Mazda - Brakes - Mazda3 :: Brake Failure Driving Slowly In A Parking Lot
Dec 21, 2013
Recently, the brakes on my wife's Mazda 3 (5 door, 2.3, 2005, 67k miles, automatic) failed while she was driving slowly in a parking lot. The pedal went all the way to the floor, but the car did not slow down. She used her key to turn off the engine (I've since suggested she use the parking brake instead). The car shuddered (presumably the engine slowing the car?) to a stop. She re-started her car and had some braking power, which returned to normal after a few pumps of the brakes. Since then, the car has been looked at by our usual mechanic and the dealer. Neither can find anything wrong and the brakes have been performing normally.
For it's age, the car is in good condition, has been regularly serviced, and has spent it's entire life in southern California. The only unscheduled maintenance I can recall has been the refurbishment of the electric window switches for the driver's door and some modest body work following a hit and run on the interstate (just dents and scratches). It's only other issues are an occasional rough idle when stopped at a light and harsh shifting from first to second or second to third gear when the car is cold (it's done this "forever," and I've always figured one of the accumulators was a bit sticky). The car was not serviced immediately before the incident. Is the car safe to drive?
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I have a very reliable Mazda 3 2006. For the last month I have had a problem with it refusing to start. I put the key in the ignition, turn it on and nothing. No start, no grinding, no clicking, no sound at all. Got a new battery and it happened again. The second AAA tow guy taught me to start the car by putting it in neutral ( with foot brake and hand brake on) and then start it, which does the trick when it won't start otherwise.
After the new battery and continued problems I asked my mechanic to check the electrical system. He did and said everything was fine.
I don't know whether this is a generator, alternator, computer or battery problem. And I don't know what I am doing to my car when I do the neutral set start. I don't know if I am hurting my car when I do that.
The problem is intermittent. There is no pattern: length of trip before I stop, length of time the car is not used, etc. What is causing this and what needs to be looked at/ fixed.
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I have a 2005 Mazda 3, with ABS. Recently, the brakes on this car began to fade about halfway through the pedal travel, then firm up. This is while driving, (ie, with the engine running). When the engine is off, the pedal pumps up high and firm. I bled the brakes, eliminated the possibility of any hydraulic problem such as a leak, no change. I then reasoned that since the problem only appeared when vacuum was applied to the power assist, that must be the culprit. Replaced the power assist, problem remains. Next suspect is the master cylinder, but, as I said, with the engine off, the pedal is fine. Usually cars make sense to me, but this has me questioning my instincts.
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My mazda 3i is cutting out while driving. I added fuel injector additive to gas and it still cuts out. Battery check is fine. What the issue can be. RPM loss
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First thing in the morning 2 things happen with my car.
1)When I press the brake the first time after turning it on the pedal goes right to the floor with no resistance. The brakes work, the pads move, but there's no resistance in the pedal.
2)Usually within first 15 minutes of driving there's a gap in braking. There's resistance in the peddle but as the car gets near to stopping there's a... whump where the car acts as though there was a gap in the rotors. It brakes smoothly til near the end then suddenly seems to release and then half a second later it bites again and the car stops.
I've had the pads and rotors checked and they found nothing.
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Yesterday I just started noticing a clicking from my 2008 Mazda 3 sedan's fan. When the blower is set to "1" it is very quiet and inaudible when on the highway. As the fan speed increased from 1 to 4 the volume and rate of clicking increases. There is no difference with A/C compressor on or off or set to warm or cold. Is it the blower motor? Could pebbles be stuck in the fan? My repair expertise is almost non-existent (I changed the lightbulbs!) but I want to learn to do more with my car.
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I have a Mazda 3 5-door and I believe it is a 2010 model year, with between 50k-70k miles. I've been, I believe, consistent with regular maintenance schedules, and this is the first issue I've had, and I've been having it for a bit of time now (a few weeks). I've tried various things to try and understand the issues that bring it up.
First, I don't remember if this started before or after, but my "Check Engine" light popped on. I brought it in to have the code read and it was the one for the gas cap not being on properly. The person reset the diagnostic code, tightened the cap, and I went on my way.
A few hours later it came back. Okay, but that's not the issue, and I mention it only because of the other things I've observed.
The real problem is, after I've been driving for "awhile" at highway speeds, and I add fuel, the car has a very difficult time starting. I have to really press the accelerator down to get it to start, and even then it can take a good 5 seconds of holding the key to "start".
Things I've noticed:- If I fill up at the start of a trip, so that the car hasn't been running long, I can fill up and the car starts immediately.- I thought it might be a problem with fuel spilling over into the overflow, so I've added less fuel (so I ended with the needle pointing between 3/4 and full) but it still had trouble starting- After I start it, it runs rough for a bit and I feel like I have to rev it to keep it from stalling, though I haven't left it to idle to see if it actually will stall.- After the difficult start, if I drive as little as down a city block, turn the car off, and back on, it has no trouble starting, nor does it stutter like it does when I fill it up.- If I take a long drive but don't add any fuel, it starts up right away.
I've always used 87 octane fuel, which seems to work fine, and I feel as though that's the recommended grade, isn't it? I also try to fill it up when the needle reads 1/4 of a tank or a bit more, but I do notice that, if I allow the pump to auto-shutoff the car will accept 9-10 gallons (and I thought it was a 10.5 gallon tank, which is less than 1/4 left... I'm not sure how bad that is...)
What it could possibly be? Or even additional tests I could try to narrow it down?
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Have this problem where Santa Fe when coasting in a parking lot or driving slowly on the road, that their is a bit of a slam into second gear in the auto transmission?
Reason I am asking this is that I have this problem and own a 2013 KIA Sorento, but understand the Santa Fe V6 shares the same motor and tranny. I also read that one long term test of the Santa Fe on the web had this very same problem, but in the end after happening several times, stopped happening.
After reading much info, I ordered a Transmission Temp Sensor as this seemed to work on some cars, but it's really a hit or miss thing.
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My parking brake light has been coming on and off for 2 days now. went to the dealership today and on my way there my steering light began to flash. So I guess I can join the steering column failure club. However what faults can the parking throw?
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Ok so this is the problem now, i went to check my fuses and pulled a #20 out to see if the cigarette lighter fuse was blown. Guess what? i start the car and all of a sudden the Electronic Parking brake failure kicked on. I tried to get the car out and now it won't get out of park! FML i heard that you can just unplug the battery for 15 min and that should reset the car but who knows... I got vw roadside coming to see what they can do it might need to get towed though
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My brake pads been rattling around whenever i hit the brake slowly. I think its the front one. My car is 160k miles and still using the original brake hardware kit. Will the new one fix this annoying rattle? I just cant see how a new piece of metal will stop the pads to move around.
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I live in the mountains an back into my driveway that is on a steep hill. My car has rolled backwards twice now with the parking break engaged. The first time it came to a halt where it flattened out. Last night I had my truck parked behind it and it rolled into our recycling and garbage bins and pinned them between the car and the truck. I have a significant dent below the window on my hatch.
Manual transmission. Parking brake engaged. Car was in neutral. I usually leave my car in first when parking on a hill. I am not sure if it slipped out of gear or I left it in neutral by accident.
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I have a 2011 Honda Civic EX-L sedan with 10,000miles on it. I've noticed that the brakes often make a squeaking noise when I am driving slowly and come to a stop at a stop sign. It seems to happen most often after a cold start (e.g. I notice it in the morning when I start my drive to work and otherwise when I have not been driving around in my car). I took it to the dealership today and they said everything was fine with the brakes; they are in great shape and starting to wear normally. They found nothing wrong and they did not hear the squeaking although I heard it this morning and last night.
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1987 F-350 460 Auto Trans. Brake Pedal slowly going to the floor. Stopped at a red light yesterday on a slight down hill and I noticed the brake pedal slowly going to the floor. I had to put the truck in Park to avoid bumping into the car in front of me. I checked brake fluid level and still at the full level, check rims for brake fluid leak from brake cylinder, none. Could my master cyclinder need rebuilding or is my vacume diaphragm going. Not sure thats what its called.
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I have a 2005 Mazda3 with a 2.0 engine & a five speed transmission and 94,000 miles. Since June the car has twice not started, and so far three trips to two different Mazda dealers have not resolved the problem. The car had sat overnight, when I tried to start it the engine it turned over normally, and sounded normal, for just a second. Then it sounded like it started turning over much much faster than normal and the turning over sound changed to the sound of a high speed "whirl" (I don't know any other way to describe it).
In both cases the car just turned over and over and never sounded like it was going to start, resulting in a tow being needed. I've now found out that the dealer started the car by pushing the gas pedal to the floor, then cranking over the engine and then very slowly releasing the gas pedal until the engine started to fire. In the three months in between the non start days the car has started fine and it drives fine, lots of power, constant power with no surges or bogging down. The dealers have checked the compression, fuel PSI, and run computer diagnostics and everything appears to be normal. They also removed the value cover and say that as far as they can tell the fuel injectors seem to be functioning normally.
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I have a 2006 Mazda3 with about 112K miles on it and what I have noticed recently is that the steering shakes a lot. I looked up online for a possible cause and have found that wheel balancing could be a reason. I got wheels balanced and aligned but still there is still some vibration in the steering, so what do you think could be the reason? I have got rotors machined once before, like a year ago.
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I have a 2004 Mazda 3. I just had it inspected and cabin air filter replaced. Now, my car makes a loud noise when the a/c is on and I'm accelerating. The noise sounds like a fan is vibrating /something is blocking it or like a motor is rev-ing that shouldn't be. There definitely is something wrong that wasn't there before the filter/s replaced. I watched a Youtube video on it... a real pain to replace them, but it looked like the fithad to be pretty tight... Could the filters have been installed incorrectly or some part not put back together correctly?
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I hear a noise- what I can best describe as a metallic plucking sound - like a low metallic chord being plucked- when my automatic transmission 2008 Mazda3 shifts from first to second gear. It only happens the first time. I don't hear it after the car ihas been driving and is warmed up. Any thoughts on what could be happening?
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I've noticed this winter that my Mazda 3's heater is barely working using fresh air. It definitely gives out warmer air than the outside temperature, but not by a whole lot. If I turn on air recirculation, then the air becomes appropriately warm. What would cause the heater to work one way and not the other?
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I own a mazda 3 6 speed and im curious as how to test my clutch for slippage. I read on a old forum that to put the e brake up and put the car in 1st gear and release the clutch. When i did that my car tried to move but after a couple seconds i put it back in neutral. Another forum said to do the same but put it in 3rd as i released the clutch it stalled right away.
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My mechanic told me today that one of my struts on my 2006 Mazda3 (with 110k miles) is leaking and that the strut needs to be replaced. Is this something that has an impact on safety, or is it something I can stretch for a while longer? Is the strut going to break if it is leaking? Also, wouldn't I have to replace both of them?
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