Serious problems with my Mazda5. RIP?

My 2008 Mazda5 GT has 139,000km (86k miles) and has some serious, possibly fatal troubles.

Oil leak - Overnight it will drop about a 4 inch spread on cardboard.

Engine ticking - Prominent but essentially quiet at cold temperatures, and gets louder as engine warms. Occasional, and slight loss in power delivery.

Significant Transmission jerk when putting into R or D. No jerking once underway while going through the gears. BUT once stopped at a stop light, when throttle is applied the car is tremendously slow. Finally once up to speed it behaves normally.

Although these problems aren't exactly common, they are not that remote with this generation of engine (2.3MZR) and transmission and are not hard to find reported online including in this forum. Anyone who's faced these issues, what did you find the extent of the issues to be (Mazda3 owners please advise as well).

I don't know if I should prepare for intake manifold/solenoids or connecting rods/total transmission failure. Prepare for the worst?

If the car is salvageable I'd rather not have my dealer do the work as they will be significantly more expensive than a competing shop, however I trust their diagnosis will be the most accurate.



Any tips, procedural instructions, psychological help , or even empathy is much appreciated. Fortunately I don't owe anything on the car, but 86,000 miles? Come on.

I think you can probably relax some.

Oil leak is not a fatal issue, unless it is a hole in the block... Straightforward usually to diagnose the source of the leak, though sometimes repairs can be more tricky depending on what it is that's leaking. Obviously, keep the oil level correct until you fix the leak, otherwise you will have a fatal issue.

Why do you mention rods? That's a pretty extreme and uncommon failure. Rods knock, valves and lifters tick, and these engines seem to tick loudly (IMO).

Can't speak to the auto trans issues, sorry.

Sorry to hear that.
Take a look around local yard for an engine/tranny combo for sale, maybe able to find a low mileage one.
With all the room under the hood, could do the swap yourself perhaps?
These days it seems the way cars are designed so the module swap is easy but repair of those modules is expensive.
I've seen some blown engines with $2500/$3500 estimated to fix but $800-$1000 swaps that include the engine cost form the yard.

Should have asked - any codes? Maintenance history?

May not be as bad as it seems. You don't know what kind oil is leaking. You can send a sample to oil analysis lab to know for sure (~$25). It is usually a failing gasket or a leak in a hose. Based on the other things you mention, it could be tranny oil. Seems some have issues with the tranny cooler seal developing a leak.

What oil weight are you using and what change interval do you follow? An oil ananlysis of your motor oil will identify the culprit.

I do have concerns about the tranny. Have you every replace the fluid? It sounds like the torque convert is not engaging at low speed. It could be fluid or damage has been done. Flush it all and hope for the best.


Did you check the ATF level? I wonder if it might be low due to the slow leak..??..

I agree with above posters, you need to figure out where the oil is coming from & flush your ATF. My suggestion for oil leaks, clean off bottom of engine, wait overnight and go under engine to find source. Mirror is very useful in finding oil leaks.

Do you change your own oil? Maybe the last person who changed the oil forgot to tighten the oil pan plug. (I just did this )

ticking - tight valves? adjust clearance?

I agree on cleaning the bottom of the engine/tranny.
hard shifting is definitely the tranny. I got P0758-shift solenoid B on mine. The CEL and AT light are on. Hard shifting, mostly reverse, first, and into neutral at a light. Take it to a reputable transmission place and grill em about it.