Mazda 3 Transmission Problems
I have a 2005 Mazda 3, auto 4 spd, 2.3 ltr. All of a sudden this morning when I put it in reverse, I get a loud, vibrating noise. ONLY in reverse. All other gears work quiet and smoothly.
I checked underneath the car; no leads, drips, drools, and pools of fluid. There is no visible damage to anything. All fluid levels are normal and don't smell burnt, and are clear.
What could this be?
I have an appointment Thursday at the dealership, but I don't want to get scammed into paying for this. I'm worried they'll tell me it's been damaged and the warranty won't cover it.
Any suggestions how to go about fixing this without getting screwed over? I can't afford repairs.
Thanks
I checked underneath the car; no leads, drips, drools, and pools of fluid. There is no visible damage to anything. All fluid levels are normal and don't smell burnt, and are clear.
What could this be?
I have an appointment Thursday at the dealership, but I don't want to get scammed into paying for this. I'm worried they'll tell me it's been damaged and the warranty won't cover it.
Any suggestions how to go about fixing this without getting screwed over? I can't afford repairs.
Thanks
Tagged:
0
Comments
If you didn't abuse your car there is no reason for you to be worried. It should be covered under warranty. Be nice to them but if they try to blame you change the tone and ask to talk with the General Manager. If that doesn't work either, call Mazda headquarters. Do not pay for repairs done to a car under warranty...ever...unless you know you are the one responsible for the damage. Anyway, I seriously doubt they will try to put this on you. Good luck.
THis is like a freakish stroke of bad luck on my part i think.. lol
THanks for the advice though. I've already got plans to show the service guys the fluid levels before they take the cars in so that they can't say it had no fluids. Buddy of mine told me to do that.
Thanks,
Soon to be ex Mazda owner
I am on another forum that is huge with Mazda people. I have red about others who have the similar problem like you have. Let me find out why.
PS. yes im a dumbass for not buying a cover for the filter to begin with... :mad:
thanks a bunch
Uh, how much water was IN the intake? How much water may have gotten into the engine? It sounds like the engine may be locked up.
Try taking the spark plugs out and see if it will turn over (taking the plugs out gives the water some place to go). Have somebody watch the spark plug holes to see if water is coming out while the engine turns over.
Put a COVER on the filter. They make those for a reason. You do NOT want to get water into the engine..... :sick:
:confuse:
With the stock intake or the aftermarket CAI?
I'd be VERY surprised if it was even possible to get water into the engine with the stock intake unless you drove through high water and actually SUBMERGED the inlet.
Is he talking about getting water in the stock air unit? If so, then he drove through some deep waters, or in fact he forgot to put the cover back on the air filter unit.
I thought we were talking about the after market CAI install, where the filter now sits in the lower left front wheel well on the driver's side of the car.
If so, then there is suppose to be a metal over that is in the shape of an octagon. This has to be bolted to the CAI pipe, if not then the filter will get wet.
No no no; he was talking about getting water in his aftermarket CAI. I just wasn't sure if you were talking about a design flaw in YOUR aftermarket CAI or in the design of the stock unit. But you cleared that up; thanks.
btw - how did we even get on this subject in a thread devoted to transmission problems????
im also a member of that forum
I think the lights that stallionre was referring to only apply if your car was equipped with an automatic transmission, which is why he asked if a "D" was lit up on the panel.
Since you have a manual transmission, no trans-related lights in your instruments.
I never see you on the other forum. Is your name hero1987 over there?
no its been awhile since ive been on it .. umm i believe my name is "menus1987" on it
but when in times of questions the forums are the best source of info.
To get out of Park after you start the car, your foot MUST be on the brake, and while your foot is on the brake you press the gearshift release which allows you to put the car in gear.
To give you a scenario of why this is a safety feature, imagine you're parked in a parking lot at a Walmart or someplace like that, and the car did NOT have this safety feature. You've started the engine, but decide to adjust some packages you put in the backseat or deal with a child in the back seat,and when you turn and reach into the back, you accidently nudge the shifter and pop it into gear. Engine running, no foot on the brake... the car is going to move, and probably hit something or someone.
But since you have to have your foot on the brake pedal AND press a release to get out of Park, the assumption is that you are ready to drive and are putting the car into gear on purpose.
There's nothing to take it to the dealer for. If you take it to the dealer, he's just going to (or should) explain the operation to clear up the question you have. That's why he asked you if the brake lights were coming on to see if there might be a problem with the part of the safety feature that involves the brake pedal. When you step on the brake pedal, it closes a swich that lights the brake lights and allows the gear shift release to operate. Both things need to happen to put the car in gear.
There's nothing to diagnose or fix. A quick check of your owner's manual should verify this.
If you have a chance, join us for our weekly Mazda Club chat tonight and we can talk about it live!
The Mazda Club Chat is on tonight. The chat room opens at 8:45PM ET Hope to see YOU there! Check out the schedule
As I understand your problem, you ARE stepping on the brake pedal (and this is verified by the brake lights coming on) and yet the transmission STILL doesn't come out of 'Park'?
Also, is the 'gear shift release' located under a little cover next to the shifter?
If you ARE pressing the brake pedal, and you must STILL use the gear shift release, then YES, you need to take the car in. It may be a simple adjustment for the shifter.
I asked the folks at the dealership when should I be shifting gears? They told me 5500 RPMs, which leaves me around 4000 RPMs in whatever gear I'm driving around in.
That seems a little high to me, but I'm not sure if I just need to get use to it or if I'm on the road to doing serious damage to my new car.
What RPM range do you shift around, and what RPM range do you have your car at when you are going a constant speed?
-Thanks
If you are driving around town from point A to point B, shifting around 3,000 to 3,500 will do just fine. If you want to drive for performance, shift at NO HIGHER then 5,500.
Don't worrie, you won't harm the engine doing either...
Ummm, if you are DONE accelerating, put the car in the highest gear allowable for that speed. Your owner's manual should specify the mph ranges for each gear. Typically, I'd try to maintain at least 1200 rpm;
There's NO reason to simply be driving around at 4000 rpm. :surprise:
It definitely has the zoom-zoom performance in bumper to bumper traffic. I've accelerated this car at more than 5500RPM's in the 1st and 2nd gears and it just zips through almost everything!
the only thing that i don't like about the Manual trans is tha t in the highway the combination of the manual in 5 speed is not so good, at around 70mph to 80.. manual is at 3200 to 3500 rpm... AUTOMATIC TRANS is only 2800 to 3200rpm... so in highway Automatic is less money that Manual...
Now in the city... hooo is very different. My car ( MANUAL TRANS ) does between 380miles to 420 per tank. around 12 to 13.5 galons of gas.
In city Automatic trans does 320 - 380miles per tank
any buying a mazda is a great experience and is very driving and enjoying the car. i haven;t got any problems with the car.. mazda 3 2004 with 45k miles. so far i love the car... i'm thinking in rpl the car for another mazda, probably the RX8 or same mazda 3 but the sport...
conclusion for me.... both are great but i love manual...
great in montains, down hill, turns... gettining in the highway specially when ever are turns...
I mean, the ENTIRE clutch was shredded. He even saved my fly wheel and all the gears and showed them to me and my boyfriend at the time. I mean, he really went out of his way to make me feel like a piece of crap.
I KNOW how to drive manual. It was a bad clutch. I am relieved to see others here had the same issue and I was not the only one. The day my clutch died was one of the worst days of my life. I felt awlful. I only had that car for THREE DAYS!
Other than that, I have not had issues with the car or clutch. It is an absolute joy to have and drive.
had problems with the check engine light, both low beam headlights burning out within days of one another, leaking washer fluid tank, cracked plastic skid plate, door trim continually falling off, a funny noise coming from the front drivers window when closed from the half way mark, a rattling noise from the rear of the car and the front dash, and now static in my stereo whenever i use the rear wiper blade.
I took my car into a dealer about a month before a relatively large road trip as it needed some new fluids and I wanted them to look at my clutch/transmission as I noticed a lag in the shifting so I wanted it looked at. Dealer told me the drove it an found nothing. checked the odometer only to find out they hadn't driven at all (reading was the same). 13 days later, clutch gone, only 103,000 km on my car. Mazda wanted $1600 for the job, I got it done for $1100 with parts that have a lifetime warranty.
Filed a complaint with Mazda Canada, basically told me it's driver error which is a load of crap. I was willing to pay for parts if Mazda covered the labour as I can appreciate parts wearing out (even if prematurely) and given all the problems and amount of $$$ I had already spent with Mazda, I figured they would be able to do something for me. All the offered me was 10% off. Trying to sell my car now
You put on a fair amount of kilometres (80,000+) in under 2 years; roughly 50,000 miles for all you non-metric types.
Did you replace the clutch this year? What did Mazda Canada mean by "driver error"?
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-2021 Sahara 4xe-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
Do you mean that Mazda will not honor their drivetrain warranty?! :surprise:
If it's just the clutch, no manufacturer ever covers that although I think they should especially if it's defective!
I don't understand what they didn't cover with the transmission. Was it just the clutch or something else as well? If you find a manufacturer that warranties the clutch, I'd like to know for reference.
Sounds like your dealer held you to the letter of the contract and lost a customer in the process. I'd have made such a noise that customers would have noticed in both the sales and the service department. They hate that as other customers always want to know why.
You can also try to make complaints against the dealer if you think it was unfair.