P0715 - transmission speed sensor question

DanT

Member
:
2005 Mazda3, 2.3L, Auto
i have a 2005 mazda3 2.3L with auto tranny and a few weeks ago i got the AT light but no CEL. on friday it happened again but this time i got the CEL too so i hooked up my code reader and got P0715 (input/turbine speed sensor A circuit). did some checking around online and it appears that its one of 2 possible sensors on the tranny... i'm waiting for a response from the closest mazda dealership on a quote for the parts but they're closed today but i was wondering how hard would it be to change them out myself and does anyone know approx how much it would be for the sensors?
i haven't even had a chance to get under the car yet but from what i've read the one on the bottom of the tranny should be easy but how about the one on the top thats supposedly under the battery box? i'm not much of a mechanic but i did learn a fair bit from having to work on my old grand prix (POS...)
if its not a hard job to do in a driveway does anyone happen to know of any links for some pictures i could look at to get an idea of what i'm actually looking for when i get under/in there, i looked on google for some pics or good descriptions but couldn't come up with anything good, i'd rather avoid ridiculous dealership labor costs if i could :)

thanks in advance for any help
 
Hi, I'm new to the forums (I came across them while trying to find answers to my problem), but basically I'm in the same boat as DanT...I've got a 2004 Mazda3 2.3L Auto and pulled that P0715 error too after getting both the CEL & AT lights. The AT light would come on when my transmission would slip from 4th to 3rd gear or 3rd to 2nd gear and then turn off once I stopped or went back to 1st gear, but the CEL light would stay on. Anyway, I checked with my mechanic who said it was a transmission output speed sensor. He could get the part for $120 and after everything (labor and taxes), it would come to $250. I've heard speed sensors are fairly easy to replace so roughly $120 in labor costs seemed a bit high.

I haven't had much luck online so I guess my questions would be the same things DanT is wondering. How much (roughly) would a sensor like that cost? And would anyone know how easy or difficult it is to fix on their own. Anyway, any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
hey, just thought i would give you an update. i took mine over to whitby mazda and they told me it would be $100 for the diagnostic to figure out what one of the 2 sensors was bad. i just told them to skip it because i was worried that since it so far hasn't been a repeatable problem to just replace them both in case they both came back good or both bad, didn't want to pay $100 for a diagnostic if there was a chance i would still have to replace both.
looking at the breakdown on the receipt the pulse generator (the one on the top of the transmission) was $50.63 and the turbine speed sensor (the one on the bottom) was $94.54 and they charged me $98 for labour, only took them an hour from the time i pulled in, including the time spent checking in and deciding what we were going to do, pretty good in my opinion. prices are in canadian dollars, may be slightly different if you live elsewhere.
as for fixing it on your own you probably could but when i was poking around in mine i decided it looked like way too much plastic to remove in the engine compartment to get at it, i don't particularly enjoy working on cars much though so maybe its just me lol.
 
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