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Looks like a trip to the dealer is in my near future ($$$$). Maybe I can get my money back for this sensor. Any ideas or comments are welcome.
Fwatson glad to hear your repair is working.
Fairwood: Fortunately replacing the MAP sensor IS a Saturday/Driveway deal ... about 5 minutes tops. If you pop the hood, looking at the engine, it is back left mounted on the strut tower, passenger side. Couldn't be easier. Unplug the electrical connector. Use a small crescent wrench or 10mm socket for 2 bolts. Disconnect the vacuum line. Replace with new one.
Watch this space for further developments ... next up, will AutoZone refund my $196 for the MAP Sensor and how much will dealer want to fix that vacuum line? Stay tuned...
Good luck, but I think you are out of luck returning a part that has been installed.
On the other hand, kudos go out to AutoZone. They took back my MAP sensor and refunded my money in full ... no questions asked. Buy something from them.
Hopefully the car will be ready tomorrow and I'll relay the final damage report.
I started it up again about 2 hours later again and no problem. It went up to the fast idle step and quickly dropped back to smooth running. Tempermental little devils aren't they.
Steevo2, speaking of a bushel of money, how did your car turn out?
You're right fwatson ... dealer shop time for other makes would be expensive too. I've owned my '97-S for almost 4 years and other than brakes, tires, gas, oil, filters and car washes, I've spent exactly $0 on repairs. So, spending several hundred now to have the dealer do an up-close-and-personal isn't that bad. I'll be glad that I had these things corrected now rather than later. I enjoy driving the car and it still looks great!
*pep talk generator - OFF" :-|
So it's time for inspection on the car and it fails the emissions test.
So I finally get it checked at the local garage, didn't want to pay the dealer high $s. He told we that it was either one of the O2 sensors or the catalytic converter. He told me the dealer would have to look at it to get to determine exactly what it was. Knowing that CC never go bad, I assume it is one was one of the O2s.
I'm now at 52k miles on the car. My local mechanic also told me that the warranty on the 02s is 50k miles. The CC is federally mandeated to 80k miles.
Now I'm think great, I missed the warrant on the O2s because I thought it ran out at 36k miles, it's really 50k miles and I'm at 52k. Procrasination didn't pay off this time.
Great, so I call up Mazda USA to confirm the warranty. I speak to a nice guy who confirms the warranties of 50k for the O2s and 80k for the cat converter. I tell the guy that it failed the emissions test because of the O2 sensors. He says well their only covered to 50k again. He then says to take it to the dealer and if it is the O2 sensors that maybe he could do something about it, like have the warranty cover it.
I take it to the dealer on Monday and sure enough, it NOT the O2 sensors but it is the cat converter. The mechanic then says it covered by the warranty and it's all paid for. Good thing he says, it's a $900 job to replace ONE of the CCs.
I would suggest that if anyone has a problem with the O2 and your warranty is expired recently to call Mazda USA, and explain the situation, it's a common problem with the Millenias, and try to get some help with the repair.
The error code was PO304. There was a misfire on #4 cylinder and this was traced to the coil. This job took 2.2 hours since they had to remove and replace the intake plenum for access. I also had them check the seat heaters and there is an open coil somewhere, necessitating the partial removal of leather by a sub-contractor, replace heater coil and on and on. I will sit a little higher on my wallet and forego this heated derierre. Just for comparison sake I will give the costs in Canadian dollars with U.S. dollars in brackets based on today's exchange rate.
labor rate = 80 ($60).
labor for coil replacement = $176 ($133)
ignition coil = $316 ($239). I bet it's more in the U.S. in U.S. dollars !!!!
There was no charge for checking the seat heater problem but there is a price of $329 ($248) quoted if heater was to be replaced.
I also had them rotate the wheels = $24 ($18).
On top of those prices is a tax of $41 ($31).
And just to make me feel better? there are 5 more of those little suckers in there. Oh well.
The reason why I mentioned you telling them about the flashing CEL was because the only time that the CEL flashes is when you have a misfire in one or all of the cylinders.
Do you think that the bad ignition coil is what caused the CEL to go off before?
Unfortunately this is the beast that everybody has to deal with on these codes. This is the reason why the manufacturers did not want to release the information on these codes to anybody. Just so they could monopolize the repair end of it.
Hmmm. What have I learned? Well, CEL went on after I had been running 87 octane for a couple of months. Related? Who knows. At that point I had the codes read at AutoZone and they indicated, 2 O2 sensors, 2 fuel trims, #6 cylinder misfire, MAF sensor, and MAP sensor. So, I went back to 93 octane for two tanks, each with a bottle of Techron. Went back to AutoZone, read the codes ... now I had only the MAP sensor remaining. I think I'll stay with the better gas.
MAP sensor was good after all. Vacuum hose to it was broken and that was causing the code. Dealer was professional and charged what I consider a fair price for the work performed. Now I have no CEL and the car runs noticably better. More zoom, zoom, zoom.
So, it was a $500 repair. My first for this 7 year old car. Not bad in the big picture.
Now that it's fixed, the spousal unit wants me to sell it and buy me (her) a used SLK 230, 99 or 00 model. I'm lukewarm to the idea. Is the SLK a girlie car or am I paranoid?
Anyway, for now, me and my MM are back on the road!
UPS means a shipping company to many but it also means Universal Power Supply to a computer user.
Just for us Mazda owners could someone break down MAP, MAF and a few of the more obscure ones please? Obviously I am too well acquainted with CEL.
steevo2: You had to be different didn't you. It was my #4 misfiring and there are two others with #4 I just read about on another Mazda site in the last 24 hours or so. #4 not good enough for you?
Seriously, I read not too long ago that you should not add these injector cleaners more often than every 3000 miles or so or every oil change. I did it twice within 3 tank fulls myself. Now we need an social sectretary to keep us informed of all our appointments and "to do" items.
Do not go picking on us down here in the southwest. We may be a little slow on getting up to speed but we are not that bad. Fwatson is right that it is Mexico that still has leaded gas not New Mexico.
Steevo2 glad to hear everything is running well for you now, and I don't think $500 is bad for the work. I think too many people get caught up in the intial spending instead of looking at it over the life of the car.
I think the other thing that needs to be looked at about the gas, even though it must conform to standards, is how often the gas stations change the filters at the pumps in order to keep the garbage from by-passing it and ending up in your tank.
It is interesting watching the flatlanders on these mountain roads out here.
2.Can you use 97 regular unleaded gas on 2.5 engines without any engine troubles in the future?
3.Is the 2.5 engine reliable and is it easy to
maintain and inexpensive to fix? If not whats the most problem people is having with the 2.5L?
THANKS IN ADVANCE!
-Allen
1.Was the the Audio Anti-Theft Feature offered only on 95-96 models and discontinued for 97-02?
2.Can you use 97 regular unleaded gas on 2.5 engines without any engine troubles in the future?
3.Is the 2.5 engine reliable and is it easy to
maintain and inexpensive to fix? If not whats the most problem people is having with the 2.5L?"
--------------------------------------------
1-My "01 has an Anti-theft alarm, but I don't know if or how it might tie into the audio.
2-Not only can you run 87 octane regular unleaded, but there is a TSB telling you to do so in order to avoid carbon buildup on the valves. I have always run 87 with no problem at all.
3-The 2.5 is a superb engine, and is rated along with the rest of the car by Consumer Reports as outstanding. It is also rated excellent by CarPoint with their top ratings in all catagories. The only repetitive problem was with the spark plug wires on the '95 and '96.
The only "problem" (it actually caused no noticable problem)I have had with my "01 was a knock sensor that was replaced under warranty two weeks ago at about 12500 miles. It caused the CEL to come on occasionally. Otherwise the car has performed flawlessly. But if you are looking for a hot rod as some here seem to be, that it is not. While it has all the performance I have any use for, there have been a few here complaining they can't outdrag a Maxima or some such.
I'd say if you are looking for an excellent car for normal use, you can't go wrong. But if you like to run stop light Grand Prix's buy something more powerful.
My guess is that the noise in your case is caused by front wheel bearing, but don't get mad at auto mechanic if he wants to replace the rear one.
Unrelated note: Still getting about 25mpg with mostly highway driving after adding 20k miles in the last 6 months.
So, after 8 visits to the dealer I finally got new engine block. While they were test-driving after block replacement, the transmission malfunctioned (delayed shifts to 4th, splipping between gears). So, the installed new tranny, too, while at it. I've put 1300 miles on service loaner, a decent Mazda 6.
My warranty expires in June '04 (have 32 K now, and really new engine and new tranny). I'm thinking should I trade this thing in or believe all the demons have been exorcised and keep the car? I'm not much of a betting man... :-)
Heybrady did you get your car back yet?
Fairwood how is your car doing since your repair?
I think you're right, I'll hang on to it until June at least because I do like the car - if it doesn't misbehave (so far so good - in the first 70 miles after repairs).
Oh well, good that they have those warranties.
Tomek
I have to say that despite all that it was a likable car, VERY entertaining to drive, with excellent steering response and really good, tight suspension. BMW on a budget. I personally probably would go for V6 w/stick... but that just me. Pushing 40 and feeling the need to row some gears myslef just for the heck of it.
Tomek
Ford has Premium Auto Group for that (Jag, Volvo, Lincoln).