Ask the Car People.SM


Mazda MPV: Problems & Solutions - READ ONLY

4469 messages,  Last post on Oct 27, 2006 at 9:04 PM

You are in the Mazda MPV Forum.

What is this discussion about? Mazda MPV, Van

Messages Page 327 of 448

#3253 of 4469 Shame on you, Mazda by crissman

Dec 08, 2003 (11:04 am)

For four years now I've been an extremely happy owner of a 2000 MPV, and have always been talking it up to anyone who'll listen. Now, for the past few weeks, all I see on this forum is complaints about unresolved transmission and power door problems in the newer 2002/2003's. Aren't you listening, Mazda/Ford? You are going to kill the golden goose that apparently the 2000/2001 models provided. From what I've read recently I would no longer consider a new MPV as a replacement for mine or recommend it to others. Get your act together and resolve these issues. If we, your customers, had wanted Odysee type problems we'd have bought one. Please do the right thing.

#3254 of 4469 Hee hee! The hard shift saga continues by notasoccermom

Dec 08, 2003 (2:32 pm)

Well, I just heard from my dealership after taking my MPV in. Just a little history, we've been able to get our MPV to do the hard shift anytime we want to, it's not just a sporadic thing. Anytime we accelerate steadily through to 3rd gear it does it. We've learned to avoid the hard shift by releasing the gas pedal while it's in 2nd gear and then re-depress it to shift to 3rd. Apparently our dealership called Mazda and told them this info. Mazda is very excited because the main problem why they can't figure out how to fix this is that they can't get any of the vans to do it consistently. Don't know how true that is, but they are ready to fly a Madza tech out here from Japan to play around with our van. Ha ha! We shall see...I'm not holding my breath!

#3255 of 4469 Re: Hee hee by frankman

Dec 08, 2003 (4:12 pm)

Well done! You are definite not a soccer mom. Maybe your brilliant observation will save Mazda's face and fate. And, I bet many other tranny victims like you in this forum are trying out your theory as we speak. Hope more people can confirm your observation.

#3256 of 4469 Don't get too excited.... by dan2004

Dec 08, 2003 (4:38 pm)

I find it hard to believe that a serious engineering effort would fail to find the root cause of the tranny issue. I hope they are finally getting serious but it could just as well be PR.
 
Also, if the tranny is from JATCO, does that mean that the Mazda tech will now have to convince a JATCO tech? This could get quite silly...
 
Time will tell...

#3258 of 4469 tranny fix by rumor24

Dec 08, 2003 (5:51 pm)

Be careful of what they tell you, mine was visited by one of the big service guys and they were going to haul it to Chicago to the test center until the boys in Schaumburg told him they knew what the problem was. He told me on the phone that it was now an issue with federal blah blah blah to be approved then they could fix it. Time frame was sometime afer the holidays but would not be as long as a year. Don't get too excited until you get into that vehicle, drive the daylights out of it, and it runs like a champ. Until then, its all just talk to make you happy. I don't want to burst your bubble, but I think we have all been thru it.

#3259 of 4469 dan2004 and rumor24 - i'd tend to agree by user777

Dec 08, 2003 (9:40 pm)

you'd think, a good engineering facility should be able to put the transmission and all the associated external sensors and electronics to the test on a test stand, ie without any of it installed in the vehicle.
 
...a serious engineering effort...yes, testing does involve experiment control, monitoring/data acquisition and repeatibility...
 
the same environment used for verification and validation of the system design would be used for diagnosing the problem.
 
maybe notasoccermom - you've locked onto another variant problem and they are sending one of their reps to make some field observations.

#3260 of 4469 re: dan2004... by dtownfb

Dec 08, 2003 (9:48 pm)

I can see why it is taking Mazda so long to figure out a fix for this problem. I ti is hard to duplicate. notasoccermom is the first one i've read that has been able to duplicate the hard shifting "on purpose". Everyone else has been reporting sporadic hard shifitng. And very few have been able to duplicate it for the delaers. Just because it happens once when the service manager is in the car with does not mean they can diagnose the problems based on one incident.
 
I feel bad for all those experiencing the hard shifitng becuase it should not happen and it is a safety issue. I woudl recommend all those on the board who have the hard shifitng problem to try to duplicate it like notasoccermom, then take it to the dealer to get it on record. Just in case down the road there is a transmission failure.
 
Good luck.

#3261 of 4469 Engineering effort by dan2004

Dec 09, 2003 (3:50 am)

If they were serious about it they would have some number of MPVs being constantly tested under various conditions. This is not such an infrequent problem, and it does pop up (at least for me) under very specific, repeatable situations:
 
         1) Engine drivetrain at maximum operating temp. (e.g. at least 50 miles of highway driving or 1 hour in stop & go traffic)
 
        2) Repeated engine on/off driving cycles (such as when driving between different locations during the day) with 15-20 minutes between cycles.
 
        3) Under situations 1&2, moderate throttle acceleration between 2000-3000 rpms as from stop or slow crawl, when engine upshifts between 2-3 gears.
 
It never happens when:
 
       1) Drivetrain cold/not fully warmed up
       2) Downshifting during rapid acceleration
       3) Engine RPM above 3000 or below 2000
 
It would be interesting if others with the "hard shift" problem could confirm these circumstances.
 
The dealer's inability to reproduce the "hard shifts" stems, in my opinion, from their unwillingness to spend more than 1 hour (or even more more than 20 minutes in most situations) in driving & evaluating the vans, as well as not listening very carefully to customers.

#3262 of 4469 Reproducing hard shift by niblik

Dec 09, 2003 (6:03 am)

dan2004 said he experienced hard shifts with:
 
"1) Engine drivetrain at maximum operating temp. (e.g. at least 50 miles of highway driving or 1 hour in stop & go traffic)
 
 2) Repeated engine on/off driving cycles (such as when driving between different locations during the day) with 15-20 minutes between cycles.
 
 3) Under situations 1&2, moderate throttle acceleration between 2000-3000 rpms as from stop or slow crawl, when engine upshifts between 2-3 gears.
 
It never happens when:
 
 1) Drivetrain cold/not fully warmed up
 2) Downshifting during rapid acceleration
 3) Engine RPM above 3000 or below 2000"
 
This is very close to my experience. It happens to me every day when I have about 20 minutes of highway driving to pick up my daughter from school, stop about 10 minutes to gather up her stuff, then start the car again and have mostly city driving to go get my son from a different school. It will typically hard shift from 2nd to 3rd about three times between my daughter's school and home. It almost never happens at any other time.

Messages Page 327 of 448

Advertisement

Browse by Category

Browse by Vehicle
   View All Vehicles

Browse by Board
Browse by Topic
View All Topics

Edmunds Community

Advertisement