MS3 owner finds loose tranny mount bolt!

[quiet desperado]

Everybody needs to take a look at their tranny mount. This sucker has failed on two MS3s as posted on Mazda 3 Forums Mazdaspeed section. Another owner was getting a lot of noise when shifting and of course most everybody said he was probably nuts. Anyway, he took the time to actually look at his tranny mount and found it was only part way tightened and could be unscrewed by hand!!!

Check it out and take it to the dealer if it appears loose. Mazda needs to issue a TSB on this before another bites the dust. They've got 3 strikes already as far as I'm concerned. They specifically assembled these things in Japan for quality purposes and something like this gets by QC? Maybe somebody in Haifu needs steel himself for a Samurai seppuku ceremony.

 

[nonopr]

Ceremony?

The guy is already dead.(ughdance)

Everybody needs to take a look at their tranny mount. This sucker has failed on two MS3s as posted on Mazda 3 Forums Mazdaspeed section. Another owner was getting a lot of noise when shifting and of course most everybody said he was probably nuts. Anyway, he took the time to actually look at his tranny mount and found it was only part way tightened and could be unscrewed by hand!!!

Check it out and take it to the dealer if it appears loose. Mazda needs to issue a TSB on this before another bites the dust. They've got 3 strikes already as far as I'm concerned. They specifically assembled these things in Japan for quality purposes and something like this gets by QC? Maybe somebody in Haifu needs steel himself for a Samurai seppuku ceremony.

 

[quiet desperado]

The guy is already dead.(ughdance)

Geez, they should at least give him a chance to do the honorable thing.

 

[funkitup1]

i hear noise while shifting too. clicking sounds kind of. that said, where is the tranny mount and what do i do if its loose?

 

[quiet desperado]

i hear noise while shifting too. clicking sounds kind of. that said, where is the tranny mount and what do i do if its loose?

It's under the battery box. This is what you see from above it's not screwed in properly:

.

Here's what it'll look like from the bottom:

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Here's the bolt:

.

If it's screwed all the way in, it will look like this from the bottom:

.

Lastly, here's what may be the result if it's not tight.

Victim #1:

Victim #2:

.

If it's loose, I'd call Mazda and ask them to come and get it, b/c you don't want your engine to fall down like it did on two other MS3's.

 

[quiet desperado]

This makes four strikes. From Mazda 3 Forums, Mazdaspeed section:

Re: Motor Mount Breaks w/ Pics
Reply #62 on: Yesterday at 09:42:20 PM

Jesus Christ. Add me to the list...sort of.

I drove my speed today since my sedan is in the body shop getting worked on. (I'm trying not to drive the speed in the colder / wet weather since I'm not a huge fan of the tires, although they are great when its warm and dry, but I digress) About halfway to work it starts vibrating really bad. I get it to work, throw it up on the lift and the bolts had all backed out of the transmission mount.

 

[Brian MP5T]

Oh My Lord

 

[BOOSTR]

I'd put some loctite on that bolt.

 

[CitizenPro]

^ werd.

I take bottles of that shiet from work, and use it on every bolt i re-install.

 

[TheMAN]

considering that the 3's powertrain basically sits on 2 motor mounts (passenger side and driver's side... the rear mount does basically nothing except to keep the engine from rocking too far), that's scary... it's probably happening because of so much power in the ms3 and the bolt gets loose

 

[nvmsp]

+1 for Mazda. They just keep racking up the points.

 

[RPI-Speed3]

god damn. This is really scary. Me thinks I'll be ordering some motor mounts and getting this all taken care of ASAP. Do they make replacement motor mounts for the MS3? Which ones are the best?

 

[RPI-Speed3]

It's under the battery box. This is what you see from above it's not screwed in properly:

Prob a rhetorical question, but I have to ask it anyway. Do you have to remove the battery box to view this bolt? Is there a way to check this without removing the battery box?

 

[Bumble G]

NICE!

I would put a longer bolt on,
put a lockwasher and nut on the bottom,
and loctite all that shiet

 

[quiet desperado]

Prob a rhetorical question, but I have to ask it anyway. Do you have to remove the battery box to view this bolt? Is there a way to check this without removing the battery box?

Looks like you can view it from underneath (preferably on a lift) and get an idea if it's in all the way. If you want to put a wrench on it, the battery box has to come out.

 

[Evo Scooter]

I think they may already be addressing the issue. About a week after I bought the car, the dealer asked me to bring it back because they forgot to do an FQI inspection. When I asked what the heck that was they told me they were checking the turbo to make sure it was working right. Well my right foot could tell you that!! So I took it in and they told me everything was fine. After looking at this thread maybe FQI means "look at the freaking bolt".

 

[chiefmg]

For those who have found this bolt loose, I would recommend replacing it if it looks like the one in the picture on the first page. Some serious signs of fretting on the threads there.

 

[Rainman]

Damn...I'll have to take a lood at this this week.

R

 

[TStar]

1) i'll be testdriving the ms3 in a week or two..do i have a chance to see that flaw without deinstalling something when looking under the hood ?

2) would there be a chance for engine/tranny to fall out during a drive? (i just try to imagine what would happen to my royal bottom if the engine/tranny falls down to the ground while doing 200+kmh....)

 

[quiet desperado]

1) i'll be testdriving the ms3 in a week or two..do i have a chance to see that flaw without deinstalling something when looking under the hood ?

2) would there be a chance for engine/tranny to fall out during a drive? (i just try to imagine what would happen to my royal bottom if the engine/tranny falls down to the ground while doing 200+kmh....)

You'd have to get underneath the car to see the bolt without removing the battery box. As far as falling out without notice, maybe. The people who have had the bolt come have notice fairly loud noises first, I believe.

Just tell the dealer you've seen pics of the tranny mount bolt backing out and that there's a service advisory now to check it. Since there is now an advisory, I imagine they get compensated by Mazda to make sure they're properly torqued.