Internal transmission/differential problem caused hole in bell housing, causing transmission fluid to leak out. Apparently from the message boards, this is happening a lot. And consumer reports shows a black circle for the drive train on the 2006 model year. Why no recall?
2006 Mazda MAZDA6 transmission complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 20 of 20, newest first, as owners wrote them.
When accelerating or climbing enough to invoke a downshift, the transmission occasionally slips or disengages causing very high RPM, followed by a sudden downshift and very hard jerk. It almost feels like being hit from behind. This failure poses an extreme rear end collision hazard. Mazda has issued tsb 05-016/06 to deal with this problem but my dealer informed me that mazda now recommends a complete transmission change in lieu of a valve body change recommended by the tsb. This transmission should be recalled, it's unsafe.
When accelerating, the car suddenly has no power, then shifts hard down, typically it happens shifting into 3rd or 4th gear. Under about a half pedal, it basically feels like a stall, then jerks you backwards, hard as it kicks into gear and accelerates. I'm told there is a service bulletin that there are transmission failures for this car. Unfortunately, we are out of warranty.
While driving 65 MPH down the interstate, my 2006 mazda 6 made a loud noise like grinding gears and stalled for a second revved up and went into 3rd gear. The car went from 65 MPH to almost a stop and then to 20 MPH in the middle of the interstate. After that, the car downshifted several times in the next couple of days. Research showed many other 2006 mazda 6 owners with similar problems. A mazda tsb was posted in december 2006, and the car was purchased in november 2006. Mazda has not notified any costumers of this problem and a transmission going out at 58k is not typical. The dealer said it was the valve body solenoids. Replaced those for $800 and still shifted out of gear. Then paid $3800 for a new transmission that might do the same thing in a few thousand miles. If you are out of warranty, mazda does nothing for you. This is a very serious rear end collision hazard.
Potential rear end collision: I own a 2006 mazda 6 VIN [xxx]. I have experienced frequent times when I have accelerated onto the highway (or any other need to avoid a collision) and have experienced a severe loss of power/acceleration. This could have easily resulted in a rear-end collision had the cars behind me not reacted immediately. I have notified the local dealership and "mazda customer satisfaction" of this problem and was told that my vehicle is "out of warranty. I also found that mazda has issued a tsb #05-016-06 that explains the potential cause. Mazda is aware of this problem. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
Tl*the contact owns a 2006 mazda 6. While driving 55 MPH in sixth gear, the vehicle makes a loud noise and suddenly downshifts into third gear. The vehicle has been to the dealer several times and they replaced the valve body and flushed the system. The failure was temporarily solved for a few months. The manufacturer informed the contact to take the vehicle back to the dealer. They stated that if the dealer could not permanently correct the failure, they would replace the vehicle. The current mileage was 30,000 and failure mileage was 8,228.
2006 madza 6 with transmission problems customer states that the car has been sitting at the dealership for a month and the car is still in disrepair**nar**cc the consumer stated a few months after purchasing the vehicle, the vehicle began making a grinding metal sound. The consumer parked the vehicle looked under it and noticed fluid was spilling out. The consumer took the vehicle to the dealership and after 2 weeks the dealer stated the repair work was finished, however 3 days later, the consumer began to hear the same metal sound as before only this time, the consumer had no gears and no clutch. The consumer then received a call from he dealership stating the vehicle had blown a rod and there was a problem with the engine and not the transmission. The consumer was told he would need to provide receipts of oil changes or the vehicle would not be fixed.
2000 mazda 626 - automatic transmission - 52k miles 1) no reverse - one time incident in may, moved it forwarded and ran through the other gears and then it went into reverse... So didn't think much of it. In late september, it happened again. Frequency increased over next month. No pattern... Hot, cold, dry, wet, etc. 2) I now have no reverse most of the time, though still intermittent 3) took to aamco... It's not electrical, needs total overhaul for $2k 6 year old car with only 52k miles, not driven hard... Shouldn't have these problems. I had a 1987 mazda 626 that had the same issue at 11 years old.
Engine power decreases substantially going uphill when you push accelerator. Even after the recall item was fixed (reprogrammed computer), it still does it, especially on other then 93 octane gas which is not always available. When merging into traffic, had a few close calls with accidents.
I leased my fully loaded 2006 mazda a6 back in december of 2005. Ever since then, I have had trouble with the car. First, the driver side window was not going down. A few days after I bought the car, I realized that the turbo kept giving out on me. Then I came across a huge dilemma, where the limited slip differential, drive shaft, and all the bolts and hinges had to be replaced because of a bolt which was not torque enough. Then, the brakes kept making an annoying noise even without the brakes applied at low and high speeds. Subsequently, the tires wear and tear was horrible at 6,000 miles, to the point where I should have replaced them, and mazda didn't do anything about it. Later I found out that the air pressure in the tire was too low. After that, the keyless entry/keyless start remote stopped working, and had to open the car manually, which got fixed after 2 attempts, and just replaced the whole thing. Now, there is a problem with the rear axle, and how it has to be replaced, because when the limited slip differential problem came across, they neglected to look or fix the axle from the start. Now they have the courage to tell me that I have to pay for the axle, and rent a car, and all the expenses, because they were negligent of looking at it from the start. They are blaming the axle issue on the tires, when they were bad to start with and the tires that were going bad were the front ones, not the rear.
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