Wow, I think the transmission in my car exploded this morning.

Tiltsta

Tiltsta

Show me your frittatas
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Not a good morning. I was driving on the highway to work, going about 70 mph when my car made a loud thunk and popped out of 6th gear into neutral along with a massive lurch like I slammed on the brakes. I was about 1/2 a mile from my exit, so I just coasted off the ramp on the local roads to get to a place where I could stop. After about a 1000 feet, I managed to get it back into gear to get across an intersection to a parking lot, but the damn thing bucked and shuddered and sounded like parts were dragging on the ground. Lots of banging and such. Put the clutch in and it coasted smoothly for another 100 feet, then started back with the shuddering. Stopped in the parking lot and called a towing company.

I have no idea what the hell this might be. It is a manual transmission and the car only has 40K miles on it. No signs of clutch trouble/slipping/tranny noise and such. Everything was normal, then bang, a dead car. Dealer is diagnosing now (as it has 20K of powertrain warranty left).

I'm wondering if perhaps a transmission or motor mount let go, or perhaps a catastrophic failure in the gearbox. So odd, as I was just cruising along at 70 mph on the highway. Never had anything like this happen to me before.

Of course, I can bet $$ that mazda will find a reason to not honor their warranty. They tried this with me once before on an unrelated issue. Damn car is cursed.
 
We should start a pool to guess how much mazda wants me to pay to fix a car still under warranty.

I love the car when it runs, but reliability has NOT been a strong suit for this thing.
 
I don't really know. I'd imagine a trans job in a car like that would be expensive but it its under warranty it should be covered.
 
I have to wonder if I should fix it and get rid of the fucking thing. I owe way less that it is worth, so trading it in on something would be pretty easy. Damn car just seems to attract problems. Even the shitty 80's american cars I drove were better than this car in terms of reliability.
 
Tiltsta said:
I have to wonder if I should fix it and get rid of the fucking thing. I owe way less that it is worth, so trading it in on something would be pretty easy. Damn car just seems to attract problems. Even the shitty 80's american cars I drove were better than this car in terms of reliability.
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well, being Mazda it's also part of Ford so you're not that far off. From what I understand even Ford has been making pretty good cars lately.
 
Tiltsta said:
I have to wonder if I should fix it and get rid of the fucking thing. I owe way less that it is worth, so trading it in on something would be pretty easy. Damn car just seems to attract problems. Even the shitty 80's american cars I drove were better than this car in terms of reliability.
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I have a buddy that is an independent mechanic and his take on Mazda is once they start havoc issues, ditch ASAP...Its all downhill

Good luck
 
I drive a 16-year-old Mazda to work everyday. I just realized that car is now old enough to get its own license and drive itself to work.

But it doesn't surprise me that the newer models aren't as reliable.
 
I interested to see how this turns out. I was very close to buying a 3. Guess I dodged a bullet.


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Mazojo.....



....and Ironically, the ad I'm seeing is for Caddilac.... which was the least realiable, wonky piece of shit I've ever owned in my life (STS sedan).
 
Strangely enough I just got into Premier from 3 hours working at my inlaws shop and I watched them push a brand new Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor with 77 miles on it through the shop and onto a tow truck because the transmission exploded. Apparently it's catching :embarrassed:
 
Still no word from Mazda on this. That isn't a good sign at all.

I like the little car, but the last year or so has been terrible.
 
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I'm guessing the final drive (differential) let go...I'm assuming front wheel drive, and this is the most likely failure to occur at speed...

...since it's a manual they will most likely opt to rebuild your unit rather than go with an exchange...unless the case was damaged...

if you still have 20K powertrain coverage left you should not have to pay anything out-of-pocket...but it's going to take some time to remedy...
 
Tiltsta said:
Still no word from Mazda on this. That isn't a good sign at all.

I like the little car, but the last year or so has been terrible.
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I know how you feel. I have a 2006 Subaru Impreza, not a thing wrong with it until I decide to get new tires installed, that was in Dec. of 2010. Since then I've been to 7 different garages, replaced the tires, got new rotors, alignments/balancing, bent rim apparently... still drives wonky. I'm about ready to sell it, it's been so frustrating.
 
Google tells me the mazdaspeed3 cars (like mine) are prone to engine mount failures, and this leads to the engine/trans shifting in the engine bay, fucking up the clutch, gear box, flywheel, CV joints, diff, and so on. No idea if this is what happened, but I imagine the transmission and engine departing connected status from the wheels might be a bad thing similar to my experience.
 
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