Lurching in 1st/2nd gear (MT)

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flomobile

Member
Has anyone here had issues with the car lurching when accellerating from a stop in the low gears? Occasionally (<1x/month) we'll have a major lurch when accelerating. The best way I can describe it is while gaining speed, it feels as if you've lifted off the gas for a split second, then floored it and returned to the same throttle position.

We've spoken to a few dealerships about it, but it is of course one of those occasional things that NEVER happens for the technitian, and their response is usually one of those "Silly moron, you aren't shifting smoothly enough," type of lines.

My only guess has been that perhaps there is a bug in the drive-by-wire software, but if so, it seems it would effect other cars as well!
 
Big lurch

I have a sport 5 speed and have experienced the same thing numerous times. Has only done this in cold weather, almost always before the car has warmed up. There have been two occurences after the car was fully warmed up, but those both occurred in very cold weather (near zero F). Dealer looked into it in February, and serviced what I believe to be the gas pedal position sensor assembly. Whatever they did seemed to make a difference, since it didn't happen again for over a month, despite plenty of cold weather. Alas, it did occur again this past week, though not as hard a lurch as some previous.

Certainly, the drive by wire is at fault here. I plan on telling the dealer again about this when I take it in to have the squeaking suspension worked on per the TSB.

As far as drive by wire is concerned, I'm not sold. What the heck is wrong with a throttle cable, dammit? Never had trouble with one of those! Love my car anyway; absolutely sweet driver with the stick.
 
There are other threads on this same issue.

It does not appear to be model specific or transmission specific.

I have had the same issue on our 5 Touring Auto, and it will only happen once in a while, and after the first start of the day, and always in 1st or second gear.(drive2)

I have not taken it to the dealer because it is just too sporadic for it to occur for them.

Keep Zooming!
 
I've found that what helps is when you start it out on cold mornings, hold it in 1st gear for longer than normal before you shift to 2nd. I usually get the jump just after I start accelerating in 2nd, but if I hold it in first for a bit longer, it seems to help. Just know that it's not just one or two of us, as mentioned there are a good bit of people that have the problem so it's obviously a widespread quirk that I'm sure Mazda is well aware of. I'd like to think they're working on a fix. I think the problem lies in the warm up cycle of the ECU, but that's just a guess.
 
Get ready for another "REFLASH" of the ECU fix :). I swear I think Microsoft (bugs are a normal part of any program) corp. does their programing for them.
 
Same thing here... in cold weather

opus said:
Get ready for another "REFLASH" of the ECU fix :). I swear I think Microsoft (bugs are a normal part of any program) corp. does their programing for them.
Click to expand...

I hit about 3200 RPM in 1st and 2nd with a cold engine, and the car acts like a turbo kicked in. (alright)
 
AIMWO4 said:
I hit about 3200 RPM in 1st and 2nd with a cold engine, and the car acts like a turbo kicked in. (alright)
Click to expand...
And I think that is EXACTLY the problem. While 95% of the time youll get the sudden turbo feeling, I think whatever the ECU is doing at that exact moment sometimes misses, causing the stutter.
 
I notice this 'turbo' on a cold motor in 1st and 2nd as well. I only have 250kms on it and that was the first think I noticed about this car. ;) Never thought to say anything to the dealer but maybe I should?
 
flomobile said:
Has anyone here had issues with the car lurching when accellerating from a stop in the low gears? Occasionally (<1x/month) we'll have a major lurch when accelerating. The best way I can describe it is while gaining speed, it feels as if you've lifted off the gas for a split second, then floored it and returned to the same throttle position.

We've spoken to a few dealerships about it, but it is of course one of those occasional things that NEVER happens for the technitian, and their response is usually one of those "Silly moron, you aren't shifting smoothly enough," type of lines.

My only guess has been that perhaps there is a bug in the drive-by-wire software, but if so, it seems it would effect other cars as well!
Click to expand...

Very similar here. It's very occasional, like I have to hit just one spot of combination of engine rpm and throttle opening. I believe it's about 50% open throttle at about 2000 rpm. When it happens, it is a complete failure of power for a split second. The passengers' head lurch forward and they ask "what was that?". Then we can drive for another month or two without it happening at all. But unlike some other suggestions here, ours does not seem to be dependent on warm-up or the weather.

I have tried one or two dealer service visits without success. But at least it is registered in the service database for my car. My dealership service manager (Kevin at Everett (WA) Mazda) is a good guy, very helpful with another issue we had, so I'm hopeful a long term fix will eventually arrive and Kevin will be open to letting us know.
 
hmm.. I have had this a couple times.. once crossing a very busy road.. scared the crap out of me.. as it was a particularly violent lurch.. I seriously was worried the car stalled... CROSSING A HWY...
 
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