58,000 miles, what warantees do i still have? there is a little under paint rust near the passanger side tail light.. covered? the tranny sometimes shifts harsh... covered? need a tranny flush? road side assistance still? is there a way to check the check engine code using a jumper wire in the diagnosis connector in the engine compartment like i do in my 93 rx7? i am approaching 60,000 miles, what services should i have done besides timing belt and spark plugs, fuel filter. any good mechanics near me? Antioch, CA bay area?
sorry for all the questions but i could not find much by searching. also what is the miller cycle do? and what aftermarket parts are available?
Jeremy

Dont know bout the first set of Qs but:
the miller cycle engine relies on the pressure from the forced induction (the supercharger) to run. I think the intake valves dont close all the way but im not sure. There arent many aftermarket mods available, im trying a few things, if any work, ill let you know.
What kind of mods are you talking about, performance or appearance?

well the intake valves must close all the way in order to get compression, just a thought i had was maybe more valves open depending on throttle positon or load or pressure or whatever but i dont know, i do know that they have LATE closing intake valves, also the mods i was talking about was like a smaller pully for the supercharger or a better more open intake system (how does it work now? is there 2 intercoolers?) i wouldnt mind hearing the supercharger more, and better flow exhaust but i also want it quiet, you know like only loud when i am on the throttle. maybe a chip. also i have the special edition and i was wondering what all the options that were available were like was heated mirrors avail? and what about a spoiler? and i got 17 mpg last fill up is that about right? a little clanky on the cold startups is that the oil not flowing yet or do i have a prob? where are the experts? calling you out...... (for help and knowledge).

Warranty is 3/50K. Sorry, you are out. Rust has to have gone all of the way through for you to get that covered, as well. Diagnostics port for all 1996 and newer vehicles is on the driver's side, under the steering wheel. In the Millenia, it is specifically on the right, at the bottom of the dash, close to the console, pointing downward towards the floor. And no, you need a code reader.

Are you getting a check engine light? If not, you won't be able to pull any codes.

The cars run a little rough when cold. Mine shifts funny (late) when cold. Probably related to catalyst light-off. You need a timing belt at 60,000 miles.

Miller cycle is a supercharged version of the Atkinson cycle. The intake valves close late, allowing the cylinder to push the air/fuel mixture back into the intake, which promotes better mixing.

I wouldn't recommend trying to get more boost. You already run at about 30 PSI. You air charge temps are probably approaching 400 degrees, before the intercoolers, which are not that good. Furthermore, your MAF is pretty small. I don't know how much more airflow it will support, but I doubt much. I also don't know what the injectors can support. The car isn't supposed to be a hot rod - if you want one of those, wait for the 'Speed6, and do all of the usual turbo tricks (short of turning up the boost much - compression is too high).

Ok the 2 codes I pulled from the check engine light are:

P0421 Warm Up Catalyst Efficiency Below Threshold (Bank1)

P1720 Unknown Powertrain DTC (Manufacturer Controlled; Transmission)


I cleared the codes and havent gotten them back since like in a week and a half.........

Are these common? What is the most likely cause? a sensor? bad cat? what do they mean?

Does the car misfire bigtime?



P0421 Warm Up Catalyst Efficiency Below Threshold (Bank1)

I would advise to check the catalytic converters for blockage ...do they look burnt? ,the bank 1 catalyst


Test the o2 sensors functionality they are probably damaged if the cats are burnt


check the ignition coils and spark plugs,wires etc. for evidence of arking


...the other code i could look into for you

DTC P1720; VEHICLE SPEED SENSOR (VSS) CIRCUIT OPEN OR SHORTED. THEY LIST TEN POSSIBLE CAUSES, ANYTHING FROM
WIRE TO CONTROL MODULES. eg. TRANSMISSION CONTROL MODULE (TCM), INSTRUMENT CLUSTER, ANTILOCK BRAKE SYSTEM(ABS),
TRACTION CONTROL SYSTEM(TCM), ABS HYDRULIC UNIT(HU) AND POWERTRAIN CONTROL MODULE(PCM). I'D SAY LET HOPE
THIS FIXED ITSELF.

well, the car does seem to shift a little late between 1st and 2nd sometimes and always a little rough, i have heard that this is more normal in these cars is that true? should it be a pretty smooth shift? like all my other gears? i have cleared the codes and they havent come back since and i have even been trying in order to take it in for service cause they said that they wouldnt do anything based off my OBD2 printout. im not too woried about the P0421 code cause mazda carries a 80,000 mile warranty on emmissions so they can fix that anytime it comes on again but the "P1720 Unknown Powertrain DTC (Manufacturer Controlled; Transmission)" i am worried about cause i have like 700 miles remaining on my powertrain warranty and if it is expensive then i dont want to have to pay for it myself, the code says its regarding the transmission so, gtxtreme you mentioned the "WIRE TO CONTROL MODULES. eg. TRANSMISSION CONTROL MODULE (TCM), " that is the only one you mentioned that regarded the transmission so should that be checked and what can i do to try to get it to come on again? any other tranny possibilities that could come from that code?
Jeremy

THE VSS SIGNAL IS SEND TO ALL THOSE MODULES AS A REFERENCE SO THAT THERE CAN FUNCTION ACCORDLY.
HAVE YOU EVER HAD THE SPEEDO JUMP AROUND OR QUIT WORKING? HAS THE CRUISE CONTROL EVER DONE THE SAME?
LET'S CHECK SOME BASICS; DO YOU HAVE ACCESS TO A MULTIMETER? VOLT/OHMS IS ALL THAT NEEDED.
#4 GROUND POINT; CONNECTS TO THE PCM, TCM, FRONT O2 SENSORS, IGN COILS,TRANSAXLE RANGE SWITCH, ETC.
THIS IS MOUNTED ON TOP OF BANK1 INTERCOOLER RUNNER, TOWARD BACK BY ALL VAC SOLENOIDS. IT'S BRANCH TYPE,
WIRE COLOR IS BLACK WITH BLUE TRACER, HELD DOWN BY 10MM HEAD BOLT. CHECK THE RESISTNACE FROM BATT NEG
TO CONNECTOR,LOOKING FOR TENTHS OF OHM. EVEN IF CHECKS GOOD, LOOSEN & TIGHTEN. RECHECK. THIS GROUND CONNECTION GOES THRU TWO OTHER CONNECTORS UNDER THE DASH BEFORE REACHING THE TCM. IT'S QUICKER TO
CHECK AT THE TCM, WHICH IS MOUNT A DRIVER'S KICK PANEL AREA. METAL BOX WITH TWO CONNECTORS, (A) 16 PINS &
(B) 20PINS. ON (A) FIND B/L WIRE, AGAIN CHECK RESISTANCE.
AS YOU CAN SEE THIS CAN A VERY LONG DRAWN OUT PROCEDURE; I'M STILL HOPING ONE OF THE MODULES HAD A BLONDE
MOMENT.

THE VSS (Vehicle Speed Sensor?) SIGNAL IS SEND (sent? [not being sarcastic, just dont know]) TO ALL THOSE MODULES AS A REFERENCE SO THAT THERE CAN FUNCTION ACCORDLY.
HAVE YOU EVER HAD THE SPEEDO JUMP AROUND OR QUIT WORKING? (NO) HAS THE CRUISE CONTROL EVER DONE THE SAME? (havent used the cruise control very much but it worked perfect when i did)
LET'S CHECK SOME BASICS; DO YOU HAVE ACCESS TO A MULTIMETER? VOLT/OHMS IS ALL THAT NEEDED. (YES, i have any tool you can think of)
#4 GROUND POINT; CONNECTS TO THE PCM (Power control module? ), TCM(Traction/Transmission Control Module?), FRONT O2 SENSORS, IGN COILS,TRANSAXLE RANGE SWITCH, ETC.
THIS IS MOUNTED ON TOP OF BANK1 INTERCOOLER RUNNER (what is, the #4 ground point?), TOWARD BACK BY ALL VAC SOLENOIDS. IT'S BRANCH TYPE (branch type? like multiple connections to one bolt?),
WIRE COLOR IS BLACK WITH BLUE TRACER(tracer is a stripe or a band?), HELD DOWN BY 10MM HEAD BOLT. CHECK THE RESISTNACE FROM BATT NEG
TO CONNECTOR(to be specific, one lead on the auctual post of the battery and the other to the ground point #4?),LOOKING FOR TENTHS OF OHM.(0 to 0.9ohm?) EVEN IF CHECKS GOOD, LOOSEN & TIGHTEN. RECHECK. THIS GROUND CONNECTION GOES THRU TWO OTHER CONNECTORS UNDER THE DASH BEFORE REACHING THE TCM (transmission/traction control module). IT'S QUICKER TO
CHECK AT THE TCM(?), WHICH IS MOUNT A DRIVER'S KICK PANEL AREA. METAL BOX WITH TWO CONNECTORS, (A) 16 PINS &
(B) 20PINS. ON (A) FIND B/L WIRE (Black with Blue stripe?), AGAIN CHECK RESISTANCE. (from the male or female end of the "A" connector [plug end or box end, also with it unplugged?]also check between there and the battery post again?, if i use an extention wire for my multimeter for this would that add resistance?)
AS YOU CAN SEE THIS CAN A VERY LONG DRAWN OUT PROCEDURE, (sounds not too bad unless you have to take things off to get to #4 ground.); I'M STILL HOPING ONE OF THE MODULES HAD A BLONDE
MOMENT. (me too, but i need to know just in case i need to use my warantee for something expensive)
Thanks for the detaild info, very helpfull, the dealer returned the car to me cause they need the code to be in the ecu and not cleared but it is a one hour drive to the dealer that holds the warantee and doesent the check engine light make the car run richer in order to protect the engine? and it wastes gas? can i make the car get the codes back by taking the bolt out and starting the car and then putting it back and letting the dealer find out? also the dealer is saturn if that matters and i dont think they are that great when i know how complicated mazda is, i even gave them my workshop manuel to use and the printout of the codes. well...... reply?

FIRST THANKS FOR THE SPEELLING CORRECTION. PLEASE GIVE ME A BREAK ON MY SENTENCE STRUCTURE & GRAMMAR.
#4 GRND HAS ONE BOLT AND 5 WIRES, BOTH OUTER ARE BLACK (B) TWO BLACK/BLUE (B/L) AND A BLACK/RED (B/R)
THE TRACER COLOR IS ALWAYS A STRIPE, UNLESS I POST DIFFERENTLY. OHMMETER, BLACK LEAD TO NEG BATT POST, RED LEAD
TO #4 BOLT. LOWER THE READING THE BETTER. YES, RETIGHTEN #4 BOLT, YOU'LL NOTICE THAT IT IS CONNECTED TO A
BRACKET WHICH HAS ONE THE MOUNTING BOLT FOR THE INTERCOOLER RUNNER, LOOSEN AND TIGHTEN AS WELL. TO ACCESS #4
YOU DON'T HAVE TO REMOVE ANYTHING IT RIGHT ON TOP.
TCM CONNECTOR (A) YOU DISCONNECT IT TO TEST (WARNING: ALWAYS MAKE SURE THE IGN IS OFF AND CHECK THE WIRE
FOR VOLTAGE BEFORE CHECKING FOR RESISTANCE. THIS WILL SAVE YOUR OHMMETER FROM DAMAGE.)
DOESN'T MATTER WHICH SIDE OF THE CONNECTOR YOU PROBE, AS LONG AS YOU DON'T BEND OR DAMAGE IT SO WON'T RE-
CONNECT. UNDER THE DASH, AT THE TCM YOU CONNECT THE OHMMETER TO (A) B/L THEN TO GRND. YOU CAN TRY THE TCM CASE
OR ANY OF THE GOLD COLOR MOUNTS NUTS. IF THESE READINGS ARE HIGH; USE YOUR METER WITH AN EXTENSION, CONNECT
EXTENSION TO ONE LEAD, CONNECT THE OTHER LEAD TO THE OPPOSITE END OF THE EXTENSION, IF YOU HAVE READING OF
LET SAY 0.2 OHM JUST ADD THAT TO THE TEST RESULTS. TOTAL RESISTANCE. IS YOUR WORKSHOP MANUAL A MAZDA FACTORY
ONE? IF IT IS GO TO CHAPTER 05, SECTION 02B, PAGE 29.
* IF ALL CHECKS OK, GO AROUND WIGGLING THE WIRE HARNESSES IN THESE AREAS. TEST DRIVE TO SEE IF MIL ILLUMINATES. *
MIL OR CHECK ENGINE LIGHTS ARE WARNING THAT SOMETHING IN ONE OF IT SYSTEMS HAS FAILED, OUT OF SPEC, ETC.
DEPENDING ON WHICH SYSTEM CODE # HAS OCCURRED, DETERMINES HOW IMPORTANT IT IS AND WHAT EFFECT IT MAY CAUSE.
IF IT'S SOMETHING THAT WILL DAMAGE SAY THE CATALYTIC CONVERTER, THE LIGHT WILL FLASH. OTHER CODES IF THE SIGNAL
IS LOST, THE MODULE WILL USE A PRESET VALUE. STILL IN OTHER CASES AS THE ELECTRONIC CONTROL TRANSMISSION, IT WILL
GO TO A LIMP HOME MODE GIVING YOU SAY REVERSE AND ONE FORWARD GEAR.
SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT THE SATURN SITUITION, A LOT OF TECHNICANS WILL LOOK DOWN ON ANOTHER CAR LINE. TRY TALKING TO THE SERVICE MANAGER TO FIND OUT WHICH HE'S SENDING TO TRAINING AND HAVE HIM OR HER WORK ON YOUR CAR. I KNOW
WHAT IT LIKE, WE HAVE 14 TECHS HERE AND I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO TRULY ENJOY WORKING ON THEM. THEY'LL DO ALL THE MAIN-
TENANCE WORK, BUT DON'T WANT ANYTHING MORE DIFFICULT. * MAY NOT LOGIN UNTIL MONDAY *

rotormotor2, for your vehicle speed sensor problem you can pick up a new sensor at autozone.com and install it yourself, take off the cover underneath the left front wheel and it should be around that area there. this fixed the same hard shifting problem i had, it was revving to about 5-6k rpms before shifting to the next gear, 2nd. after that, if you notice that it shifts at about the correct rpms but it stills shifts hard even at the regular rpms, i would suggest you look at the motor mounts and notice if you have any vibration while your engine is idling at a light. the vehicle speed sensor problem should be easy to fix.

slasherx, I just might replace it just to see if it is better but I think it would throw a code or make my MPH gauge inaccurate if it were bad, and I think motormounts are good because it is smooth on idle and all other conditions other than first to second shift, I already had a tranny flush.

gtxtreme, I apoligise if you misunderstood me, I was not trying to correct you on spelling or grammer or sentence structure at all because I by far am not perfect at all myself, I was meerly asking questions for things that I did not understand, scroll up, everywhere I have a question mark means I don't know, like for instance I still don't know some abriviations. Well with that aside I ran the tests you mentioned and with the #4 unplugged and test between wires and terminal I got 4.16 ohm and 0.15 ohm to #4 bolt hole with it still unplugged and 0.3 ohm with it plugged in. and under the dash I got 0.6 ohm.
I think mayby I need to replace the battery in my Craftsman digital multimeter? also just as another random test and just curious i tryed to start the car with the #4 bolt out and it would not crank, then i tightened the #4 bolt back in and with the (A)16 pin connector under the driver dash/kickpanel unplugged the car did start but threw a code P1601 so i plugged it back in and the code remained on and then i cleared the code.
well anything else anybody?

no the speed sensor will not affect the speedometer, it will make the exact descript as you said. it will shift really hard from 1st to 2nd but not always, and sometimes the hold light will flash after the hard shift into second. keep in mind this doesnt always happen, the hard shift and the ensuing flashing hold light. these hard shifts will only take place from 1st to 2nd. i fixed my problems by replacing the sensor. if it was a problem with the transmission, then you would have hard shifts at any point, not just from 1st to 2nd.

WHAT slasherx IS REFERING TO IS THE OUTPUT SPEED SENSOR ( OTHER NAMES TURBINE SPEED SENSOR; DRUM SPEED SENSOR)
DIAGNOSITC TROUBLESHOOTING CODE (DTC) P0720 IS FOR OUTPUT SPEED SENSOR CIRCUIT MALFUNCTION.


YOU CAN TEST THE OUTPUT SPEED SENSOR WITH YOUR OHMMETER. THE CONNECTOR IS LOCATED ON BACK SIDE OF BANK1
INTERCOOLER ( THE ONE WITH PLASTIC AIR DUCT WHICH YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TO REMOVE; THREE BOLTS) SHOULD BE TWO WIRE CONNECTOR ONE IS (R) RED AND THE OTHER IS (W) WHITE; SHOULD BE THE TOP ONE OF FOUR.
ATF TEMPERATURE SHOULD BE BETWEEN 68-176F; RESISTNACE READING OF 500-1000 OHMS.
DTC P1601 IS COMMUNICATION LINE ERROR BETWEEN PCM AND TCM WHICH WAS SET WHEN YOU HAD THE TCM DISCONNECTED
DURING TESTING. NO HARM DONE.
AS YOU DISCOVERED THE #4 GROUND CAN HAVE A VERY WIDE EFFECT THRU SEVERAL SYSTEMS AND WHY I STARTED THERE. AT THIS POINT, UNLESS THE
P1720 HAS RETURNED, MOST LIKELY IT WAS INTERMITTANT AND WHY THE DEALER WANTED THE CODE SET IN THE PCM MEMORY.
I PRINTED OUT TEN PAGES FO POSTS, WILL REVIEW FOR OTHER IDEAS.

Well I havent looked yet but is this sensor like an abs type sensor, ? like a magnet type sensor close to a gear wheel? and also why does the tranny fluid have to be up to temp in order to test? anybody got a page # handy for my shop manuel? (yes its a factory manuel)

Thanks,
Jeremy

Jeremy, the output speed sensor is a magnetic pickup type sensor, generates alternating current waveforms which the transmission
control module converts into the output shaft speed. This is not the vehicle speed sensor but signal use to determine shift point etc.
Test procedure on page 05-17B-21. The 2002 Millenia S does not have a vehicle speed sensor, 95 thru 01 did. The ABS module,
thru it's wheel speed sensors, generate the signal for the PCM, TCM, instrument cluster (speedo) etc. Marty

hey marty (gtx)I have an 02' also and it has that hard shift problem too. If I read correctly did you mean that the abs module needs to be replaced in the 2002 since it does not have the other sensor that was suggested in the other posts?