Mazda Protege 1999 O/D problem (1 Viewer)

[David Susilo]

no, no, my car doesn't OD-ed, just the O/D light ocassionally blinks for no apparent reason. The blinking stops when I turn off the engine and turn it on again.

I brought it to Mazda dealers several times and they blame it on my remote-starter, which to me, sounds ridiculous.

Anybody can shed some light on this? I only own this car for less than 4 years with only 60,000 kilometres (so far)on the odo. This started happening at around 35,000 km.

 

[Chris PC]

What is the O/D light? Over Drive? How is your tranny fluid? Is the O/D your odometer light or something?

 

[David Susilo]

Over Drive.

Checked the tranny fluid and everything seems to be okay. No diminishing performance either.

 

[Steve Schaffer]

David,

On Toyotas and some other cars with electronically controlled trannies, the OD off light will flash if the computer detects a problem with a speed sensor or solenoid circuit in the transmission. On these cars it will usually set a code in the trans ecu that can be retrieved.

 

[David Susilo]

Steve, can this be caused by remote-start? what may happen if this continues? Coz like I previously mentioned, I don't feel anything wrong with the car's performance.

 

[Todd_Brown]

Steve, can this be caused by remote-start? what may happen if this continues? Coz like I previously mentioned, I don't feel anything wrong with the car's performance.

Hey David,
I'm the service manager at a Mazda dealership in Ohio. How many miles on the car, and were any codes pulled by the dealership? Let me know everything they told you and I'll dig around and see if I can find an answer.
Todd Brown

 

[David Susilo]

Hi Todd,

The "Blinky O/D" started at around 35,000km; then repeats itself once every (average) 5,000km. I brought the car to Mazda when it happened around 45,000km.

According to Markham Mazda, they can't find anything wrong with it and I was charged about US$80 to check the problem. Furthermore, they blamed it on the remote starter installed by another professional (licensed) installer (I use Viper remote start, installed at an authorized Viper seller and authorized Viper installer).

According to them, I've voided all my warranty. (I bought the 100,000km/5-year extended warranty). Even when my intake gasket was broken last week, (US$14 parts BUT US$200 labour), they won't cover it on the grounds that I've installed the remote start.

I have nothing but problem with this car. The front brake rotor only lasted 50,000km. This doesn't make sense because I own another Mazda of the same year, of the (virtually) same milage, with the exact same everything (down to the tire, stereo, alarm, remote start) and at 50,000km I only had to change the brake pad.

If you can shed any liight on this matter, it will be greatly appreciated. If you can help 'persuade' Mazda Canada to cover this under warranty, of course, it's even better

oh, btw, the car is Mazda Protege SE 1999 with today's ODO exactly 60,057km (about 37,000 miles), bought in September 1999. Oil and oil filter changed every 3,500km; air filter changed every 10,000km.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

 

[Philip_G]

unless they can honestly reason that a blown head gasket was the direct cause of the remote start, they shouldn't deny your warranty claim. Now, a stripped starter motor or something maybe, but a blown head gasket? noooo call mazda and complain, and go to another dealer.

 

[David Susilo]

Honestly, this will be my last Mazda car ever again.

I've bought the total of 6 Mazdas in my life (four of which bought from North Toronto Mazda, from the same salesperson) and none of them ever had this problem (except for this one).

I just find it insulting for both Markham Mazda dan North Toronto Mazda refused to take the car under warranty just because of a remote start. Also the excessive wear and tear on this car is also making lose faith in Mazda in general.

 

[Philip_G]

I hate to see you lose faith in the brand, call mazda usa and voice your concerns. I've heard subaru north america is very responsive to that sort of feedback. Maybe mazda will be too.

 

[David Susilo]

Hi Philip, I'm in Canada. But yeah, I've even contacted Mazda Canada before, and the CSR's response is identical "your warranty is void when you installed anything outside Mazda's specification" and when I nicely asked to talk to his supervisor, he refused to do so although it's a customer's right for that. I've tried calling several times and it seems like they already have my VIN on their database and I'm facing a road block.

I hope Todd_Brown can help me out, if not, I'll sell this car right after the 4th anniversary and get a Toyota Matrix.

If it is any consolation, at least my uncle's, parents' and brother's are no longer driving Mazda. After hearing my horror story, my uncle bought a 2002 Nissan Altima, my parents bought a 2002 Toyota Camry and my brother bought a Honda Civic Hybrid. And all of them used to drive Mazda (MPV, Protege and Millennia). Tee hee (where is evil-grin when I need one)

 

[Philip_G]

that's amazing. I wonder if the law isn't just a little bit different on aftermarket parts in canada

 

[Steve Schaffer]

As far as the remote start causing the problem with the OD light coming on, stranger things have happenned. On some mid-90s Toyotas the factory authorized accessory alarm system would disable the cruise control--the starter interrupt circuitry on the alarm caused a tiny bit of feedback into the neutral safety circuit and tell the cruise control the car was in neutral or park, which disabled cruise control.

We've had 3 or 4 current generation Celicas lose the gas guage and radio and trans selector illumination due to damage to the body ecu from improperly installed aftermarket alarms.

Since your dealer is using the remote starter as an excuse to deny all kinds of unrelated warranty claims, there's some chance the remote starter is not causing your OD light problem.

The only way to know for sure is to remove the remote starter system and see if the OD light problem goes away.

We had a rash of OD lights coming on with 93-94 Corollas with 4 speed automatics, but the speedo would also act up and it always stored a speed sensor code. Replacing the speed sensor on the trans fixed 'em. BTW, these all would shift funny for a block or so when the speedo quit, then the backup calibration would kick in and shifts would be normal even with the speedo inop.

Mazda builds a very good automobile, but as with Toyota or any other brand the occasional glitch can still occur and the quality of the car can also be very dependent on the quality of the dealership's service. Your extended warranty should be valid at any Mazda dealer, you might want to consider switching dealerships for your service.

 

[David Susilo]

I see, thanks for the info, Steve, I'll start with disabling my remote start AND alarm system, and go from there.

I personally don't mind as much in getting a lemon considering the great track record I've experienced with Mazda, it's just the fact that they are pointing fingers for everything really insults me. So far, nobody at Mazda in Canada is even trying to help me

1. The salesperson I bought 4 cars from washes his hands
2. North Toronto Mazda blamed my remote-start for blown gasket,
3. Markham Mazda blamed my remote-start for blown gasket and the "Blinky O/D"
4. Markham Mazda actually charged me US$80 to check "Blinky O/D" with the result suppsedly being inconclusive (other than "it's your remote start causing all this)
5. Three Mazda Canada CSRs refused to grant my wish to talk to their supervisor.

I totally understand that every now and then any manufacturer produce something bad like this one particular car I'm driving. It's the people that sucked. Kinda remind me of Samsung's quality control (but that's another story for another time; "The Tale of 5 TVs in Less Than 2 Years")

 

[Todd_Brown]

According to them, I've voided all my warranty. (I bought the 100,000km/5-year extended warranty). Even when my intake gasket was broken last week, (US$14 parts BUT US$200 labour), they won't cover it on the grounds that I've installed the remote start.

Hey David,
Sorry I've taken so long getting back. I'm still checking some things out for you. As for the voiding of your warranty, in the States there is a law (Massey-Ferguson I believe) that states basically, "the mere presence of an aftermarket component cannot void the manufacturers warranty". Otherwise everybody who has the oil changed at Jiffy Lube has voided their warranty because the oil filter is aftermarket. The manufacturer is obligated to prove that the installed component caused the failure. Now that's the U.S., I'm not sure about Canada. Check out the SEMA web-site, they are the aftermarket suppliers organization.
Don't give up on Mazda because the dealer you're dealing with is a loser, ask to meet the District Service rep for Mazda at the dealership, and get ammo at the SEMA site.
Todd

 

[Todd_Brown]

David,
Found these 2 bulletins which may or may not apply to your car:

1.The MIL and OD OFF light are "ON" with Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC) P0705. In some cases the customer may experience erratic shifting and/or no shifting out of third gear. This can be caused by moisture entering the Transmission Range (TR) Switch resulting in corrosion of the terminals during the manufacturing process.

2.No shift condition from second or third gear with a flashing overdrive off (O/D OFF) indicator light. This condition can be caused by a failed shift solenoid (A, B, C, D, or E). Unfortunately due to incorrect failure detection logic in the Power Control Module (PCM), some vehicles will have improper Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs) P0732, P0733 or P0734 (gear incorrect) stored in memory instead of the appropriate shift solenoid DTC(s) as listed below.

Its enough to at least get them moving towards an answer. I

Todd Brown

 

[David Susilo]

Thank you for the info, Todd, I'll do so immediately and hope they'll take care of me soon (because I'm also eyeing the Mazda Protege 5 with Sport A/T, my only choice to drive something closer to M/T since my wife can't drive M/T).

Again, thank you very much.

Sincerely,
David Susilo

 

[Steve Schaffer]

David,
I had a chance to drive a Protege 5 with that tranny today--a trade-in at the Toyota dealer where I work. It was an 03 model with only 2k miles on it.

I was very impressed with the solid but not harsh ride, very stable glued-down handling, and overall quality feel of the car. It was quieter than the last Protege I drove (a 2000 model) and rode much better, with a more refined overall feel.

The manual feature on the trans was mostly good for forcing downshifts to get engine braking for turns and curves. On acceleration the thing was just as good in automatic mode.

Power was about the same as in a 1.8 liter 03 Corolla, good but not mind-bending. My 01 Sentra SE has noticeably more snap at higher rpms, low end torque on the Mazda was quite ample and would briefly spin the front wheels coming out of corner with a lead foot.

 

[David Ely]

I have a 2001 Protege ES that I purchased from North Toronto Mazda. I had a remote starter installed by a friend, and have been told by the dealership that it will not affect warranty in any way. The service manager even told me that getting a remote starter was "a great idea".

I would avoid Markham Mazda, as a few friends have had nothing but problems with their service department. I won't even go in to detail about the way I was treated by one of their sales people.

 

[Shawn Solar]

A car is only as good as the service offered. I don't know why dealers, car or others, try to weazle out of anything they can. I would also get a copy of the full warranty agreement. I never trust a salesman. Then maybe post something here and another HTF memeber might beable to look it over(like a lawyer). Its very hard to discredit a technician cause everyone thinks there always right Good luck.

I know someone with a saturn that had only problems. The dealer would not honour the warranty. so he got lettering on the back windshield" this saturn is the biggest lemon ever" or something like it. One day while driving down the road he was flagged down by another motorist. It was a manager at saturn head office. He made a deal with him. We'll fixed the car if you take the lettering off the back windshield

I dunno where I heard that.