2002 mazda protege5 hatchback automatic transmission slips when cold, any takers?

[pothole987]

well first thing is first, i bought this car with 162,000kms on it, knowing the transmission wouldnt shift past the 50-60 kph mark. i figured where i am able to do the work myself it would be a no brainer.
now, i bought another mazda, it was a 2001 protege sedan es with 140,000 kms on it, plenty of dents and bruises on the car but the engine and transmission worked and shifted smooth. so i scraped the 2001, using the transmission for my protege 5. now i put the transmission in, changed the filter, fluid, which i got from my autoparts store etc the car was driving great UNTIl one morning it started slipping between 1st and 2nd gears, then 2nd to 3rd gears until it warmed up. Then shifted like a dream again. this is maybe the matter of a week, car was hardly used inbetween the installation and when it began acting up again.

so, i dropped the pan again to see if there was any shavings, any wierd looking sludge or anything, nothing. i filled the transmission back up with new transmissioin fluid from my autoparts store.
now i noticed that the 2001 mazda es didnt have abs, and by researching a bit, the transmission uses a speed spensor, where my 2002 mazda protege5 has abs, so the speed is recorded off the abs sensors by the axles. saying this i swapped the ecu's, so that maybe there was more parts that werent the same, but to no luck.

If you skimmed thru this, i replaced the transmission from a working car and now slips when the car is cold, when it is warm its fine.
thanks for any input.

 

[tweety2300]

Are you sure it has enough fluid?

 

[pothole987]

When the car is warm there is fluid right up to the 65 degree mark, so I would assume so yes.

 

[Narwin]

Did you find a solution to your problem? I'm having similar difficulties when the car is cold. I'll start my car up in the morning and it goes into first just fine but it often won't shift into second unless I take it out of 'drive' and into 2 manually. It will then go into second but won't shift into third until I put it back into drive (which sometimes takes multiple tries going between second and drive). I took it into the shop yesterday after driving my wife to work but sadly when they took it out for a spin it wasn't having issues. I'll need to leave the car there overnight so they can drive it first thing. I do know that there aren't any codes that are coming up. I'm wondering if the speed sensor needs to be replaced. I know that when the car is having issues and is stuck in second we have hit a bump and on two different occasions immediately after hitting the bump the transmission shifted into third.

 

[hotcracker69]

are you sure you are using the correct fluid?

 

[rit14623]

Is the ATF dirty, not clear red?

 

[Narwin]

I took it into two different transmission shops and the second one found the problem: p0733 which means that my third gear ratio is messed up. I took it into a shop in the afternoon but the car was driving fine so when they took it out they didn't notice anything wrong. They checked the fluid and saw that it looked good. At the next shop I left it there overnight so they could drive it in the morning (which is when we have the most trouble). While they couldn't feel anything wrong during the drive they found the computer spit out that code. Said that the transmission needed to be rebuilt and that at their shop that would cost $2400-$2700 + tax. I'm wondering if I would get my pleasure taking it somewhere, shooting it, and then selling it for parts. In the last six months I've put in a new ABS sensor, struts, sway bar links, ignition coils, and now the tranny goes on me.

 

[whatusername]

do the mtx conversion and never worry about it again

 

[whatusername]

or u can check this out http://www.automotivetroubleshootingsecrets.com/P0733 OBD2 fault codes-21.htm Tranny shops will always tell u it need to be rebuilt.. old trick high reward..

 

[whatusername]

When the car is warm there is fluid right up to the 65 degree mark, so I would assume so yes.

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/transmission-slipping-signs.html

 

[Narwin]

************UPDATE************

I forgot to let everyone know that in September of last year we found out that our RR speed sensor wasn't working anymore. I paid $55 for a new one but after finding out that you have to take 5 pieces of trim off to get down to the wiring to unplug the old speed sensor. I didn't do it right away which led to forgetting about the sensor and ignoring the ABS light staying on. After bringing our car into a few shops they found that our automatic transmission fluid was good and, as noted above, they were happy to rebuild our transmission as the p0733 code showed a fault in the third gear.

I replaced the RR wheel speed sensor yesterday and the car shifted just fine. Usually the error occurred when the car was cold. I kept my fingers crossed this morning and sure enough it was fine. If you have problems with your transmission and the symptoms are similar to those listed above I'd check your wheel speed sensors (use a OBD reader if you can get your hands on one).

 

[hotcracker69]

thank for posting back, keep us updated

 

[Jarnutt]

I actually came across your post trying to find info on swapping protege automatic transmissions. I have a 2003 protege5 with a sport shift auto that the differential had given up on me, and finding a sport shift trans is damn near impossible. I found a cheap 2002 protege sedan auto with a warranty, but don't knew much of the electronics involved internally, and if the 2 are interchangeable. Does that sedan automatic work fine in your 5 now? If so, I may go that route