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Fri 27 Jul, 2007 07:47 pm
I have a 1995 Mazda 626, which only has about 103K miles on it.
It has been an incredibly dependable vehicle, but here in the just few weeks I've detected that from a complete stop, upon acceleration that the transmission will shift normally up into 2nd gear and then it proceeds to slip and the engine will over rev for a few seconds, and then seemingly third gear will engage, and then the transmission will transfer torque normally.
I took a look at the obvious issue of the transmission fluid. The fluid seemed to be at the correct level and seems to be in good condition. I had noticed that a couple of weeks ago that there seemed to be an accumulation of transmission fluid on the garage floor under the car. It wasn't what I would call excessive and was easily wiped up and I've not seen any further evidence of leakage.
Any suggestions, other than maybe just adding some more transmission fluid and crossing my fingers. And I just have to believe that just a smidge over 100K miles on this Mazda transmission is the equilvalent of nearly nothing, in terms of wear and tear.
Errr... Have you done a Google search on "Mazda 626 transmission problems"? Those things are notorious for having transmissions go. The S/O's '96 626 is on it's 3rd transmission and it only has 80K miles on it.
https://www.carsurvey.org/viewcomments_review_17103.html
http://www.estreetjournal.com/Mazda.htm
http://www.nabiki.com/sstalker/626_tranny.asp
Okay, I did peruse the repair history on this particular component for this make, model and year vehicle, and I will concede that it's not particularly "stellar". I'll just say that when I was purchasing the vehicle 12 years ago, those problems, or maybe the knowledge of those problems were less evident.
After last weekend, I can report that after I added a little less than a full quart of transmission fluid (as a last ditch), the transmission is markedly improved, with hardly any discernible hesitation or slippage now. I'm pretty pragmatic in acknowledging that this is in all likelihood not the end of this problem (didn't Churchhill make some sort of similar statement in a speech once . . .), but I think it reinforces that maybe (fingers crossed) it's just a persistent leak, and doesn't portent a total transmission failure. I have no idea whatsover whether the leak is something that can be remedied independent of having to replace the transmission. But for now, it's working better and with only very limited noticeable slippage. Guess this just shows that sometimes the solution to pursue (maybe albeit temporary) is the most obvious one.
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