1997 MAZDA 626 Complaints

1997 MAZDA 626LX 2.0L. HAD THE O/D LIGHT COME ON TWICE. THEN ABOUT A YEAR LATER THE VEHICLE STARTED TO SHIFT HARD/SLIP. INSPECTED VALVE BODY OF THE TRANSMISSION & FLUID, EVERYTHING WAS OK. DID A TRANSMISSION FLUSH ANYWAY. DID NOT HAVE ANY CODES IN THE SYSTEM UNTIL 6 MONTHS DOWN THE LINE. WAS FOR THE TRANSMISSION RANGE SENSOR. INSTALLED A NEW ONE & VEHICLE OPERATED NORMAL. SINCE I PUT A NEW RANGE SENSOR IN THE VEHICLE, O/D LIGHT HAS COME ON ABOUT 5 TIMES BUT NO ABNORMAL DRIVING CONDITION YET. ONLY NOTICE IT WHEN DRIVING ON THE HIGHWAY WITH CRUISE CONTROL ENGAGE. ALSO HAVE THE VEHICLE ROUGH IDLING. FOUND NO VACUUM LEAKS, PCV VALVE IS NEW, SPARK PLUGS & WIRE SET NEW. FUEL ADDITIVE ADDED EVERY 6 MONTHS. FUEL INJECTORS ARE OPERATING. TICKING NOISE OCCURS EVERY ONCE & AWHILE FROM ENGINE. DO KNOW THAT THE TRANSMISSION IN THESE CARS ARE NOT CAPABLE OF HANDLE THE ENGINE. THE FACT THAT A FORD PROBE SMALL TRANSMISSION WAS PUT INTO THE MAZDA. IT NEEDS AN TRANSMISSION OIL COOLER TO BE INSTALL BUT WAS NOT A RECALL ISSUE, ONLY A BULLETIN THAT MUST BE PAID FOR BY THE CUSTOMER. EXACT DAY THIS STARTED TO HAPPEN IS UNKNOWN. A NEW PROPER TRANSMISSION SHOULD BE INTRODUCE AS A RECALL FOR THESE CARS. *TR

1997 626 MAZDA TRANSMISSION! THIS TRANSMISSION WILL NOT HOLD UP! I'VE HAD IT REPLACED 2 TIMES (OVER $3400) AND THE PREVIOUS OWNER ONCE. IT WENT OUT WITH ME AT 66K. IT'S ACTING UP AGAIN AND I'M TOLD THE NEED $2500 MORE TO CORRECT THE PROBLEM. THE TRANSMISSION SHOPS HAVE TOLD ME THE TRANSMISSION IS A PIECE OF JUNK! IT'S BEEN PARKED FOR OVER A YEAR BECAUSE I CAN'T AFFORD THE REPAIR BILL AND ALSO I CAN'T IN CONSCIOUS SELL TO ANY OTHER POOR SOUL! *TR

I HAVE A 1997 MAZDA 626 THAT THE O/D LIGHT HAS BEGUN FLASHING AND THE ENGINE LIGHT HAS COME ON. AFTER THE O/D LIGHT COMES ON THE TRANSMISSION BEGINS GETTING JERKY. THE ERROR CODES INDICATE A TORQUE CONVERTER PROBLEM IN THE TRANSMISSION. I HAVE 99,500 MILES ON THE CAR AND HAD THE TRANSMISSION OIL CHANGED AT 75,000 MILES BECAUSE I READ THAT THESE CARS HAVE A HISTORY OF BAD TRANSMISSIONS. I CALLED TWO MAZDA DEALERS AND THEY TOLD ME THESE CARS HAVE BAD TRANSMISSIONS AND IT WILL COST AROUND $3,000 TO REPLACE. *TR

DRIVING TO WORK ONE DAY IN NORMAL TRAFFIC WHEN WAS UNABLE TO ACCELERATE PAST 55 TO PASS OTHER CARS IN TRAFFIC. THEN WHEN I STOPPED AT LIGHT I WAS UNABLE TO ACCELERATE AT ALL LEADING TO THE CAR NOT BEING ABLE TO MORE IN ANY DIRECTION OTHER THAN REVERSE. CAR REQUIRED A NEW TORQUE CONVERTER, PRESSURE PLATE, FORWARD DRUM, AND THE ASSEMBLY KIT. TOTAL COST FROM AAMCO WAS 1830 BEFORE I HAD THEM REPLACE TRANSMISSION MOUNT AND DRIVERS SIDE TRANS AXLE. *TR

MY WIFE AND I OWN A 1997 MAZDA 626. IN 2006, SEEMINGLY OUT OF NOWHERE, THE TRANSMISSION STARTED SHIFTING ROUGH. I CHECKED FLUID LEVELS BUT THEY WERE FINE. THEN WHILE DRIVING ON THE INTERSTATE ONE MORNING, MY O/D KICKED OFF (WITH WARNING LIGHT) AND THE ENTIRE DRIVE HOME WAS EXTREMELY ROUGH. BROUGHT THE CAR TO A REPUTABLE LOCAL TRANSMISSION SHOP AND AS SOON AS I TOLD THEM WHAT KIND OF CAR I HAD, THEY KNEW RIGHT AWAY WHAT THE PROBLEM WAS. I ENDED UP PAYING $2000 TO HAVE A NEW TRANSMISSION INSTALLED DUE TO THE EXTENT OF DAMAGE IN THE ORIGINAL. SEEMS TO ME THAT IF ALL OF THE TRANSMISSION SHOPS AND (AS I FOUND OUT LATER) OWNER FORUMS KNOW ABOUT THE PROBLEMS WITH THESE TRANSMISSIONS, MAZDA/FORD PROBABLY KNOWS AS WELL. IT'S IRRESPONSIBLE TO KNOW THAT A $50 REPAIR COULD CORRECT THE PROBLEM BUT THEY DO NOTHING TO EVEN INFORM THEIR BUYERS OF THE PROBLEMS. $50 WOULD HAVE BEEN A LOT EASIER TO COME UP WITH THAN $2000. SUMMED UP: TRANSMISSION OVERHEATED DUE TO INSUFFICIENT COOLING CAUSING SEVERE TRANSMISSION FAILURE. TRANSMISSION HAD TO BE COMPLETELY REPLACED. *TR

I HAVE A 1997 MAZDA 626. THE TRANSMISSION NEEDED TO BE REPLACED FOR OVER $1,000. I WAS TOLD THAT MAZDA PUT IN BAD TRANSMISSIONS IN THESE CARS. MAZDA SHOULD HAVE TO PAY FOR ALL OF THESE TRANSMISSIONS THROUGH A RECALL. *AK

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 1997 MAZDA 626. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE VEHICLE WAS PURCHASED ON APRIL 16, 2007. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO A LOCAL MECHANIC ,WHO DETERMINED THAT THE TIMING BELT TENSIONER WAS CAUSING EXCESSIVE WEAR ON THE BELT. THE MECHANIC STATED THAT THERE WAS RECALL # 98V206001 CONCERNING ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING ON, AND HE SHOULD CALL THE MAZDA MANUFACTURER. THE CONTACT CALLED THE MANUFACTURER, AND WAS INFORMED THAT THIS VEHICLEWAS INCLUDED IN THE RECALL. THE RECALL WAS NOT REMEDIED PREVIOUSLY. THE CONTACT ARRIVED AT A MAZDA DEALER FOR RECALL REPAIRS, WHERE HE WAS INFORMED THAT THIS VEHICLERWAS EXCLUDED FROM THE RECALL DUE TO THE VIN. HE SHOWED THE DEALER A COPY OF THE RECALL NOTICE, AND THEY STATED THAT THE VEHICLE WAS BRANDED WITH NO WARRANTY. THE DEALER REFUSED TO PERFORM RECALL REPAIRS. THE CURRENT MILEAGE IS 83,936, AND THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS UNKNOWN.*AK

MY CAR IDLES BACK AND FORTH LIKE SOMEONE IS PRESSING THE GAS AND LETTING OFF. I HAD IT PUT ON A COMPUTER AT ADVANCED AUTOMOBILE AND I GOT A THROTLE POSITION SENSOR , AND HAD IT PUT ON. MY CAR STILL DID THE SAME EXACT THING. HAD IT PUT BACK ON THE COMPUTER, AND HAD A MASS FLOW SENSOR PUT ON IT. MY CAR STILL DID THE SAME THING .TOOK CAR TO DEALER, PUT IDLE AIR CONTROL VALVE AND REPLACED WIRING TO THIS SENSOR. I EVEN PUT AN EMC FROM A SALVAGE YARD IN MY CAR. STILL MY CAR DID THE SAME THING . WERE THERE ANY OTHER MAZDAS DOING THE SAME THING? I' SPENT ALOT OF MONEY TO TRY AND FIX MY CAR .*AK

AT 62,000 MILES OVERDRIVE LIGHT BEGAN FLASHING, TRANSMISSION BEGAN SHIFTING LIKE A WORN OUT 3 SPEED, DIAGNOSED BY SEVERAL SHOPS. I WAS TOLD TRANSMISSION HAS A DESIGN FLAW, SELL CAR BEFORE MAJOR PROBLEMS OCCUR. REPAIRED TRANSMISSION, VALVE BODY AND SOLENOID PACK, TORQUE CONVERTER REPLACED. 1,500 DOLLARS TOTAL. AT 100,000 MILES SAME PROBLEM EXCEPT I HAVE NO FORWARD OR REWARD MOTION. CAR IS SITTING UNDER MY CARPORT, COST TO REPAIR 2,500 DOLLARS REQUIRES A TRANSMISSION. *JB

THE VEHICLE BEGAN SHIFTING VERY ROUGHLY, THEN THE OVERDRIVE STARTED BLINKING AND THE VEHICLE CEASED TO SHIFT, I WAS STUCK IN 3RD GEAR. THERE WAS A SMALL "BANG" IN THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT, THEN CHECK ENGINE LIGHT ILLUMINATED. I PULLED OVER TO A FUEL STATION AND OPENED THE HOOD. THERE WAS TRANSMISSION FLUID ALL OVER THE INTERIOR OF THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT, 1+ QUARTS. I COULD FIND NO OBVIOUS LEAKS, BUT PURCHASED SOME ADDITIONAL FLUID AND REFILLED WHAT WAS LOST. SINCE THEN WHENEVER IT IS WARM OUT OR THE CAR IS DRIVEN FOR OVER AN HOUR IN TEMPERATURES ABOVE ~50 F, IT SHIFTS VERY ROUGH AND THE OD LIGHT AND CHECK ENGINE LIGHT COME ON. I HAVE SINCE LEARNED THAT THIS IS A VERY COMMON PROBLEM AMONG 2.0L MAZDA 626'S WITH AN AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION. THEY APPARENTLY OVERHEAT VERY EASILY. I HAVE BEEN TOLD I AM LUCKY THAT THE TRANSMISSION HAS NOT FAILED ON ME. I'VE TAKEN IT APART AND CLEANED IT OUT SEVERAL TIMES. I ALSO CHANGE THE TRANSMISSION FLUID FREQUENTLY. THESE ABOVE AVERAGE MAINTENANCE ROUTINES ARE LIKELY WHAT HAS KEPT THE TRANSMISSION FROM FAILING ALTOGETHER. THE VEHICLE IS BARELY TOLERABLE TO DRIVE WHEN IT IS HAVING THESE PROBLEMS AS IT WILL SLAM INTO THE NEXT GEAR HARD ENOUGH TO JERK THE OCCUPANTS FORWARD OR BACKWARD. *NM