seconds. I think it's one of the heat shields...not a big deal.

nifty56

My Mazda 3 does the same...

take2flight

My Mazda5 with 3500 miles has hesitated on acceleration from day one, and now has stalled twice. Need to take it to the dealer, I guess.

dagmar3

The A/C system on the 5 has the same part numbers for the condensor and compressor and blower motor (but the evaporator is different) as the Mazda 3. And the 5 has more glass are and more cubic feet of space to cool. And the steeply-raked windshield heats up that big black dash so that it radiates heat like a cast iron stove.

I had the windows tinted the first month ($160) and also purchased the windshield reflector from Mazda ($40) to keep things cooler when it's parked. I live in the Deep South - tinting windows is something that is done without much consideration. Just do it.

Claires

Folks, I've moved the most recent questions/answers about AC to a new topic here:

Mazda5 Climate Control Issues

blynmazda5

Well I told my mechanic friend about this and he gave me the easiest $7 dollar fix. He got me a 1 foot 4gauge ground wire and replaced the factory one that was probably an 8 gauge. Guess what, I haven't noticed the shaking again.

I've noticed that my Mz5 shakes at start up and would like to do what Mazda5lover did to his car. However, before I try replacing the ground wire, I want to make sure I understand the process. I've looked at the battery and located the ground wire. It is this ground wire that I am replacing with a 1 foot 4 gauge ground wire.

Has anyone else done this?

Thanks.

David

isda65

I'm planning to do the same. Mine shakes less when the engine is cold, more when it's hot. Does yours do the same? Anyway, I'm looking out for ideas/inputs on the benefits of putting not just one but a couple. I plan to make the wires myself.

Cheers

andrewhe

Hi All,

I am considering buying a Canadian M5 GT, which comes with 17" wheels. Given my desire for comfort over maximum handling, I would actually prefer to have the 16" wheels that come with the GS. Is there anyone in the Toronto/Thornhill area that has recently purchased a GS but would like to swap wheels with a GT?

Claires

You've probably noticed new discussions appearing all over the forums. What's happening is that we are closing generic, everything-in-one pile discussions like this and creating smaller discussions that deal with specific areas of interest. You'll find a number of discussions listed at the top level of this group: Mazda5

When you're ready to post, please check the discussion list there for the appropriate discussion to post in. If you don't see a discussion that fits your question or problem, feel free to create one. We can deal with accidental duplication of topics as things progress.

While you're at the top-level, don't forget to click on "Track This Group". That way, you'll be able to track all of the discussions that are already here, as well as any new ones as they are created.

Using the "Read New Posts" link will mean you won't miss anything on the Mazda5 board. If you see a discussion that doesn't interest you, all you have to do is click on the "Remove Track" link within the discussion.

Thanks for your understanding and help in making this group a great resource of information for Mazda5 owners!