Mazda - Miata :: 1991 - Automatic Transmission Shifting Harsh In Cold Weather
Apr 10, 2012
I have a 91 Miata Auto. I bought it from someone that (I think!) never drain auto trans fluid during its 145K mile life. So last year I replaced all the gaskets/filters and tuned up the car. It runs fine except shifting harsh in cold weather. I have to mention that it seem to have no power and goes very slow on first few minutes.I used a pump to suck trans fluid out. It was so dark (even I dropped the trans pan and replaced filter/gasket). Then I pumped Lucas trans fix fluid in and it seem to improve. What should I do more to reduce the harsh shift condition in cold weather? Or is there a booster module need to be replaced?
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I have been having phantom automatic transmission problems with occasional harsh shifting, mostly up shifting through all the gears but sometimes downshifting. This problem started in May 2014, lasted off and on for several days, and then stopped occurring. There had been a few instances of small drops of fluid on my carport but nothing consistent. Then in September, the problem started again on the same basis: on/off again, nothing consistent. When I couldn’t locate the port under the hood to check the transmission fluid, I took the Elantra to the Boise Hyundai dealership to ask where the trans fluid port was located. My service rep told me that there was no port in the new vehicles and that the transmission fluid was not changed until 100,000 miles at a cost of $400. The service technicians could not find anything wrong with the vehicle when they hooked it up to their computers to check the error codes, and the vehicles would not perform the harsh shifting when they test drove the car. The techs re-set the adaptive points and I was sent on my way. A few days later, the harsh shifting started again on and off, phantom problem. I took the Elantra back into the dealership and told them to keep it for as many days as it took for a tech to drive it home and start it cold in the morning. The transmission did not perform the harsh shifting for the 80 miles the tech drove it home and back to the dealership for three days.
After driving the Elantra another week, the phantom trans problems re-occurred. After surfing the web and checking the Hyundai Customer Forum, all I could find was problems with 2010 Elantra transmissions and my service tech admitted that Hyundai had replaced thousands of 2010 transmissions.
Through the dealership I opened a Case File for my transmission problems because there is something definitely wrong with the vehicle and I want a new transmission, and will press my case to the max. I’ve kept a log since September, noted daily temperatures, and times the trans has performed harsh shifting. I’ve kept the problem to a minimum by letting the car warm up for about 5 minutes and will only drive it when the tachometer needle rests on 1,000 rpms.
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Last week the shift got stuck in Park. I used the emergency release button to get into Drive. After this happened several times I took it to the mechanic who said the shift needed replacing. Got a new shift. The problem persists. I get stuck in Park about 1 in 6 times.
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My 2007 V6 failed me several times on very cold mornings. I start the car, wait about 1 minute and then drove it to a stop sign or red light (still cold). When the light turned green, I tried to proceed, but it was as if the car was in neutral. The car would not move. It was only after about 2-3 minutes, when the car started to warm up that I was able to get a gear. After 5-7 minutes, it was as if nothing happened. I have 97K on the car.
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I have a 2001 Miata. It's been over 100 degrees daily lately. The AC will blow sort of cold for about 30 minutes and the temp gauge will move towards the H hashmarks. If I turn the AC off, the gauge will slowly drop. I've also noticed that the amount of cold air is decreasing as time passes. In fact, the other day, the system was blowing air hotter than the outside temperature after about an hour drive.
The viewing glass has bubbling stuff flowing thru it. The recently flushed radiator is full as is the overflow reservoir.
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I have the 2000 passat 1.8L 4 cylinder with the tiptronic shifting. The car has been shifting less smoothly both upshifting and down. I have noticed that if you are going fast and slow suddenly, say for a light and the downshifting does not go smoothly the vehicle can lurch/jump even if the brakes are firmly applied.
What may be causing this issue. I recently sold my MKIV which was a great car and we are now starting to have small problems with this passat with 104,000 miles on it. It does not intuitively feel that the tranny is worked over yet, but I would like to avoid any expensive repairs/replacement. I have done everything from suspension, door replacement, clutches and timing belts on other vw's. So I am hoping to tackle this myself.
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Vehicle: '99 E350, V10
Symptoms: speedometer bouncing, O/D flashing, harsh shifts. Symptoms do not present until the van has been driven at highway speeds for about 20 miles. Then, the speedometer starts to bounce a little. Then, after another 5 - 10 miles, the O/D light starts to flash. Then, with a few more miles, the harsh shifting begins.
Parts replaced: neutral safety switch, rear ABS/speed sensor (twice), instrument cluster.
Each time after I replaced a part, when I drove the van, all was fine until it had been driven at highway speeds for about 20 - 25 miles, regardless of whether the engine was warm or cold. Where to go next with it?
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My 1991 Acura Legend LS does not start in cold weather and in the morning. Once it does, it keeps on starting and runs great. Prior to catching and starting it rattles and shakes and when I press the accelerator, it makes sounds like it is not getting enough air. The problem occured abruptly after a mechanic tried to find out why the radiator fan does not come on. That has been fixed by putting a new relay. The car has 176,000 miles and has never given starting problem before.
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I just bought a 2010 Santa Fe. All seems fine except that when the car is cold it goes into R harshly (with a bump and a small delay)and also is a little bit irregular in normal gear. I'm used to have cars with transmission problems unfortunately and happily it's nothing like that but I'd really finally like to have a vehicle without any tranny issues.
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I bought a 2010 GLS 4cyl and within the first week started having shifting issues. Initially it was only when it was colder than 30 degrees outside and would only shift harshly between 1st and 2nd. Once I had driven a few miles and warmed the car up, everything was OK. It's still an intermittent issue, but now it will do it when outside morning temps are in the 50's and 60's.
I've read the TSB for 6cyl 09's and saw a post in the Santa Fe forum that sounded identical, so at least I'm not the first to experience this.
I took it back to the dealership knowing it probably would not shift badly when they test drove it because we had run out of cold mornings. I picked the car up after they reset adaptive learning and said there were no updates available for the computer. (And also being told I had bad gas in the car. Another story for another time...)
Until it starts doing it at fairly regular intervals, there isn't any use taking back to the dealership as it's very inconvenient for me to get there.
I checked the link that had TSB's and didn't see anything for the 2010's. Also, is there any place where I could check and see when software updates come out and what issues are addressed?
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I've got a 1.8T 2004 automatic and the problem I'm having is the shifter is harder to move since the weather's been colder. It shifts very well and is responsive, it's just that I have to pull it harder to select P, R, N and D. D is especially hard (no pun intended you sick minds! ) to select, the shifter kind of stays in neutral but shifts after a bit. Is there anything I can do to fix this?
Side question: is the rear defrost supposed to turn off after a certain period of time? My 2002 golf does it but the jetta doesn't.
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A while ago, I acquired a 1991 Mazda 626 automatic (currently 105,000 miles) that now has what appear to be the beginning of transmission issues. It hard shifts from 1st to 2nd - the shift jerks really hard when the car is cold but once I've driven it for 15-20 minutes the hard shift almost disappears completely and stays that way as long as the car is warm - except for stop and go traffic (Seattle traffic) than the hard shift comes back no matter how long I've been driving. The only other shifting issue I notice is on the hills where it seems to shift more frequently than I might expect it too.
Other than what I've described this car is in perfect condition inside and out, as well as engine-wise. My question is on transmissions and whether I should get a rebuilt one. I've taken it to multiple transmission shops and almost all have told me two things 1) I need a new transmission and 2) that the issue is a hard component problem and I could most likely drive this car for months or years without having to replace the transmission - if I want to put up with the rough shifts. They recommended just driving it until the transmission goes out and then replacing it.
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my 2012 nissan sentra when I first start to drive it in the morning when the temperature is below-5C does not "shift" properly. At 40 km/hr it runs at 2400 rpm. I drove it this morning to work and the whole 2 km distance it ran at 2400 rmp. The dealer says that this is normal until the car warms up, which is strange as the car only started doing this in January of this year. Coming home at -6C , I drove it for 3 blocks, it ran at 2400 rpm at 40 km/hr. Stopped the car, shut it off, restarted it and then drove home with the transmission shifting properly and rpm down to about 1500 rpm at 40-50 km/hr. We normally were getting about 400 km per 40 liters of gas, now it is down to 200-300 per 40 liters of gas(for in town driving).
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So, something odd happened to me today while driving. I was getting off a highway after about 250 miles of driving, downshifted from 5th to 4th, and when I hit the gas pedal after shifting, nothing. No acceleration. I shift back to 5th. Still nothing. Try revving in neutral, also nothing. I come to a stop on the exit ramp and try to start the car up. It starts up, hits about 1k rpm and stalls. Gas pedal does nothing still. What's up with this? I had it towed to my shop.
Couple tidbits of info: just had the oil changed three days ago. Checked the oil and it seems fine. I have an aftermarket he's unit in the car and lately, it's been a little wonky. When I put use my automatic windows, sometimes the volume will mute for a sec.
My car is a 2006 Mazda Miata base model. 5 speed manual. Power windows but not locks. No traction control. No cruise control. 40,000 miles. Oil changed regularly with full synthetic.
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My car often backfires on downshifts. It happens as I?m decelerating in gear, and then blip the throttle to match the higher rpm of the lower gear. The car runs well and is well maintained. The spark plugs, MAF sensor, O2 sensors, and cat are all in good order. I?m confident the air/fuel mixture is working as intended by Mazda (at least under normal driving), so I?m not looking for a mechanical culprit. I?m sure it?s my style and frequency of downshift/rev matching which causes the backfires.
It happens anywhere from 1-2 times a week to 1-2 times a day depending on my driving, or on something like 2-5% of all downshifts. Personally, I rather like excitement of the backfires and the exhaust burble which accompanies them, it makes me feel like I'm in a race car. My question is whether frequent backfiring is going to drastically reduce the life of my catalytic converter and O2 sensors.
I don't mind replacing the cat 5 years from now instead of say 10, but I don?t want to have to replace it within the next 10,000 miles or less. My Miata is a 1999 model with 130,000 miles on it. The exhaust system uses stock manifold and muffler but with an AEM performance intake and monsterflow catalytic converter.
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My 1991 Volvo 240 with automatic transmission suddenly stopped shifting out of first. No warning. Fluid level is good.
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My 2005 Prius shifts into Neutral, "N", when I put it either into Drive, "D", or Reverse, "R", during Cold weather, mid 20's and below. It will only stay in "B" to drive, and I have to hold the shifter in "R" to back up or "D" to drive. After the car warms up while driving 15-20 minutes in "B", I can shift it into "D" and it will stay there. I normally start the car and let it warm up in the morning for 10-15 minutes on cold days, below 25F but still I'm only able to drive it in "B" until it's ready. I just moved to Montana after driving this car in normal Southern California driving conditions. It happened while vacationing in Montana during the winter of 2007 a few times but it didn't bother me since I wasn't living there. I reported to Toyota but they couldn't do anything since the weather wouldn't co-operate. This car is still under 70,000 miles.
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I have a 1999 Ford F-150 XLT, with the 5.4 and a 4spd auto. 172,XXX miles on the clock and i have owned it starting on April of 2014.
Tonight driving home from work, it took some time on the highway (4 miles) to shift into top gear. When you lift off the gas pedal after reaching the speed limit, normally the truck will shift from 3rd to 4th no problem. When I let off the pedal, there was no gear change.
It took sometime for it to shift up. When downshifting on the exit ramp, there was nothing abnormal. Where I live it is 19 Degrees Fahrenheit and this is the beginning of the cold snap that will last well into mid-January of next year.
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Problem: car cranks but doesn't start then randomly it will start. 2 different shops...first thought maybe battery (no it cranks) but said these cars are notorious for cam sensor problems they didn't have software to diagnose. Brought to dealership again battery (we were finally beat down and replaced battery) ...then brought home if car sat for a few days totally dead needed jumpstart....brought back to dealer they replaced cam sensor and timing belt...went to pick it up and you guessed it....cranked but didn't start....mechanic came out and it started....so after replacing several parts we are back to the same problem intermittent crank without start...
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I have this vehicle, which keeps blowing out the catalytic converter, its been replaced 3 times in the last month, and the mechanic doesnt know why, he refuses to put another one on it, until he figures this out.
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I have a Mazda Miata 2001, 152,000 miles. It's developed a metallic scrape from the right rear wheel. When I'm driving about 20 mph it sounds like a scritch every half-a-second or so, and if I'm going faster it just blurs into a metallic scrape. When I tap the brakes, it usually stops, and then it'll come back a little bit later (maybe when I hit a bump?) It comes and goes, but it seems to be more persistent now (or maybe I'm just always listening for it).
I took the wheel off and sprayed brake cleaner everywhere and I thought that had fixed it, but it came back again after a week maybe.
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