My baby is in the ICU!

[LarryS]

Well my tranny went this morning at 1:00am while going to take her for a bath. Dealer said it looks like 2 syncros and 1st and 2nd gear are toast, and to top it off the tech told my advisor my tranny didnt appear to be assembled very well. The tech claimed the casing wasnt properly machined and that there were a few loose parts and the shift fork was not correctly installed, claimed it was a sloppy job. But they are covering it under my warranty atleast, but they havent decided on a rebuild or to just order a new one yet.

They gave me a Hyundai Accent as a loaner God is this car a heap compared to my baby girl, and to think I am going to have to put up with this thing for atleast a week NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Atleast this should hopefully cure the occasional shifting issues Ive had with the P5 since I bought her. I'll keep everyone posted as I find out more info. Its only been 10 Hrs without the P5 and already I feel like I am in Hell!

Praying I get my baby back ASAP
LarryS

[mazdaspeedpower]

Wow, that completely sucks dude. But look on the bright side, now your tranny may work properly now. Still, it sucks to be away from your baby.

[iLisa]

They gave me a Hyundai Accent as a loaner God is this car a heap compared to my baby girl, and to think I am going to have to put up with this thing for atleast a week NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

our car is not compared to a Accent.... that totally sucks!! When mine was in the shop, I had an automatic pos Saturn... :(

[LarryS]

Yeah sucks to be away from my little girl but atleast shell be 100% again once I get her back:)

[iLisa]

that is wierd that the mechanic is claiming it was built crappy to start with. (shrug)

[LarryS]

Tell me about it, has me kinda concerned what else could potentionally be not put together right. But I will just have to face that when the time comes, because even with a tranny failure I never plan on parting with my P5.

Thanks for all the support guys and gals, it helps relieve the sadness of not seeing her parked in the driveway(although I am really beginning to wonder if Im losing it, people shouldnt have feelings for a car should they?).

LarryS

[iLisa]

I'm with you.. I am pretty sure that i'll be keeping mine until he wont go no more... unless I find a really sweet deal on something else... :D
but I still REALLY enjoy my car!!!

[NoRotor,NoMotor]

when mine went it to get an abs sensor replaced the gave me a 2005 Mazda 6 with about 700 miles on it...guess i was lucky

[LarryS]

Woot I'm gonna get my car back late Monday or early Tuesday at the latest! (yippy) My tranny should be here sometime today around 3pm, and the tech says he will have it apart an inspected on Saturday and the car should be all buttoned up late Monday or early Tuesday. I can't wait to do a burnout and get used to the sound of tires spinning again. Mazda won't pay for a new clutch but atleast I'll have my baby girl back! Oh I can't wait for Monday to get here. I'll post if there are any changes.

Why can't Monday get here any sooner? (sad2)
LarryS

PS I had a Mazda 6 as a rental for 40 days after my 03 Ranger was stolen(it was stolen back in Dec of 03), that Mazda 6 was actually one of the reasons(along with several recommendations from another forum) I went a Mazda dealer for another vehicle and after I drove that Silver P5 all I could say was that is mine no matter the price. I haven't regretted the decision to buy my P5 even once I love this car to death.

[SuperWagon502]

Manual I'm guessing?anys if it is look up on here for that TSB about the 3rd gear syncros being weak. Check for the Tranny numbers or the stamp on it or whatever for the "born on Date" and make sure your car doesn't need that too. Otherwise get them to take car of that I guess.....oh wait. Your getting a new tranny.....nevermind.(hand)

[RaiderMP5]

I am happy to hear about a successful warranty repair! I am sure my local dealer would claim otherwise if anything happened. /going to check the tsb for tranny #'s and compare my tranny in, in a state of fear...

[LarryS]

Well got my baby girl back today would have posted sooner but I have been driving since I got her back(put over 100 miles on her today). The tranny is fixed so far no shifting issues and she drives like a dream. Got to see all the damage to my old one, broken shift fork, 1st and 2nd gears had many teeth missing, 2 damaged syncros, a crank in the tranny case, and the tech told me the fluid was full of metal bits and shavings. Then I saw the bill, over $3300 including all the shipping fees!!! Damn am I glad the warranty picked up the tab lol.

I'll post if I end up having any further issues but so far she is back to her tire roasting self :) The tech told me to take it easy the next 600 miles but I couldn't resists and did 1 small burnout today, but I have told myself no more until I have 600 miles on the tranny, then its open season on torturing my new tires.

Heres to racking up another 500 miles ASAP
LarryS

[iLisa]

yay!! Glad it is working out for you! :)

[LarryS]

You are not gonna believe this the tranny went again! This wouldn't have happened if they hadn't opened up the new tranny to inspect it. I took it to the dealer and guess what caused this failure, the tech who reassembled it installed my 5th gear and syncro incorrectly!!! I am beyond pissed right now I just can't believe this is happening. I got Mazda corparate involved, they are gonna send a distric manager out to look at the vehicle and decide from there what to do. I won't know what he decides until sometime on Thursday.

It probly won't help me but I did threatened this dealer with a lawsuit if they don't fix my car right this time. I really don't want to but I am now thinking about trading this car off after I get it back I don't know what I'm gonna do yet.

I had to vent before I exploded, why me.
LarryS

P.S. Atleast this time they gave me a Hyundai Sonata V6, so atleast I can get on the freeway without worry of being ran over trying to merge into the slow lane.

[pro00]

subscribing to see where this goes

I am sooo sorry for you man, that is some bs....that is why i gave up on the dealers after my warranty expired. they are just not worth it with the price and stupidity in their mechanics. as long u r under warranty, u good.

[steves_space]

Not cool! Sorry to hear, hope that all goes well.. i'm a wee bit concerned as i have a 2003.5 too. I've hear of this a bit through the forums.. but are the 2003.5 models as prone to this? I thought that I had read that they had been beefed up a bit from the previous year (though I might have heard wrong as is often the case).

Sounds good to get corporate involved and would love to hear about what happens... please keep us posted

[Protege52003]

How many miles were on your tranny?Thanks....

[LarryS]

At the first failure I had 37,934 miles on it at the second faliure today I had 38,159 miles(yes I had over 200 miles on my car in less than 24 hrs). The first failure was due to improper assembly and clearances from the factory, atleast thats what my dealer claimed. This new failure was due to the 5th gear and syncro installed without a shim I think they called it, causing parts to be able to move again throwing the clearances out of whack. It is funny that with the first failure I had no 1st or 2nd gear and now with the 2nd failure I had no 5th gear, lol 3rd and 4th must be the only reliable ones. When they first told me last week that they were gonna open up the new tranny and fully inspect it I was ok with that, man I wish I had just told them to leave it alone and install it! But atleast 1st and 2nd gears work perfectly lol.

Well atleast Thursday I'll find out exactly what they are gonna do, but I bet they will just rebuild this time. I will post when I find out what is going on.

LarryS

PS I technically had 5th gear but however anytime I went to use it there was a horrible grinding sound and the gear would pop back out after wards.

[Protege52003]

did you notice that the tranny was getting harder to shift into the gears that the syncros were replaced?

[LarryS]

If you mean after it was repaired but before the failure today then yes shifting into 1st and 2nd was harder I should say required slightly more effort, but I figured this would subside after I had some miles on it.

If you mean before the first failure happened no there was no signs except for an occasional gear(1st or 2nd only) that would pop out while driving, resistance when trying to go into 1st 2nd and reverse once in a while and recently an occasional grind going into 2nd. These problems were something I mentioned many times to 2 different dealers, but they wouldn't look for the cause unless I paid the tab for the labor to track down the problems. WHich I refused to do in hopes the problem would surface on its own, well it did last Monday.

[LarryS]

I got my baby back earlier today, however now I have to wait for a new lower drivers seat cushion to arrive next week. The morons at the dealership got rtv and grease on my seat, claiming at first it was there already. I told them no it was not, and after arguing for over 2 hours and threatening to beat the $hit out of the tech who worked on my car the service department agreed to pay to replace the cushion. I can't believe this crap I will never go to this dealer again, I even told them that I will put in the new cushion they are never again going to touch my vehicle even if they were the last damned dealer on the face of this Earth! After telling them that they told me they wouldn't replace the cushion, however I had an ace up my sleeve. I had a customer I irrigate for that is an attorney call them, needless to say I got called back by the dealer within 10 mins after the attorney called them. And they said the cushion is on order and I will be allowed to install it myself.

As for the car she is running fine, so far no shifting issues in over the 120 miles I've put on it. I hope that they may have actually gotten this one right. I got Mazda to approve a new tranny and flat out told the dealer not to even think of touching it other than to install it. Thankfully my clutch has somehow taken all this abuse and was reused, Mazda refused to replace it considering its a wear item and that I had more than 12k miles on the vehicle. Needless to say my service advisor told me to take it easy on the new tranny, to which I responded by doing a burnout leaving their blasted dealership (2thumbs)

I have an appointment on Friday with another dealer(the one I normally use) to have the work performed on my car inspected, even though I can't sense anything wrong with how my car drives I'd rather be sure that it is correct. Gonna have them change the oil too since its nearly due as well.

I was pissed though when I picked up my car between the crap on the seat and the fact that my car could not have been any filthier, I asked them if it would have hurt them to wash it and they told me they were busy and I would have to wait atleast an hour. Grrrrr I hate dealing with absolute idiots, why is it against the law to shoot them?

To me it is official, Mazdas vehicles are great however there dealer service departments and warranty for the most part suck the big one. If I ever buy another Mazda(I have had my eye on either a 3 five door or a Mazdaspeed 6) the first thing I am going to do is buy a nice big extended warranty and tell Mazda they can keep their factory one. I don't want to deal with their service people anymore except for at Berge Mazda in Mesa, the only place I will use anymore. I wish I could have had that dealer do the tranny work on my car then I know I wouldn't have been put through this Hell.

So far so good, and sorry this post is huge.
LarryS

[Aricjm15]

guess what, burning out does alot of damage to a transmission, so you probably caused it to fail, nice job
the second one was probably not your fault, since mazda only uses rebuilt transmissions, being that they only cost $1500, where as new ones cost more then $3000

and as for the dealership, just remember that they probably think you are just as big of a dick

[mogi]

I don't really think it matters what brand of car you buy, service departments at damn near any dealership is crap. They are usually trained (or gotten in the routine) to refuse/deter warranty claims.

[mastertech]

You have to remember that the manufacturers put a lot of pressure on the dealers to keep the warranty costs down. Claims can be denied payment to the dealer for something as simple as incorrect time punches on a R.O. by the technician that worked on the vehicle or lack of a customer signature on the R.O. More times than not the manufacturer wants the old parts back for inspection to verify a defect in that part or damage caused by mis-use. If the part is damaged from mis-use then they will deny the claim, this could take place long after the customer has had the repairs done and is driving the vehicle, so the dealership is left holding the bag $$$$$. Imagine being a servicemanager at a dealership and having to explain to the dealer principal why you got a charge back of $75,000 during a large warranty audit. I have seen higher totals than that on occasion.I am not trying to defend the sometimes lack luster warranty effort that we all seem to get from time to time at dealers, all I am saying is that they are a business that is there to make money and they have to make sure that what they are repairing under warranty for the customer is going to be paid for by the manufacturer. Would you do your job without being paid? Ps......................Mazda has sold 1000,s of P5's with 5 spd trannies and we have worked on hundreds of those cars over the last few years and the only trannies that have failed have been ones that were run without gear oil in them and ones that you could tell had been abused.....ie.....badly damged diff. side and pinion gears from spinning one wheel , damaged or missing teeth on the final drive from dumping the clutch etc etc. The car only has 130hp, that trans. will last forever if it is driven properly.