Hello all,
I hope someone may be able to help with this problem. My daughter bought a used 2005 Mazda 3 from a Hyundai dealership. What has been happening is that sometimes when she stops at a light, even though she is on the brake only, the car will rev and lurch forward a couple of times and then stall out and she also was unable to start it a couple of times. The check engine light does not come on.
It has gone back to the dealership multiple times and has been there for weeks at a time, but for some reason they can't seems to find whats wrong or recreate the problem. Yet when my wife picked it up the other day from the dealship, it did it when she was leaving there and then it did it twice the next day.
I'm not really sure how hard the dealship is working to resolve this issue but I'm hoping maybe I can get some clues here while I work on finally getting the dealership to send the car to a Mazda dealer.
We also recently found out that the previous owner had takken the car to Aamaco back in August for this same problem and they were also unable to recreate the problem.
I'm wondering if this can be a computer issue?

 

Mileage? Automatic or Standard?
Sounds like auto tranny problems. The automatic tranny fluid should be changed every 30,000 - miles. Please use synthetic. See: Flush it or Forget it | MotorWeek
and Transmission Talk | MotorWeek .

 

I'm sorry, I forgot to post that info.
its an automatic with 66,000 miles. would transmission problems explain the engine revving?

 

A few comments:

• Mazda does not recommend transmission flushes, ever; in fact, Mazda doesn't even have a recommendation for a classic pan-drop and filter change (where did you get that 30,000 mile recommendation from?). As a general rule, flushing an automatic transmission is a very-very bad idea as they were decidedly not designed for such treatment, that and the ATF can be contaminated. All too often otherwise healty transmissions fail within 10,000 miles of a flush.
• Your comment regarding using synthetic ATF is wide of the mark. True, the ATF should be synthetic, but that in and of itself will not assure the transmission will operate properly. The fact is that there are many-many fully synthetic ATFs on the market, and each has its own properties of lubricity (or deliberate lack thereof for the clutches) and viscosity. If someone was to follow your recommendation they might think it's acceptable to say put ATF+4 in their Mazda because it is a high quality synthetic ATF; nothing could be further from the truth.
• Regarding which ATF to use, if the Owner's Manual indicates "ATF M-V", then "Mercon-V" (and only Mercon-V) should be used. If the Owner's Manual indicates "ATF T-IV", then "Toyota Type T-IV" should be used.
• Beware of generic ATFs which claim to meet several standars; as a general rule they don't meet any of them.

 

That's one of Mazdas biggest flaw---never change ATF??????????. You obviously did not read my link otherwise you would have seen the 30,000 mile and the part about what really happens when you don't flush. I can understand trannies failing 10,000 miles after a first flush @ 80,000 miles (too late). My first auto transmission lasted 22,000 km. I put on an aftermarket cooler on it because the stock one on bottom of rad is insufficient. External coolers have more cooling capacities that help your tranny from being overheated and shortened life.
On most vehicles, the automatic transmission fluid is cooled by a small heat exchanger inside the bottom or end tank of the radiator. Hot ATF from the transmission circulates through a short loop of pipe and is thus "cooled." Cooling is a relative term here, however, because the radiator itself may be running at anywhere from 180 to 220 degrees F.!
Tests have shown that the typical original equipment oil cooler is marginal at best. ATF that enters the radiator cooler at 300 degrees F. leaves at 240 to 270 degrees F., which is only a 10 to 20% drop in temperature, and is nowhere good enough for extended fluid life.
An auxiliary transmission fluid cooler is easy to install and can substantially lower fluid operating temperatures. The plate/fin type cooler is somewhat more efficient than the tube and fin design, but either can lower fluid temperatures anywhere from 80 to 140 degrees when installed in series with the stock unit. Typical cooling efficiencies run in the 35 to 50% range.

 

You are over due for a fluid change if you haven't yet.
My first tranny lerched a couple times, good thing i had my foot firmly on the brake. Eventually the tranny banged extremely hard on a downshift among other things and was changed under warranty.

 

Once again you've pulled recommendations out of somewhere best left unmentioned. What are you, some 12 year old kid who's done just enough reading to think he suddenly knows better than the engineers? Why don't you do like your user id says and UseYourNoggin instead of spewing all of this crap around.

 

Again did you not read the links-----this is not from somewhere i dreamed up. You are the 12 year old bashing character again. You must work for Mazda. Do some re-searching for a change. Are you also familiar with the TSB on Mazda 6 6 speed Aisin Warner transmission valve body screw up? Mazda recently removed it, but here's the link, read the link: http://www.coremazda.com/tsb/mazda6/05-016-06-transaxle-slippage.pdf .
Your the one spewing crap, believing Mazdas are perfect and require no maintenance.

 

Mazda uses scientific methods to determine the maintenance schedule of the cars they build. You are free to disagree with those recommendations, but lacking (as you are) any scientific evidence to the contrary, all you noise coming from you on this issue is just that, noise.

 

You take Mazda's word, i'll take the rest of the world especially when my tranny blew @ 22,000 km. I'm not the only one with tranny issues. as the link said "Flush it often and keep it clean". there are other things that Mazda doesn't do for maintenance that you also need to do, but I would be wasting my breath talking to you anymore.
Actually, why don't you tell me when Mazda recommends changing the power steering fluid or the brake fluid. On my sheet it also says the brake fluid never needs replacing. It also does say "Inspect" steering operation and linkage.
Show me proof on this one.