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Comments
My first try at posting. At issue is my mom's 2001 Tribute ES which I drove this past weekend. When cruising at various speeds, sometimes the transmission seems to clunk as the RPM drops to around 2.5K. It is almost like it is dropping into another gear but certainly is not very "normal" like as the car lurches a bit and there is an audible clunk. It always happens when decelerating. Twice, a fairly loud vibrating noise was also heard which went away after a couple of seconds. (ABS?)
Well my brother and I checked what we could visually and the only thing we found is a strange unequal wear on the right front tire. This tire does not show an uneven wear pattern indicating that alignment seems OK but it is clearly worn down with respect to the other three. I would say that more than half the thread is gone while the other three still show 3/4.
Is there a transmission problem causing the tire wear or is it the other way around? We have heard of a dragging brake causing similar problems with unequal tire wear but have not seen anything about transmission/differential problems. The steering is fine with no pulling and the transmission oil levels and color looks good.
She has only 24K miles on the Tribute. Any help or comments would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
John
I hope this helps
I have a 2002 mazda tribute and while starting the intake valve blew apart. Can you please tell me more about the dealer recall specifics since the dealer is ready to charge me over $800 to replace the valve, gasket and one other part that got damaged as a result.
Thank you
Will Mazda have engineers come and take a look at the engine to see if they can find out what may have caused this? If not, they should. You may want to insist on this or there may be a legitimate claim agianst Mazda. I agree that it was a totally dangerous situation for the engine to seize-up. Also, see if Mazda may be willing to contribute good-faith money to the cost of an engine. It happens a lot when customers push a little, that is you're willing to do this, which you may not be at this point.
A new 3.0 V6 short-block engine (probably re-man'd in actuality) is listed at FordPartscheap.com for ~$1334.00 + shipping. The install could be ~15-hrs. at $75.00/hour or thereabouts. Total could be as high as $2700+ by my figures for another engine.
Changing spark-plugs, where you have to remove the intake manifold(s) and change gaskets pays about 2.5-hours which would be $190.00. Factor a little profit for the dealer and you have ~$500.00 Total. Ask the dealer to be specific and line-item all of the charges in advance.
I have had it in the shop 3 times (this will be the 4th). Is anyone having this problem? I can't drive 40 miles to work everyday wondering if my 4 wheel drive is going to kick in.
1.) Have you changed your IAC (Idle Air Control module)?
This could have an affect on starting, and stalling,
etc.. To replace takes about 10-minutes and costs
$75.00 for the part.
2.) Have you had the factory EPROM updated per at least 1-
recall ? This also could affect stalling at speed.
There very well could be other issues, such as a dirty intake, which should be cleaned every 15-20K miles, bad coil-over plug boots, corrupt spark plugs, etc..
Could this be normal and if so, why?
I was wondering if you ever figured our how to fix this.
Thanks
sks
Do all your maintenance checks yourself. If you can't, get word of mouth references for a good mechanic. Not the one that is most convenient to go to, or does a lot of advertising. Good mechanics don't need to advertise...
Pat Callaghan
I want to flush my tranny oil on my 2001 Escape XLS. First, where is the drain plug relative to the oil drain plug? How many quarts of MerCon ATF oil will be needed? Any other other considerations?
Thanks.
DangEscape
I'll check my ALLDATA subscription on drian plug location if any. I've flushed the transaxle from 25K miles to now ~88K miles, all totalled 3-flushes. If you take it to a shop to flush, make sure that they have the right equipment to do the job. I've BG flushed once and Wynn's flushed the other two (2) times. I really can't tell a drivable difference, other than the Wynn's flush is about 1/2 the price of the BG to have done, $100 as opposed to $200. I also converted to straight Mobil 1 Synthetic ATF from the Mercon V I had originally. I bought the Mobil 1 at Pep-Boys myself and brought it to the shop. The shop only charged me about $50 since I brought my own fluid which was bout $50. The CD4E transaxle takes about 10.2 quarts, bring 11 quarts if you buy it yourself.
BTW: There is a drain plug located under and off to the side of the transaxle, it seems it has a square recessed cut-out as if possibly for a ratchet, not sure what size. I'll check the shop manuals I've got too.
As a side, with everything going to online or CD access for shop-techs in dealerships (or a lot of them), for those that want shop-manuals, they may give them to you for free if they can.