2002 Mazda 626: engine overheating

6 of the 87 complaints about the 2002 Mazda 626 describe engine overheating.

owner complaints: 6
of this car's complaints: 7%
typical mileage: 82,000
recalls: 0

Is there a fix? 8 service bulletins cover this area of the car. See below

Engine overheating by model year

2002
6
2001
8
2000
11
1999
32
1998
13
1997
12
1996
9
1995
12
1994
8
1993
2
1990
1

What owners say

Filed Oct 13, 2010 · Transmission · 167,000 miles · CO

Transmission downshifted while driving on the freeway. While trying to maintain speed to exit the freeway, the engine started to overheat. As soon as I was able to pull into the local gas station parking spot, the engine died. The transmission appears to need a rebuild.

Filed Aug 31, 2007 · Transmission · 92,000 miles · CA

The car is a 2002 mazda 626 with approximately 90k miles. The car was not in a crash or incident leading up to the issue. August 28, 2007-driving on I-5 on the way home from work the o/d light began to flash. I was approximately 1.5 miles from home so I continued on. The next morning I started the car and backed out of my driveway. It would not go into gear at all. Reverse works just fine. It was towed to the mechanic and we have been told that the transmission is completely dead and needs to be replaced. The cost of this is going to be $1350 for a rebuilt/remanufactured transmission and labor ($650). This is a total of $2,000 not including tax. There were no used transmissions available at the time. Based on my research this is a known issue with mazda 626s and they've issued a technical service bulletin # 05-005/02 deals with one specific circumstance: after extended highway driving, the o/d off light is blinking and code p1783 is set (excessive atf temperature). The tsb requires that a cooling kit be installed due to overheating within the transmission the kit is installed at the cost of the owner which is approximately $1,236 (quoted by senator mazda). The problem is that the cd4e was meant for the ford contour/mystique which is much lighter than the mazda 626. In addition, the manual doesn't mention any servicing requirements for the transmission nor have I been contacted as mazda's due diligence to reach out to their 626 owners to fix the problem as a peremptory strike.

Filed Apr 26, 2007 · Transmission · 48,500 miles · NY

2002 mazda 626 customer states that he has had transmission replaced and it needs to be replaced again**cc consumer states that dealer replaced with remanufactured transmission and wants to be reimbursed for the 2nd transmission. The consumer stated the vehicle is shifting hard. When the consumer took the vehicle to have the transmission fluid, it was discovered that the fluid was black, which indicated a premature fluid breakdown. The consumer stated mazda installed a ford cd4e transmission that was too small for the vehicle; thus causing the transmission to overheat and the fluid to breakdown prematurely.

Filed Mar 12, 2007 · Transmission · 69,000 miles · NY

Replaced mazda 626, year 2002 transmission at 48,000 speedometer miles. Dealer installed re-manufactured transmission. Said they are not required to install new. Re-manufactured transmission is now failing at 69,000 speedometer miles. Also, service bulletin was issued for this transmission requiring the installation of an additional transmission cooler because of overheating (bulletin # 05-005/02). Mazda does not cover the cost for this.

Filed Jun 3, 2005 · Transmission · 82,000 miles · GA

My mazda 626 has a failed transmission due to overheating at 82,000 miles. The o/d off light started flashing and the car would not accelerate pass 45 mi an hr. The mechanic at the mazda dealership states it is normal wear and tear and that transmissions over heat and fail.

Filed Apr 19, 2005 · Brakes, Engine · FL

Heard noise and bad vibration from front left , it got worse and louder when making turns. Took vehicle to dealer, who stated that front wheel bearing was bad. Around two weeks before the same thing happened, heard loud noise on front right, got louder when turning. Took vehicle to dealer, who replaced front right bearing. Car always serviced at dealer, two weeks before took car to dealer for pulling to the right. Dealer stated it needed an alignment and balancing. Did that next day and same thing happened within the past month. I had new front brakes, new tires, new right and left bearings, and several attempts to balance and rotate tires. Also having problems with transmission, but dealer insisted that nothing was wrong, sometimes the car will not change gears like it should when going over speed bumps. Vehicle stalled several times. Also, had to replace coolant bottle three times, and once car overheated. It was a manufacturing defect.