Won't shift from 1st to 2nd - Grabs hard

Jmaz3

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Mazda 3 Skyactive 2012
Sorry for the long post.

2012 Mazda 3 sport GS-Sky. 59,000 km. Bought it brand new. Had a few issues with the ATC computer in the first year of owning it -fixed under warranty. I'm now 5 months outside my warranty period (60mo) and went to drive my car. Started fine, reversed fine, back into drive and going down the street - when it was going fast enough for the transmission to switch to second it grabbed hard like I hit the breaks and slowed me right down and dropped back down into 1st gear. Tried different RPMs, sport manual, disconnecting the battery for 15 minutes... no luck.

Towed it to a transmission place who said there are no error codes and a new transmission has to come from Texas and will be 5-6000 dollars plus shipping and work...

Just got it towed to a mazda dealer but I'm not optimistic.

Has anyone had this problem before? There was no lead up to this at all. Just happened. I drive my car pretty conservatively (5+years old with 59k km) and I'm feeling like I got lemoned hard on this.
 
Did you check the fluid? Low? Empty? Dirty? Drain and fill the fluid?
Any check engine codes?

No engine check lights, the tranny shop checked the fluids and all good :(. They think it's electrical? Or a stuck solenoid?
 
Hate to be pessimistic about shops but they are not exactly here for charity. I'm asking did YOU inspect the fluid. Also if there's just some electrical problem then why did they suggest full transmission replacement? Sounds questionable.
 
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You need a transmission rebuild, not a whole new transmission. Go to a different shop.
 
Hate to be pessimistic about shops but they are not exactly here for charity. I'm asking did YOU inspect the fluid. Also if there's just some electrical problem then why did they suggest full transmission replacement? Sounds questionable.

Good point. I really should have, but I didn't. They make it a pain in the ass these days (take out the intake filter and everything just to get at the dipstick) and I didn't have time to do it myself. Bringing it to another shop, luckily the first one didn't charge me anything for their investigation of it. If the mazda dealership says the same thing I'll drill them on why an electrical problem would require me needing a new transmission. These things are supposed to be built as parts that don't require service for what, 200k km?
 
Good point. I really should have, but I didn't. They make it a pain in the ass these days (take out the intake filter and everything just to get at the dipstick) and I didn't have time to do it myself. Bringing it to another shop, luckily the first one didn't charge me anything for their investigation of it. If the mazda dealership says the same thing I'll drill them on why an electrical problem would require me needing a new transmission. These things are supposed to be built as parts that don't require service for what, 200k km?

These no such thing as dirty fluid at 60k. It needs to be changed every 100k km
 
Update: Mazda dealer said my ATC and PCU? needed to be updated. Did that and 150$ later it made no difference. They looked at the trans fluid and it was brown/green (supposed to be bluish according to them), did a pressure test and numbers looked good, so a new transmission it is as they say it's non-serviceable. They are sending a letter to MAZDA to ask for them to cover it as I'm 4 months outside my warranty(thought it was 5). Interesting thing the mechanic showed me is the transmission pan had been resealed, indicating it had been removed after it left the factory. I've never had any work done on the tranny before and no reason for it to be removed. I bought it new off the lot and am the sole owner. Something seems very off here. If mazda rejects the request I'm feeling pretty robbed. You buy a new car expecting it to work as intended, and the mazda dealer said the tranny should be good for the lifetime of the vehicle with no service. I got screwed somewhere.
 
That is interesting. I hear lots of stories about persistent customers calling the manufacturers customer service line and usually working out a deal of some sort. Like free transmission but you pay labor. This is especially the case when your just outside of warranty and it's a catastrophic failure at such low miles. It's good the dealer called them but you probably should open your own case with them as well. It's usually the dealer who could care less about your satisfaction but the manufacturer usually does care. Mention everything you've learned especially about the "resealing".
 
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That is interesting. I hear lots of stories about persistent customers calling the manufacturers customer service line and usually working out a deal of some sort. Like free transmission but you pay labor. This is especially the case when your just outside of warranty and it's a catastrophic failure at such low miles. It's good the dealer called them but you probably should open your own case with them as well. It's usually the dealer who could care less about your satisfaction but the manufacturer usually does care. Mention everything you've learned especially about the "resealing".

That did somewhat catch me off guard. The dealer shouldn't really care, but I was happy to not have to immediately fight them on it (which is what I expected). I'll call Mazda myself. Thanks for the suggestion
 
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