MP3 OWNERS: Bushings Noise? Tell me about it here!!!

[DooMer_MP3]

AHA! Sweet! You guys rock. I'll be typing up a cover letter tonight and sending these in! Thanks so much.

Chris

 

[PA_MP3_Man]

Hey Doomer,

Hear anything? How many letters did you get to send in? hopefully this combined with Newf's efforts will get this situation taken care of.

 

[Stou]

Here's my letter,

I have bought my MP3 in october 2001. About 2 or 3 month after the purchase, the car started to make some noise from the rear end. I went to the dealer after I have read some comments on the net about the noise comming from the sway bar bushing. After looking under the car, we saw that the paint on the sway bar, under the bushings was gone and the bushings was loose. Since the dealer didn't had any technical notes on that and they didn't have any bushing in stock, they simply put (on my request) a small pieces of rubber between the sway bar and the bushings. This partial fix correct the problem for a few months. A few months ago, I went to the dealer and they changed the rear bushings. About a month later, those new bushing started to make noise again. Now, the front one also make lot of noise.

I love that car but this bushing thing start to make me a little disappointed about my car. With all those noise comming out from the suspension, it sound like a 10 years old car.

I heard that the new Mazdaspeed has the same problem. Mazda realy need to done something about this problem.

Sylvain Tourangeau
Quebec, Canada
sylvain@stoudesign.com

 

[Newf]

I'll sum up my troubles here just to add to the list. Would be a great list if everyone wrote something here. We could refer dealers or whoever to this one topic in the forum


I got my car Sept 4th, 2001. At about 1500kms, I noticed a small clunk noise in the rear that we first thought was maybe the sub moving around, or spare tire/jack. We removed EVERYTHING from the back one day, including the little piece of wood covering the spare tire, and the tire itself. Still there. the noise eventually got much worse, effected handing severly. I can here it over the radio, you have to yell over it at times that it's at it's worse. You can feel the banging through the floor, the seats, and shifter when it happens. it can even be heard from outside the car when she sways left/right.

Eventually we tracked it down to the bushings once the car was on the ramp it was obvious that they were loose and worn.

replacing the bushings worked in the rear worked. For the first time, almost 6-7 weeks. The next time, 5-6 weeks, next time 4 weeks. Now every 3 weeks.We tried lubrication, taping. I had many troubles at first getting new bushings in as they were always on backorder. So, we found that just taking the bushings off, cleaning them up, taping the bar up again, and installing the bushings over on top of the tape, lasted just as long as getting new bushings without having to wait for the part to come in. Clunking happens worse in the rain. Cold weather, or warm weather doesn't seem to make a difference as it's there regardless. But, it is for sure at it's worse in the rain or wet snow.

Time passes, I got my bushings replaced at least once a month during that time. some new part #'s came out, never worked, actually were worse. Eventually we replaced the sway bars, and links numerous times at they were wearing as wel.

Then more squeaking from the struts occur from all four corners. We replace Struts, strut mounts. Struts never seems to do anything at all. the mounts seemed to get rid of the squeaking for about 3-4 months. I am convinced the squeaking is just a lube and grease problem, but dealer doesn't seem to have right grease for it. Squeaking occurs badly when it's cold outside, but doesn't seem to happen when the car is really wet or REALLY warm. Hence why I think grease would cure problem.


My front bushings also squeak, but I have never had them replaced. For some reason my dealer ignores the front. Go figure.


i can go on and on about this. I'm at 21000 kms now, I've had at LEAST 12 sets of buhings. And that number is higher, and could be a LOT higher if it wasn't for waiting for parts to come in, and just plain trying to ignore for as long as I can before bringing it in to get redone. There have been countless times, specially with the latest bushing, 156D, that they only last 3-4 DAYS.....DAYS!

 

[Allen]

My clunking story

Hi folks, just got back from Taiwan last week. It's cooler here in Texas than it is in Taiwan at this time.

So I hopped into my beautiful MP3 in this cold weather to find out my clunk is back. That dreadful noise... make it stop!! Please!!! Makes me want to go back to Taiwan so I don't have to listen to the car squeak each time when the weather is cold in the mornings.

I've driven my car to the Mazda dealership to repair the rear AND front clunk noise several times since November 2001, when I first purchased it. To this day Mazda has replaced one bushing and lubed another. I believe they lubed the rear and replaced the front bushings. The problem has not dissappeared, nothing solved. They have since tried to just lube my bushings to "temporarily" stop the noise from happening .... this helps some as Texas weather is hot one day and cold the next. Sometimes I hear it and it bothers me, sometimes I get lucky and don't go over any bumps on the road. When the weather warms up, the noise will eventually go away.

My first visit to the dealership about my MP3 clunk was around 01/02/02. They investigated the clunk noise and stated, "BINDING" as the cause for the clunking noise. They took off the rear bushings and lubed it ... it stopped the noise for that day. A few days later I noticed the front started to do the same thing.

So took it back a week or two afterwards and they decided to replace the bushings for the front side. They had to order the parts first. I received notice from them in the mail around 02/07/02 that the part had arrived. I believe I took my car that same week to have the bushings replaced.

No clunk for a few weeks now. I believe a month later, one chilly morning, I drive past the security gate ... "CLUNK" "CLUNK" ... I can't believe my ears so I decided to hit the company speed bump to prove my ears wrong. I wasn't imagining the sound, "clunk" "clunk", over the speed bumps. Tell me that wouldn't frustrate any car owner?

Now how much time would I need to spend just to get these bushings fixed by Mazda? My warranty only last two more years. I don't live next door to my Mazda dealership and I have to work to pay taxes like everyone else... otherwise, I wish I could nest right there at the shop until they do right to my Mazda MP3.

This is what they ordered for my front bushing replacement (may have been bushings for non-MP3 Protege, not sure).
Part description: Bushing, stabilizer.
Part number: BN7H-34-156
Order # 02037016
Balance due: $12.74 (warranty covered)
Ctl# 1052
Bin Loc: E03
Mul Key: RO#37190
Order date: 02/06/02
Recieved date: 02/07/02

Folks on this board have listed bushing part numbers:
OLD # BN7H-28-156B
NEW # BN7H-28-156C

I have postponed modifying my suspension under the warranty period, because I'm afraid Mazda will blame the bushing squeaking noise on the new springs.

I find Mazda's solution a mess that only confuses the consumers. I wish they can get their act straight to fix this problem virtually every MP3 owner has experienced or is experiencing.

 

[PaulMP3]

I have had my car in the shop numberous times, my car clunks and squeeks like crazy, it is horrible when it is cold out the first thing i hear every morning pulling out of my drive way it two loud squeeks from the front, then front the back. Train tracks are the worst, my friends all are like "whats the matter with your car". it is ridiculous. i will e printing all these post up when my dealer calls me and tells me when the rep is comming. they wont replace mine agian till he drives in it. Mazda must do something. I can relate to every thread in this post. It goes away for a little then it comes back louder then ever.