Major Complaints of MP3

K

kevinfelker42

Member
I'm new to the forum, and have owned my yellow MP3 since Nov. 2001. I'm going to try and find my production number today.

My major complaint is that friggin squeaking noise, which I am now looking into ordering some lube for the "bushings."

(Sorry for the quotes, I know computer talk, not car talk, but I'm learning thanks to all you Mazda Lovers)

Also I read stories of the "shifter fork" breaking, usually while shifting from 2nd to 3rd. Does this happen only when you drive it hard?


What else is there? Just trying to be prepared.
 
Do a search on clunk noises and squeeks...you will find lots of info on this topic
 
man, you'll love to hate the clunk....mine was fixed with replacing the bushings....also, the suspension creaks like a bastard in cold weather....be prepared for that
 
You should replace them if it bothers you - it is all covered under warranty........They have a new part # for the rear sway bar assembly...to me, it is all worth the WORLD CLASS handling...I have already had my bushing replaced with the new part # and so far so good - been almost 2 months - and snow has already arrived here in upstate NY...
 
The tranny is pretty robust for the stock levels. As for bending shifting forks, I would argue that was operator error that lead to premature failure. Not just "normal wear and tear".

I believe the people who broke their tranny's had other thins going on, such as a six puck clutch (insane for street useage), or dropped the clutch hard on a regular basis.

The tranny has held for upto the Speed World Challenge cars which are putting down close to 240 through the stock tranny.
 
damnit chris! stop making excuses for the dealers to not cover us tranny haters under warranty!!! ;) we already have enough trouble as it is... and i really find that AMAZING that they used the stock trannies in the speed world challenge.... r u sure its completely stock?? i mean.. the tranny itself isnt weak.. its the syncro for 3rd... doesnt seem to work right... and there maybe something else goin on there too... and it is strange that pretty much everyone that had the problem had it in 3rd gear... some in 4th.... and it also seems like too much of a coincidence that this many mp3 owners have that problem... i doubt that somehow in the grand scheme of things all the ppl that "drive the car too hard" or "dont know how to drive" decided to buy mp3s.... just seems like too much... there has to be something goin on w/ these transmissions...
 
Protege01MP3 said:
damnit chris! stop making excuses for the dealers to not cover us tranny haters under warranty!!! ;) we already have enough trouble as it is... and i really find that AMAZING that they used the stock trannies in the speed world challenge.... r u sure its completely stock?? i mean.. the tranny itself isnt weak.. its the syncro for 3rd... doesnt seem to work right... and there maybe something else goin on there too... and it is strange that pretty much everyone that had the problem had it in 3rd gear... some in 4th.... and it also seems like too much of a coincidence that this many mp3 owners have that problem... i doubt that somehow in the grand scheme of things all the ppl that "drive the car too hard" or "dont know how to drive" decided to buy mp3s.... just seems like too much... there has to be something goin on w/ these transmissions...
Click to expand...

All these MP3 owners?? I've seen maybe 15 that have had a problem. I have had no problems with my tranny. So, 15/1500, not bad...;)

The only real difference between the stock Protege tranny and the WC car's tranny is the gearing for 3, 4, 5 and the final drive. The WC cars are running a super tight gear ratio in those gears.
 
ok... granted... thats only 1% (lol.. god damn.. didn't even realize that till right now)... but there also arent all 1500 owners on this board... only a few hundred mp3 owners... and even fewer are actually vocal and participate on the board... there could very well be quite a few more... and there was also that service bulletin sent out to all service depts about the 3rd gear syncro.... (not sure if that was BS or true... but one service guy that i asked did tell me he remembered seeing something about it) also, 15 ppl on the same care w/ the same problem within a little over the first year of ownership is kind of a high rate of problems dont you think??

I mean sure.. i'll bet there have been hundreds and thousands of honda trannies that have broken... but that was mostly probably alot later than a year after purchase, and plus.. think about HOW MANY hondas there are... this was a limited production car... so 15 out of 1500 may only be 1%... but that is still quite a few to fail from the same thing in that short of a period of time... i just find it hard to believe that all 15 ppl drive the same way and coincidentally caused the same problem...
 
ive had my syncros replaced twice and waiting on the third time now. and i dont drive to hard and i do know how to drive good. There have been a really lot of people with this problem.
Beside that and some squeeks i am obsessed with this car.
its the best looking car you can buy, and handles better then anything even close to this price range. i plan on keeping mine forever. Turbo'ing it soon. where else can you get a 4 door car that handles like an mp3??? M5:confused: minus 260hp.
 
I know everytime I run my car real hard & try to quickshift from 1st to 2nd it never fails to grind into second. At first i thought it might be me missing the shift but I let my friend run it & he did the same freakin thing so it's not me. Latley it's been wanting to do it in 3rd gear also. It all started one night when I street raced a civic of course I beat him but ever since then it's been grinding into 2nd only when I run it hard. WTF is going on?
 
1fast... thats YOUR BAD... especially if you try and tell the dealership that... "uhh.. yah.. i was umm... racing a civic... and i broke my tranny... can you cover it under warranty? thanks"... thats just not gonna fly

mine fuct itself for no reason... im a good driver, i dont abuse it (well. not too much ;) ) and they STILL tried to tell me that it was all my fault that the tranny went bad and that they werent gonna cover it under warranty.. do yourself a favor 1fast... read EVERY SINGLE thread you can find on this site about the transmission problems... i've probably posted 3-4 diff times with very long very detailed posts as to what happened w/ my experiences...


after dealing w/ mazda and the warranty.. almost going to court... they finally decided to cover it.. but i would still have to pay for clutch.. i said ok.. they "fixed it" and when i got it back it was doing the same thing... AND they didnt put it back together right (axle is loose) and all my gear oil is GONE... so if they dont take care of this crap soon they will have a lawsuit on their hands


make sure you read up in the threads i and others have posted so that you have ammo for your arsenal when you go deal w/ mazdas service guys... i think they have a seminar twice a year for all members of Mazda NA service team to show them new and advancing techniques in screwing your customer....
 
hey protege01mp3, which dealer are you taking your car to? Dont tell me Star Mazda. They suck. I've never had a bad svc experience. My dealer loves me!!
 
I go to Alhambra Mazda... they are FUCT.... i was gonna buy the car from them, but i found it in Ontario (which is about an hour-hour and a half depending on traffic) for less.... I dont like to drive all the way out to Ontario every time i need service because its so far... but the alhambra guys are dicks because i didnt buy the car from them... the owner of that particular dealership makes comments to me on a regular basis.. i shouldn't have to put up with this... but after they completely fuct my tranny, i went out to Ontario.. and they told me they couldn't touch it because alhambra fuct up so bad, and it was their responsibility to fix.. so for now I'm stuck with alhambra.. untill i get them to fix it.. then i can go to other dealers for the rest of my s***...
 
No Roscoe Blvd off of the 405 in the valley. Where are you in pasadena? I can give you names of people to deal with and directions if you need them!
 
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