tttP5

After calling all 6 dealers in the Los Angeles area I have finally found one dealer that has heard of the cold engine rattle... they haven't heard of the clutch problem yet.

I took my car there for them to fix... told them I had some other problems too:
- cold engine rattle
- knocking sound when rocking the wheel back and fourth, and going over some bumps
- clutch slip and hopping
- rattling sounds from windows etc. (they don't fix any rattles after 1 year or 12000 miles so you guys with new cars better get these fixed soon!)
- I also told them I grind into second gear when cold

after checking it for two different days they decided to have the things fixed:
- they have ordered a delay valve to fix the cold rattle
- they ordered a gear for inside the steering box / steering column which was moving around too much that caused the knocking sound,
- and they will replace the entire clutch.
they also suggested a 15000 mile and a engine flush to get rid of the carbon build up??? = US$400 plus ?!?!?!


so I'm jsut still waiting for them to get back to me now...
so if anyone is in the LA area and needs to get these problems fixed you might want to call up Santa Monica Mazda to have them help you.


for some reason after getting the car back from them checking it the shifting is a lot more stiffer.... not as rubbery as before... kinda like a new car.....

Protege5Lava

i have one of the first 2002 P5's and also have some of the problems that you have... i'll check with the dealer you went to soon! thanks for informing us!

Bijou-MP5

what?????? engine flush is $400????????

rob

Hi,
I'm new to this group so I have a little catching up to do. Clutch hopping, ya what's up with that??? I notice that on mild mornings, clutch use in the first couple of blocks can be very tricky which can lead to the hopping problem. I did not find this to be a problem on cold winter mornings but now that it's warming up the problem is back. Any information would be greatly appreciated - Mazda MUST address this issue.

In addition, I have over 20,000km's on my P5 standard and the fuel mileage still sucks. I just put 370 miles on a tank of gas (95% highway miles) and still used 13.43 US gallons which means about 27MPG. That's terrible! I installed a cold air intake which should have helped my mileage but I don't think that's the problem.

Any information or direction would be really appreciated.

Thanks,
Rob

Tom Slick

engine flush at 15,000 miles is

maybe if you had 150,000. modern engines with modern oils have almost buildup inside of them.

tttP5

I agree... $200 for 15000 mile service and another $200 for engine flush this early is not worth it.... and probably useless cuase the manual doesn't mention anything special which needs to be done at 15000 miles.


clutch hopping is something like when you release the clutch and apply gas the car does not accelerate cleanly and starts to vibrate very very violently.... it is unmistakeable.... and makes it look like you don't know how to drive stick. when you have driven maybe for like 5 minutes it does not happen anymore after your car gets all warmed up

mnkyboy

Can you give me some more details on the knocking sound when turning the wheel back and forth? It sounds like I have a similar noise, but it only happens when I turn the steering clockwise and let go. I also hear it when going over bumps. It sounds like something is knocking under then car. I brought it to the local dealer about 3 mths ago, but they said all Proteges does it (which is BS). It only started about Christmas time, and that was about 1 yr after I bought the car. Other than that noise, my car has been fine. Let me know, since the manager at the dealer said "My hands are tied. Unless Mazda has a fix, I cant do anything about it." I only brought my car to (1) dealer, since the nearest other dealer is about 45min away. Thanks in advance. PM if you want.

rahmin

I am having the same problem on my P5. I took the car to the dealership and they didn't hear a thing. It's a terrible sound for sure. It sounds similar to when a seal blows on the strut. I am going to find a new dealership to deal with.

Does anyone know if Mazda is acknowledging these problems and if they do, do they have a posting site?

tttP5

rahmin: if you have that thumping/klunking noise when you go over bumps try to see if you can reproduce the same sound when your car is stopped or almost still and you jerk your wheel quickly in one direction then let go, repeat for the other direction, if the sound occurs then bring it to the dealer and show them that so they can hear it.

mnkyboy: the sound was fixed! on the repair orders invoice it said a steering gear in the steering box was replaced and no more sound! well no more sound when I do the turning / rocking wheel thing. but I dunno if the sound that I had going over the bumps still happen because it doesn't happen over all bumps so I haven't found out yet.

but after getting a new clutch it grinds like a mf into second gear when the tranny is cold and really difficult to get back into first gear when the car is almost stopped

siumun: you are v cute and pretty...i love u!