2000 Mazda 626: jerking or lurching

Filed Apr 1, 2010 · Transmission · 77,900 miles · TX

I have a concern with the transmission's on the mazda 626 transmission style cd4e. There are thousands of people (internet searched) who have these vehicles and have been placed in dire straits as I am. I was traveling down the freeway at 65 MPH and from out of nowhere, my od stopped functioning and left the car's tranny slipping out of 4th gear searching for a lower gear as it threw the flashing "od light off" indicator light. I had a woman swerve behind me as I had total loss of power and trying to get my car to grasp any gear. Once I pulled to the side of the road and stopped, the od light stopped flashing and my vehicle was left in a "limp home" mode where I could not get over 45mph. I had the tranny rebuilt to the tune of 1500.00 and guess what? I got into the car to do highway travel one week later, and it happened again. I have read that I am by far the only person this has happened to. This is a 2000 model. My brother bought it in 2002. He has maintained the vehicle for the last 7.5 years and I have had it for 6 months now. The miles are 76k, only! Someone needs to have mazda fix this issue. This is rediculous and thie is by far a major safety concern. The surging and searching the 4th gear does is very hard, jerky and surging. Anyone right on your butt in traffic is going to slam into one of these vehicles. There is also a tsb for this as well......but mazda has offered no amends to this situaution when I called the customer service line. They said they were unaware of this situation. That is simply not possible.

Filed May 14, 2009 · Transmission · 117,000 miles · MI

This is the second time that I have had to put my 2000 mazda 626 into the shop due to transmission failure. I was experiencing hard shifting and jerking while placing the car in gearand accelerating. The first repair cost me 800 dollars the second transmission repair was 1200 and the mechanic told me that the transmission wasn't equivalent for the weight and size of my car. I'm experiencing problems once again and it's not even a year later I'm a sophomore in college and I can't afford these costly repairs.

Filed Feb 4, 2009 · Transmission · 160,000 miles · PA

My 2000 mazda 626 (automatic) began "jerking" during acceleration. While accelerating there is an initial pause and then the car jerks as speed increases. It seems as though the car is having difficulty switching gears. Within 10 minutes the check engine light came on. I immediately went to a repair shop. They indicated the error codes suggest there is something wrong with the transmission converter and that I will need to replace or rebuild the transmission. Estimated costs for this are from $3100 to almost $4000.

Filed Aug 27, 2008 · Transmission · 197,724 miles · NC

I had the transmission replaced once already. The transmission I have now when driving on a hwy at 50mph and above with start to jerk in and out from 2000 to 3000rpm and the o/d switch light will blink. After this happens, it doesn't matter what speed the vehicle is in, it responds the same.

Filed Dec 20, 2007 · Transmission · 125,360 miles · CA

My car started to shake and have a burning smell and when I took the car in they said that wires were misplaced by another mazda dealership I took it to about 8 months before. I then called back about a moth later and told them that my car jerks when it shifts gears. At that time they said that I just have slippage and may just need to add some transmission fluid . I did that and it seemed to help until last week when I was driving and stopped at a stop light and when it was time to go my car would not move. The RPM meter went into the red but my MPH remained at 0. I had it towed to the dealership then they told me my transmission was gone and that it would be 3700 to repair. More than what the car is actually worth in good condition.

Filed Aug 24, 2007 · Transmission · 111,000 miles · TX

2000 mazda 626 lx 4-cyl mazda is experiencing jerking or gear shifting problem. Took car in to two different mazda shops-on five separate occasions-within a 60 day span- and the problem still was not corrected or diagnosed. Spent more than $1100 in repairs. Later researched on my own and found out that ford transmission model cd4e used in my model car was possibly defective. After discussing with mazda, I was told to just drive the car until the transmission completely failed and then have it replaced for $3000. I asked about having a transmission fan installed and was discouraged. Mazda service bulletin 005-02 instructs tech's to install a transmission fan if the customer complaint matches the bulletins description. I still was not given any information about this matter. How can mazda get away with not taking responsibility for this? Obviously there is a problem when thousands of messages on the message board all discuss the same issue. This is totally unethical and should be dealt with.

Filed Jan 31, 2007 · Transmission · OH

My 2000 mazda 626 has just experienced a problem that mazda has been aware of for years and issued a tsb #05-005/02 for- blinking overdrive/hold light on dash, transmission fluid squirting out of the dipstick and jerky shifting when driven long distances. Mazda should be held financiall responsible for these repairs since they have been have this trouble with the mazda 626 since the 1994 model and still produces them with this fault.

Filed Dec 26, 2006 · Transmission · 82,000 miles · CA

Transmission lurches and delays on the shifts after highway driving. Check engine light went on due to transmission problem. The original transmission and the replaced transmission had the same problems.

Filed Aug 26, 2006 · Transmission · 100,066 miles · GA

I purchased my car in april of 2004 with 45,000 miles on it; around 102,000 miles, my car stated jerking when it changed from 1st to 2nd gear; now, at 106,000, the o/d light, and the engine light both flashes, and I can barely make it up a hill, because of all the jerking and hesitating that it does.

Filed Jul 19, 2006 · Engine · 73,700 miles · NC

My 2000 mazda 626 ls overheated on june 16, 2006. The o/d off light has been flashing when on the road for more than an hour since the fall of 2005. The transmission has not yet failed but has begun to. The car strains whenever I drive it & its lack of stability has LED to close calls with accidents whenever there's rain or snow. Every time I am on the road for more than 45 minutes, the engine heats up to the point that it boils the transmission fluid, which overflows onto the rest of the engine. After approx. 15 more minutes, the o/d off light begins to flash & my car starts to resist speeds over 60 MPH. The rpms increase when the light flashes & there's a dangerous delay in my ability to slow the car down as the car lurches. On june 19, 2006, I took the mazda to an imports specialist who informed me that my transmission will soon fail. A new transmission costs approx. $2800 & a used one costs approx. $1800. However, the transmissions that fit my car are the same type of transmission that was initially put in my engine & will fail after another 70,000 miles due to its being too small for the 626. Putting an "external cooling system" under the hood is approximately $300 & is a temporary bandaid for the issue which will still occur. I have done research & found thousands of documents that have stated that all automatic mazda 626 ls vehicles from 1994-2000 have engines that were made for a smaller car & are therefore too small for the 626 ls. According to said research all 1994-2000 626 ls vehicles have transmissions that will fail between approx. 70-80,000 miles. My car has 74,400 miles at the date of this complaint. Mazda refuses to take accountability for this situation, yet it has become common knowledge among car dealerships, so the value of my car has dropped dramatically & it has become difficult for me to sell. Nothing can be done to fix the problem unless an entirely new engine is put into the car which will cost

Filed Jun 13, 2006 · Transmission · 120,900 miles · NC

I own a 2000 mazda 626, for the last week and a half the vehicle has been at the montgomery mazda (charlotte, nc) dealership twice and it is still not repaired. The first time I took it, I clearly told them that while driving the vehicle began to act as if it is trying to change gears but can't (automatic transmission and I am already in going 45 MPH so it should be in the 5th gear) the rpms go up to 4 and then it jerks (hard) when it catches up and the rpms drop. They claimed that it needed a tune up, new spark plug wires (I already replaced these twice) and a new fuel filter. I spent $356 to get all of this done and on the way to work the car did the same thing again. I called them back and told them that the problem was still not fixed and they claimed that they didn't know what it could be. I took the car back again that following monday at 7:30 am (originally took it there on thursday, june 1, 2006) and they claimed that they were going to look at the vehicle and find out what the problem is. After waiting for about 5 hours I called since I didn't hear anything from them and another service person told me that my car had just been sitting there. When I went to pick it up, then they told me that it might be the engine relay or maybe the transmission. I asked them if they checked it they stated no. I took the vehicle to another transmission place and the person stated that it was low on transmission fluid and that was the problem but after they fixed that the car was still doing the same thing. I looks as if I will need a new transmission. Every mechanic I have talked to since thinks it is the transmission, I found that mazda released a bulletin telling the their mechanics what to do if od off light is flashing after long driving and the transmission is slipping and the mazda service department didn't even mention it and I clearing told them that it only does it after I have been riding for a while.

Filed Jun 12, 2006 · Transmission · 143,000 miles · GA

1) driving on local and interstate highways for approximately 2 hrs, transmission began shifting irregularly and erratically. Sometimes it would skip a shift, or downshift suddenly causing vehicle to lurch to a stop, or slower speed. 2) took car to mazda dealer. His diagnosis was complete and total transmission failure. This was confirmed by another independent. There was no fix available other than a complete rebuild. There was no advance warning or earlier signs of trouble. 3) had transmission completely rebuilt. Cost was $2,000 plus cost of a rental car.