Does your MSP Clunk?

[SomaMP3]

well, on and aside note, my dealership is stealing my car for an entire week and are gonna try to fix the clunk....they better not give me a tribute or mpv to drive in or i'll be pissed

I'm already expecting nothing to come out of this but i did switch to new dealership which has the 2 other mp3's in winnipeg. They're getting tired of the problem already. So they're gonna try and fabricate a permanent fix. I'll keep everyone posted.

P.S.I know newf, i'll see it when i believe it...haha

 

[AGR]

AGR, That's what it sounds like at first......

beware, it is coming!

No clunking sounds (yet) from my MAZDASPEED - that was my Nissan.

 

[Newf]

OH!

Well, all i can say is, if you drive it......it will come.

 

[AGR]

well, on and aside note, my dealership is stealing my car for an entire week and are gonna try to fix the clunk....they better not give me a tribute or mpv to drive in or i'll be pissed

I'm already expecting nothing to come out of this but i did switch to new dealership which has the 2 other mp3's in winnipeg. They're getting tired of the problem already. So they're gonna try and fabricate a permanent fix. I'll keep everyone posted.

P.S.I know newf, i'll see it when i believe it...haha

A week?! Why so long?

 

[AGR]

OH!

Well, all i can say is, if you drive it......it will come.

Well,,,,that sucks, then, doesn't it?!
:wtf: :bs:


So,,,,this is a problem that the MP3 Proteges also encountered?

 

[Grimace]

Uh huh. There is about, oh, half a million threads in the Mazda MP3 section about it.

 

[AGR]

Uh huh. There is about, oh, half a million threads in the Mazda MP3 section about it.

Well....by now then; there should be a solution to this infamous clunk. Two different model Proteges - same problem, because of an aftermarket item not mounted correctly? That's crazy!!

:bs:

 

[scott42]

You're telling us!!
this is possibly the most rediculous thing I've ever heard about...this is worse thanthe VW 1.8T coilpack problem they were having...at least VW came up with a solution and replaced parts that went bad with parts that would work...
******* rediculous that they didn't catch this on the MSP; pathetic.
(sorry, after reading this, i'm getting all riled up, especially since I had mine replaced for the second time about a month ago and already its coming back...)

 

[AltimaSE]

2003.5 too?

Just a thought, but has anyone actually driven (probably not yet) or looked at the end links on the 2003.5 cars to see if maybe Mazda quietly changed them to fix this problem?

I'll probably end up with a 2003.5 by the time I'm ready to buy and I'm not looking forward to this problem. I can hear people that I give rides to in my new MSP now... "Why is this car so great if it's gonna make a clunk sound the whole time?"

I'm no expert, but won't this clunking sound eventually result in the premature failure of a part somewhere in the suspension. Again, I don't profess to know that much about suspensions, but repeated clunking isn't generally a good thing for them is it?

 

[ehwal]

2000kms of tossin' her around and no clunk...

I thought i heard somewhere that Mazda put diff bushings in this time... all i can say is that that is pretty bad about the hours that were lost trying to fix this problem by loyal (maybe not for long) Mazda enthusiasts who probably feel embarassed to tell or give rides to there friends.

Mazda should read these forums

I like to work the suspension so i'm waiting .......

 

[andr3w]

OK.
So who has an MSP that clunks? And let's get a little scientific.

When does it happen? After how many miles? Ramps/curbs, speed bumps, uneven pavement? What speeds? Any change due to road conditions and temperature? Anyone had a dealer look at it, any answers? Anyone had bushings replaced yet?

My answers:
Mine started at around 1200 miles - but in that same week temps were down in the teens with windchill making it below 10 degrees F. At slow speeds only happens if uneven surface is greater than 1", i.e. speed bumps, curbs, potholes (michigan pavement rules! not!). At highway speeds most bumps and large cracks or seams in the pavement cause the 'clunk', especially one where there is a drop down (rather than going up).

BUT... it has disappeared this week. The dealer did not hear anything except when I clearly bottomed out on a curb but that drop off should have made a sound. I saw under car and bushings looked OK to me, and we could not push up at all on the rear wheeels too see if there was play in the shock tower. Temps have been more moderate, around 20-30.

So:
Yes
1200 miles
drop offs/bumps
Worse at higher speed
Worse at colder temps (below 15 degrees I'd say)
Dealer - nothing yet
Bushings - appear OK
Shock Tower - no discernable play (but maybe I'm too weak to push up compared to the weight/forces of a car)

 

[Dexter]

i only heard something that sounded like a clunk one time. i have ~ 250 miles. i highly doubt it was the "clunk" everyone else is talking about, bushings dont deterioriate that fast , if that even is the issue. so im saying im hearing no clunk.

 

[jroof]

I have 550 miles. Mine clunks regardless of temp. It started at 300 miles. It has gotten worse. Speed is not a factor. It occurs whenever the car rocks from sidd to side or one tire drops. It doesn't seem to occur over speed bumps unless you approach it askew. The car is in the shop right now, they've ordered new bushings though I doubt that'll be a long term fix. I'll let you know the condition of the bushings when I talk to the tech later today.

 

[JonnyMiata]

My MSP started doing this between 500 -1000 miles. It seems like it does it more when it is colder. It is going to be 50 degrees this weekend so I will really be able to see how the temps affect it. It happens more at slower speeds. It happens more when I run over uneven pavement or bumps. Only when one rear wheel goes up and the other stays level. I thought it went away for a while and now it is back but not as bad. It seems like my rear right shock is talking more than the other.

I called the dealer and they tell me that they are ordering in new bushing that were supplied on the MP3. Now that I think about it I am hoping they are ordering bushings for the top of the shocks and not the sways because I know it is not the sways. I will call to find out. Anyway, they should be in next week. What I think needs to happen is there needs to be a spacer/bushing that is intalled at the top of the shock to keep things from knocking around. The only problem with this may be a drastic change in our alignments. I am not sure if a realignment would do the trick or not then.

I am going to get this fixed.

 

[Mark94]

Mine is at the delership also. They fixed my coolant leak which was just a faulty hose clamp. My hose was replaced with the proper one before it was shipped from the port. The service manager has heard the clunk and they want to keep it over the weekend and into next week to try and track down where it is coming from. He said that the bushings are fine, there is no play in the shock tower area and he placed a call to Mazda concerning the issue. He said Mazda reported to him that there is a noted clunking problem in the MP3's and MSP's but they told him it is mostly in Canada that these problems have been reported and it can't be the bushings because they would not deteriorate within 500 miles. Mazda told him that in most reports it takes about 2000 miles for the bushings to deteriorate enough to cause the sway bar clunk.

It sounds as if Mazda knows of the problem and hopefully they are going to investigate further.

My service manager said it is definitely making a noise back there and it shouldn't for a new car.

I'll let you all know next week if they find something.

P.S. I also have them looking at another problem I ran into. When I'm making a K-turn or pulling out of a parking spot with the wheel turned almost as far as it can go and accelerate slightly, I feel like the wheels are rubbing against the wheel wells. It feels like the car hops a little (like it is stuck then breaks free and then stuck again, etc.) At first I thought it was the LSD but it definitely isn't because I'm not loosing traction or accelerating hard at all (3 mph at the most while pulling out from a parking spot).

(doh)

Mark

 

[Street Toyz]

Is this only happening to you northern boys ? I have had no such problem or heard anything remotely resembling this. The only difference I can attribute is that temps here havent fallen below 60 for more than a day or 2.

 

[Grimace]

Well, if most of the reports are from Canada about the sway bushing clunk problem, has anyone considered if it has to do with the thermal expansion (or contraction, in this case) of materials? Maybe the tolerances are fine until a certain temperature level, then below that we get the clunk.
Before anyone says "yeah, well I still get the clunk when the temperature goes back up" consider this: maybe when the tolerances are loose while the temperature is low, the bushings wear much much quicker than usual, due to the amount of slop in the system creating more rubbing, for example. Then when the temperatures climb again, the damage is already done.
Seems at least somewhat plausible from my point of view. Especially considering Racing Beat probably didn't do any testing outside of sunny California.
-Just one Mech. Engineer's two cents.

 

[JonnyMiata]

I just spoke to my suspension guy again and he had 2 possible solutions to our problems. 1) put a spacer/bushing at the top of the shocks where it is moving around but since we don't know the size we need there will be some guessing going one. As I said this may or may not cause an alignment problem. 2) someone at Mazda did not do their homework because the shocks for this car are too long. The other solutions is to take the shocks out and have them rethreaded so you can get the nut at the top of the shock farther down on the shock rod which will tighten everything up.

I am going to talk this over with the master tech at my dealership and see what he thinks. I'll keep you updated.

 

[Newf]

ok, whatever...

But, as for the Only in Canada thing. I'm not ignoring the fact that temperature might having something to do with it, as it probably does....but ( and some people will take this the hard way) after fighting with this for 17 months now, I find there are a lot of Americans I have come across ( a few here and outside this board) that just don't complain about the clunk because they are eithier a) too far from dealer to go back and forth often b) don't care enough to complain or don't want to make an effort c) just waiting around for someone else to get the thing fixed and putting up with it until then....bottom line is they aren't making enough noisea about it.

I think the US is having troubles as well, just that they aren't complaining as much, and Mazda is mislead by this. I hope to christ Mazda is smart enough to realize that the percentage of people would be higher in Canada due to the fact we have less cars.

Then again, Mazda of USA is bigger, and you guys are going to have to "yell" louder to heard as well.

 

[Mark94]

Newf, I understand where you are coming from, but I think there are plenty of people in the US who are going to or have already complained about this to our dealers. Myself and a few others hear have already returned the cars because of the problem.

I don't know if my dealer just fed me a line but when I was talking with the service manager this morning, he said they are one of 30 dealers in the Nation that communicate directly with Mazda as part of quality control. As I stated before he told me that he was already in touch with Mazda about the clunking and trying to find a definite answer as to why it is happening and a solution.

Have faith Newf, we're right there with you and hopefully we get this problem sorted out soon!

Mark