Our new (October) Mazda6 has gone through two cold snaps (-15) this winter. When the temp. drops the car creaks and cracks like an old man in the morning. The sounds seem to originate around the windshield, rear window and moon roof. Any one else experiencing this or found a solution?
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90 year old Mazda6!
- Thread starter Marrow
- Start date
mrdouble99
Member
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- Mazdaspeed3
Mine is doing this to. it's the first time i have a car that is doing this at this point
I just made an appointment with my local dealer's service department to have this investigated (Luther Mazda in Minneapolis, my appointment is Feb 5). They have an excellent service department headed by some really good and knowledgeable service manager's, been going there for years. I was talking to my guy there today and he mentioned that he's heard of a similar sounding issue for some recent vintage Mazda 3's, but this is the first report he's heard about on the 2014 Mazda 6. He mentioned that there are a couple of small installation holes where the rear glass meets the body near the top of the window (which is done by a robot at the factory), and if this installation alignment isn't spot on, this could potentially result in the same kind of creaking noise I reported. They can make minor adjustments to this, they will investigate for me once they have the car (I plan to leave it for the day for a loaner). They may have to remove the rear glass, maybe not. I will report back with their findings. Been plenty cold here recently and this issue has really gotten annoying, more persistent now then when I first noticed it. I mentioned Marrow's comments above to the service manager too. He did say kudos to the forum members for allowing me to supply him with such an accurate description of the issue, will save them some legwork. He also confirmed there is no TSB out on this issue yet that he was aware of. Rampage
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Follow-up: Guys, I got more detail in talking with local service managers on what the actual fix is for this, evidently this was an occasional issue for the Mazda 3's as I mentioned above. "What my tech did was lower the rear headliner where it meets the rear window, there are 2 clips that fasten the headliner to the roof. There are two tabs that go through roof body that are attached to the back window, he cut the plastic tabs off the window and pulled down on the metal portion of where the clips go through. Then reassemble. This seemed to work for us. Good luck." He also confirmed the rear window does NOT have to be removed to do this. Annoying that Mazda kept this flawed design for their new design 2014 M6, but oh well, at least it's isolated and the dealer is confident they can fix for me. After I described the issue again he knew exactly what I was talking about. Rampage
Follow-up: Guys, I got more detail in talking with local service managers on what the actual fix is for this, evidently this was an occasional issue for the Mazda 3's as I mentioned above. "What my tech did was lower the rear headliner where it meets the rear window, there are 2 clips that fasten the headliner to the roof. There are two tabs that go through roof body that are attached to the back window, he cut the plastic tabs off the window and pulled down on the metal portion of where the clips go through. Then reassemble. This seemed to work for us. Good luck." He also confirmed the rear window does NOT have to be removed to do this. Annoying that Mazda kept this flawed design for their new design 2014 M6, but oh well, at least it's isolated and the dealer is confident they can fix for me. After I described the issue again he knew exactly what I was talking about. Rampage
This is great info! Please let us know how the appointment goes and if they fix the issue. I'm glad this issue is getting to the dealers, hopefully Mazda listens!
Absolutely will follow-up with a post appointment recap CIQMan07. Note my appointment is not until Feb 5 however, I'll try and write up recap same day if possible. Marrow indicated above this fix worked for him, so I'm cautiously optimistic. I confirmed with his dealer that they used the same process outlined above. Rampage
Of course now that it's about 20 above zero here today and not subzero, not a peep from the rear window area! I'm starting to wonder if this was a piece of ice or something, but once the subzero temps hit up here, it really starts acting up. Still going to take it up to the dealer on the 5th to take a look. I agree with CIQMan07 that this has to be temperature related issue (not suspension as I've read elsewhere), my symptoms start to occur in subzero temps only. My own theory is that the clips holding the headliner to the rear window contract a little in the subzero temps and cause more room in which they rattle against the plastic. Dealer fix I learned about seems to confirm something along those lines. Rampage
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Of course now that it's about 20 above zero here today and not subzero, not a peep from the rear window area! I'm starting to wonder if this was a piece of ice or something, but once the subzero temps hit up here, it really starts acting up. Still going to take it up to the dealer on the 5th to take a look. Rampage
With these cold temps, mine will do it after it has been sitting in the garage. No ice or snow on the car. It definitely seems temperature related.
Hi everyone. Circling back on this again, I had some time tonight to search some of the older Mazda 3 and 6 forums around the web and this issue is definitely common to Mazdas, there was stuff about this creak noise all over the place. Best Fix recommendations I found (short of taking it to the dealer, which is what I'm going to do) were as follows:
This per "Vansquish" at the Mazda3Speed forum (thank you for this Vansquish if you are still out there somewhere):
"The noise you're hearing is likely to be the press-fit studs on the at the top of the rear window rubbing against the tabs into which they're fitted. You need to:
1. Remove the 3 press-fit fasteners that hold the rear edge of the roof-liner in place,
2. GENTLY pull down on the rear edge of the roof-liner and locate the tabs and and the fasteners on the rear window.
3. Either lubricate the juncture between the tab and the fastener with lithium grease (or similar), OR use a pair of pliers to GENTLY bend the tabs downwards so as to provide some stress on the joint and reduce the potential for rubbing (which is what you're hearing), OR BOTH.
4. Replace the fasteners for the headliner and go for a drive to make sure you've gotten rid of the noise. Otherwise . . . wash/rinse/repeat until you have eliminated the noise."
This from Andrew and RAR at **********:
"There are two tabs about 6 inches in from the top corners of the rear window, as BlackCherry06 noted they are for aligning the glass at the factory - they make the what is likely the noise. You can test if its them by taking your fist and pressing on the glass - if you hear the creak their your issue.
To fix it pull the 3 plastic holder nut things holding the rear of the headliner up out, gently pull the headliner down to till you can access the tabs. Take a pair of needle nose pliers and bend the metal of the tabs down away from the plastic stick on piece that is stuck to the glass.
I had to do both sides for it to stop."
Rampage
This per "Vansquish" at the Mazda3Speed forum (thank you for this Vansquish if you are still out there somewhere):
"The noise you're hearing is likely to be the press-fit studs on the at the top of the rear window rubbing against the tabs into which they're fitted. You need to:
1. Remove the 3 press-fit fasteners that hold the rear edge of the roof-liner in place,
2. GENTLY pull down on the rear edge of the roof-liner and locate the tabs and and the fasteners on the rear window.
3. Either lubricate the juncture between the tab and the fastener with lithium grease (or similar), OR use a pair of pliers to GENTLY bend the tabs downwards so as to provide some stress on the joint and reduce the potential for rubbing (which is what you're hearing), OR BOTH.
4. Replace the fasteners for the headliner and go for a drive to make sure you've gotten rid of the noise. Otherwise . . . wash/rinse/repeat until you have eliminated the noise."
This from Andrew and RAR at **********:
"There are two tabs about 6 inches in from the top corners of the rear window, as BlackCherry06 noted they are for aligning the glass at the factory - they make the what is likely the noise. You can test if its them by taking your fist and pressing on the glass - if you hear the creak their your issue.
To fix it pull the 3 plastic holder nut things holding the rear of the headliner up out, gently pull the headliner down to till you can access the tabs. Take a pair of needle nose pliers and bend the metal of the tabs down away from the plastic stick on piece that is stuck to the glass.
I had to do both sides for it to stop."
Rampage
mrdouble99
Member
- :
- Mazdaspeed3
They did a fix for that on my Six yesterday, let's see if it's gonna be ok on the next very cold day
They've changed 2 clip, but i don't know which one
They've changed 2 clip, but i don't know which one
Hey everyone. My car went in to my dealer today and the service manager just called for me to pick it up. He said the issue was indeed the two clips described in this thread and that the fix we as a group researched was the one they applied, just like they do for the Mazda 3's. He told me that the salesman that sold me my car also bought a 6 a few months after I did, and reported the same issue. Mine was the first 2014 Six they have worked on for this issue but told me the issue was identical to the 3's infamous "creak noise". I get the car back later today and it's cold enough here where I should be able to report whether or not there were any further issues on this (which I doubt). Hopefully we can end this particular thread once and for all! Cheers! Rampage
UPDATE: Car was completely quiet on the 20 mile ride home over pothole filled highway and temps around zero degrees (F). Also had oil changed by dealer (first 3 years free) and they confirmed they use Castrol EDGE 0W-20 bulk synthetic (note this is not the EDGE with titanium molecule in it which Castrol now markets in the U.S. as "Castrol EDGE Extended Performance" with 15K change interval), but still a very good oil....Mazda with Moly oil just too expensive to stock in bulk according to dealer parts/stock guy.
UPDATE: Car was completely quiet on the 20 mile ride home over pothole filled highway and temps around zero degrees (F). Also had oil changed by dealer (first 3 years free) and they confirmed they use Castrol EDGE 0W-20 bulk synthetic (note this is not the EDGE with titanium molecule in it which Castrol now markets in the U.S. as "Castrol EDGE Extended Performance" with 15K change interval), but still a very good oil....Mazda with Moly oil just too expensive to stock in bulk according to dealer parts/stock guy.
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