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Mazda MPV: Problems & Solutions
Hello:
I've been reading the MPV III and MPV IV lists,
and so far, there hasn't been any discussion of
problems people have observed in their vans.
I'm a 2000 MPV owner for about a couple of weeks
and I would like to ask others to share their
experiences on specific problems they are
observing with their 2000 MPV.
To start off, I would like to ask if anyone
has noticed the following:
1. Wind noise, on the excessive side. This
is very apparent in my MPV, especially if you
drive it after riding in a Siena or Venture.
2. I have a rattle on the driver's side, which
I believe is coming from the sliding door. Haven't
had it looked by the dealer yet.
3. The vent blows little of no air
to the face on the face/leg setting. Is this
something normal in an MPv? The leg heating
is also not so great in this setting.
4. The gear shifts rapidly from 2nd to 3rd.,
i.e., it doesn't stay very long in 2nd. This
shift is sometimes very jerky. Has anyone
noticed this?
I've been reading the MPV III and MPV IV lists,
and so far, there hasn't been any discussion of
problems people have observed in their vans.
I'm a 2000 MPV owner for about a couple of weeks
and I would like to ask others to share their
experiences on specific problems they are
observing with their 2000 MPV.
To start off, I would like to ask if anyone
has noticed the following:
1. Wind noise, on the excessive side. This
is very apparent in my MPV, especially if you
drive it after riding in a Siena or Venture.
2. I have a rattle on the driver's side, which
I believe is coming from the sliding door. Haven't
had it looked by the dealer yet.
3. The vent blows little of no air
to the face on the face/leg setting. Is this
something normal in an MPv? The leg heating
is also not so great in this setting.
4. The gear shifts rapidly from 2nd to 3rd.,
i.e., it doesn't stay very long in 2nd. This
shift is sometimes very jerky. Has anyone
noticed this?
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This discussion has been closed.
Comments
When I first got my van, the dealer told me how to drive it until it broke in. I kinda dismissed it since I figured in 2000 cars were too advanced to really require a break in. Well, for the first 800 miles or so, the van did shift roughly, and the engine did not seem to real smooth. I was a little concerned. But, after those early miles, the van smoothed out and has driven great since. You also have to sort of "baby" the gas pedal more so than in other vehicles. You really need to get used to driving this van, but it is worth it.
I now have 9037 miles on my van, and it is driving really great. My gas mileage is even up to 20mpg around town. I don't know how this happened but I'll take it.
1)Everybody stares at us when we roll down the side windows; no other van has this feature.
2)From a distance my MPV looks like a Mercedes SUV. Darn.
3)Big van owners get jealous because I can fit into parking spots that other vans can't. Plus I can back up and actually see where I'm going.
4)I got pulled over by a cop for travelling 110 mph. The van is so darn quiet, I didn't realize. He let me off when I showed him that I just purchased the MPV and was unfamiliar with its power.
5)My family wants to go driving all the time.
I apologize for the cheekiness, but those are my problems so far.
Seriously though, there have been reports of the van leaning a half inch to an inch to one side, the dash is painted (as is Ody and others) and the paint will scratch off, some van owners have reported the van pulling slightly one way or the other, and.... I can't at this moment think of others, although I'm sure I'm forgetting something. All in all, the problems reported so far have been very minor.
I DO NOT consider it a PROBLEM though!
(Only thought I'd mention it since the subject was posted here.) The "lean" has absolutely no effect on the handling or performance of my van. My MPV tracks perfectly straight and handles like a dream! I know some owners find the lean to be an annoyance but I figure it's just 1/2 inch less effort for me to get inside my van!
The only REAL problem (albeit, minor) was glazing that developed on one of the brake pads recently.
(98% of my driving is stop & go city and I've been doing an extreme amount of it the last 2 wks.)
I must add that my Mazda dealership's Customer Service concerning this matter was superb! The Service Dept. mgr., (who, it turned out, lived only a couple of miles from me) drove my van to work, made the repair @ no charge, washed the van and returned it to me at the end of the day!
I've been reading the MPV boards for 6 months now and I, too, can recall only MINOR problems such as those mentioned above. It seems to me, that many of the folks who complain about jerky shifting just haven't quite gotten the hang of "babying" the gas pedal yet. My husband doesn't drive the MPV often and when he does it's rough going until he hits 3rd gear because he has a tendency to stomp the pedal for power like he's accustomed to doing in his SUV.
The more you drive the MPV- the smoother the ride!
2. Power door locks don't lock open sliding doors, so you have to wait until both sliding doors are closed before you can lock up, or lock the sliding door manually. This works the same regardless of using the remote, or the driver's side lock button.
3. About the only thing that the drawer under the passenger side is good for is a couple of maps. (Although I found a use for it this morning when I removed the ashtray and put it in the drawer!!)
4. I still haven't gotten used to the wiper setup (neither has my wife who drives it all the time). I have to think about whether I am using the front or the back or twist or move up and down. I think they tried to do a little too much with one lever. My wife keeping squirting the back window trying to turn on the rear wipers.
5. It seems like (I need to observe a little more) that when the sunroof is partially open, you can not move the interior cover to coverup the closed part of the glass. I probably did not describe it well, but if you want the sun roof to be half-open and the sun is shining on you through the glass on the closed half, you can not move the cover over to get out of the sun.
As for other problems reported. There is no pulling to one side. No unnecessary downshifting, except maybe when you are on a hilly road going at relatively low speeds 40-50 in overdrive and push it a little (then again this is not unnecessary). Tranny is very smooth. Passing speed is great.
OOOPs. Wait a minute, this is supposed to be a problems forum. Enough for now.
Is anyone elses steering wheel shaking a lot in the 65-75 mph range? I already took it in and they blamed it on the tires being out of balance. They balanced them and I thought it helped, but now it seems to be doing it again a week later. I'd love to here if anyone else had this remedied.
Does anyone know how to get the radio scan function on the six disc CD player?
Don't tell too many people. Sh.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/000328/ca_mazda_m_1.html
1. Pulling to the left. We have under 2,000 miles on our MPV, have taken it in to be aligned once, and it's still pulling a great deal. However, it seems as if it pulls more at slower speeds (30-40 mph) as opposed to higher speeds. Has anyone else who has experienced the pulling noticed this? Maybe it's something more than alignment. Occasionally, my steering wheel shakes as well. I think it does have something to do with the alignment (typically, this is the problem - although I know when the rotors in my Volvo began to wear, I experienced a similar shake). It would seem that some of the vans are more susceptible to alignment problems than others.
2. Leaking Crank Seal. I took my first road trip (of 400 miles) with just under 1,000 miles on the van and noticed a slight burning smell when I stopped during the trip. My temperature gage looked fine and no lights were on. I took it to the dealership and they indicated that I had a slight leak in the crank seal. They indicated that sometimes the seal is improperly installed at the factory at an angle such that the seal develops a crimp and leaks. I'm sure it only affects one in a large number, and we picked the lucky van.
3. Weak paint. When I took delivery of the van, it had a very small scratch on the back door (in hind-sight, it's probably from someone's ring). However, I noticed a huge scratch that went all they way down the side of the vehicle one day. I called my husband who indicated that he had "barely brushed the van with the plastic garbage can." It was a pretty long "brush" if you ask me, but the damage is pretty intense. I think a lot of cars have this new paint (Infiniti's and Lexus's do I know from experience), but I was used to a Volvo (which has paint like nails).
Again, though, overall, I've been pleased. I also love being able to maneuver as if I were driving a small vehicle. I've been a little disappointed in my gas mileage, but I've had to run the air conditioner and defroster quite a bit with this weather we've been having.
Visit www.datline.msnbc.com and look at the details. Even the Mazda Protoge got a "POOR" rating for 1999 model and was just recently upgraded 1 level only for the 2000 models. They have the same problem as the MPV's.
Go to the Dateline site, check it out and have your bumpers fixed.
Places to look for recalls, TSB's, complaints:
www.alldata.com
www.nhtsa.dov.gov
www.dateline.msnbc.com
I think to date, the only real problem is the bumper as reported by Dateline.
Goodluck
will not go on.
I was out running an errand when the dashboard went crazy. The ABS and brake lights came on, the check engine light came on and the O/D off light was flashing on and off... hmmmm. The the Speedo died along with the digital odometer. Double hmmm... I drive it home with no seeming problems and then call the dealer. They are stumped and suggest I get it towed to them as theay don't want to risk any damage to the engine. It's been there two days now with no real hint at what the problem is. I'm guessing something electrical, a sensor issue, or perhaps a "computer issue". The dealer has finally called Mazda USA for help. Any comments or ideas out there? I guess this is the risk of buying a new vehicle... even the dealers don't know what to do!
The van is beautiful and I would not hesitate to buy one again.... but let's hope this is the only "break-in" issue we're gonna have.
or the inside wiring became loose. Good luck
The illumination of other lights is because some circuit is "searching" for a better ground path and finds it through the indicators on the dash.
My 1966 Chevy (Yes 1966) did this in extreme cold weather. If it was zero or below, the dash lights would not come on, but both turn signal indicators on the dash would glow bright green. As the interior of the car warmed, the lights returned to normal.
I guess I am saying this is not a new problem. The new part of it is most auto techs today put the vehicle on the computer first. Need to go back to basic trouble shooting.
I suspect that if it were a computer issue, there would be trouble codes stored and your performance may suffer. Since you indicate drivability did not suffer, I doubt it is a computer or sensor related problem.
My $0.02
TB
I am taking our 2000 MPV in tomorrow,Codirolli Mazda in Livermore, CA, they say it will take 4 hrs! California emissions recall, is this the same as the "PCM" recall? Anyway, I had the pulling to the left also and the tires were rotated..about 4 weeks ago, no more pulling so far. No other problem so far, we have about 2800 miles on it.
I'm sorry that I didn't get the mfr. date on the 1st one but the 2nd one is 10/99.
(One long string, the board may put spaces in there for ya!)
http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/engaged/edmund.cgi?c=Vans&f=0&t=786&q=467
I thought the bumper underneath was black. My rock chips from our trip are very noticable black, plus there's a big scrape on the front that also reveals black plastic. I'm not sure how the scrape got there, luckily it is very low under where the foglights would be. Our van is white. I've got to get some touch up paint!
Sometimes I think these people don't give a you know what!!!