Power steering failure on Mazda5 (TSB: 06-002/09)

[J.P.]

Well what a surprise...


I received a late afternoon call from my saleslady. The service manager was very busy, and did not have time to call. She promised to have him call me before the end of the day. End of the day he calls, and suddenly my car will be fixed this Monday. This is way too much work to resolve a safety issue from last July. Worst part is that the service manager tried to pull the "I don't remember you mentioning it" card. Looks like some of his predecessors management training & style rubbed of on him. When he was the parts manager, I never had a problem with him, and referred a lot of people to him personally.

 

[J.P.]

All done yesterday. No noticable difference, but we will have to wait for a hot day to know. They were very good - dropped me off at work, and delivered the car to me at work when it was ready. I am happy again with the dealership, but Mazda needs to learn a lesson about VIN controlled parts. If bigger dealerships are hoarding parts for these recalls, that is unacceptable. VIN conrolled ordering can be a bit of a pain, but nothing compared to the pissed off clients you will have with dealers hoarding parts. If anyone from Mazda Canada is reading this - get it together people!

 

[MrValve]

We had this service performed on our 2009 Mazda 5 when the notice first came out. No noticable changes after the service. Then yesterday (Aug 2011) we had the symptoms come on strong while driving home from vacation. When we slowed down to city speeds steering effort immediately increased. what is interesting, is the radio switched off/on with the "Hello!" message and all. The steering indicator, brake and tpms indicators also all came on. It's in the shop now and they diddn't seem to surprised. I guse my point is that the first fix may not fix it.

 

[MrValve]

Embarasing to say, but it turns out we just had a loose battery cable. I did not check that since the car has only been in for oil changes and the power steering service recall. I guess that saying about first principles of trouobleshooting applies here. Is there power?

 

[JulesAnn]

HELP! I just, seriously two weeks ago, a 2006 Mazda 5 and I now have no power steering after five minutes of driving. If I come to a complete stop, it does turn back on but not for long. I drive 20 minutes to work up a winding road and really need the power steering.

I called Mazda yesterday and they said that there are no recalls on the 2006 but I do not understand why there isn't, for I am not the only person to have this issue.

What are my options to get this fixed? I really like the car, and as a used car goes it was clean and CarFax clean, but now I can't really drive it well.

Thanks!

 

[Rockin03mp5]

yeah, unfortunately the 2006 wasnt part of the recall. looks like you are going to have to find a good shop.

 

[spacebull1]

That sucks...

(wow)

 

[JulesAnn]

That really sucks. Anyone know the estimated cost of this?

 

[Robotazky]

Go here and click on "Steering".

http://www.mazdapartscheap.com/

You'll see all of the parts and their prices. I would seriously recommend spending the small amount of extra money replacing the hoses, too. If I remember correctly, it's the hoses that caused the recall to begin with. I don't buy Mazda's excuse that corrosion in the hoses caused the problems. I don't believe that at all. My fluid looked brand new and exactly like the replacement fluid when my pump was replaced under warranty. I believe the hoses are too small or something.

Regardless, you'll have to replace the pump, and that's a lot of money. It's in a very convenient place to service though, so either do it yourself, or expect to pay a fair price for installation because it's pretty easy. If you do replace the hoses, there's a bit more work involved.

You may want to try to find the pump at a junkyard and buy the updated hoses. That's probably what I would do. Look for pumps off '10 models if you can find them.

Good luck. The Mazda 5 is typically a great car as long as you flush the tranny ever so often. Let us know how it works out for you.