O/D Light Flashing??

[blakkiddvi]

I own a 2002 Mazda Protege 5 that my wife uses for work. Apparently on the drive home one day the O/D light started to flash but she said she didn't notice any change in how it drove. She turned the overdrive off and it seemed fine after that. Just in case though, knowing that the O/D light is connected to the Transmission I took it to a local shop and the tech there told me after running a scan that it had to do with a Speed Sensor (one in the front) going bad. No biggie, ran to the local Mazda dealer and bought the part, swapped it out and everything seemed okay. We took the car out for a family outing (I own a Mazda 6 too and with what I've done to it, I can't fit much in the trunk area ), and once again, the O/D light flashes at me on the way home (but didn't on the way to where we went to). So now I'm thinking that the I may have to take it into Mazda tomorrow and hopefully they can tell me - with the hopes of NOT having to buy a new Transmission. ANyone else ever had that problem?


I know the Protege's have two 'Speed Sensors' (at least thats what I learned after going to two diff. dealerships after a part mixup), the other being called a Pulse Generator....(b the guy @ Mazda Service), could that be the issue?

The only symptoms I've noticed is that when its initially placed into Drive, it may stall before taking off.

 

[megadon09]

very curious about the solution to this problem... Any updates? new user here, but I've been lurking for a while. Bought a 2002 automatic protege5 a few months back. It just hit 100k and the O/D light is started flashing when I started it yesterday. Trouble is, nothing seems to be wrong.

I took it to an AAMCO transmission shop and they said the fluid is red and the car runs fine... but they want to replace three solenoids for about $400 total. They think this "might" fix it, and if not, they'll start replacing more and more expensive things until it stops. This seems inefficient and unnecessary.

Any ideas?

 

[megadon09]

fyi, update from AAMCO, they said the code was a Solenoid A Pressure Control Failure. The proposed solution was a replacement of three solenoids and then if that didn't work, an "electrical" fix which could cost up to $1000. But they also said they'd turn the light off and let me drive it across the state (including mountains) and see if the light comes back on. hmmmmm. Is this a serious problem or not?

 

[kamesama980]

could be a transmission trashing failure. lack of pressure on the clutches could cause them to slip while driving. slipping constantly does the same thing to them as it does a MT clutch....roasts it.

FYI: http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123744855-3rd-Gen-Workshop-Manual-(-P5-MSP-MP3-) in the stickies/read-me area. gee I wonder why?

 

[p5_zoom]

there is also another sensor on the bottom of the tranny had the sam problem now its fine there are two vss there is input and output which is called a pulse generator i replace the top and nothing happened then the bottom and then the o/d light when off but mine just kept stuck in limp mode and stayed in first gear now it doesnt since i replaced it

 

[sleepwalker]

No disrespect intended, but how many individual sentences are there in what you just wrote?

 

[p5_zoom]

non taken

 

[RensoreK]

I own a 2002 Mazda Protege 5 that my wife uses for work. Apparently on the drive home one day the O/D light started to flash but she said she didn't notice any change in how it drove. She turned the overdrive off and it seemed fine after that. Just in case though, knowing that the O/D light is connected to the Transmission I took it to a local shop and the tech there told me after running a scan that it had to do with a Speed Sensor (one in the front) going bad. No biggie, ran to the local Mazda dealer and bought the part, swapped it out and everything seemed okay. We took the car out for a family outing (I own a Mazda 6 too and with what I've done to it, I can't fit much in the trunk area ), and once again, the O/D light flashes at me on the way home (but didn't on the way to where we went to). So now I'm thinking that the I may have to take it into Mazda tomorrow and hopefully they can tell me - with the hopes of NOT having to buy a new Transmission. ANyone else ever had that problem?


I know the Protege's have two 'Speed Sensors' (at least thats what I learned after going to two diff. dealerships after a part mixup), the other being called a Pulse Generator....(b the guy @ Mazda Service), could that be the issue?

The only symptoms I've noticed is that when its initially placed into Drive, it may stall before taking off.

Before considering a transmission trashed, have you tried changing the tranny fluid? I had similar issues and this solved them.

 

[klocwerk]

Hey all.
I've had this issue with mine pretty much since I bought it, it's bugging me again of late so I figured I'd dig into it a bit.
Rebooting the car (pop it into neutral, shut off, restart engine, pop back in gear) fixes it, but it's annoying. For me this issue crops up if I've driven the car and warmed it up, stopped and let it sit for a bit, and then started it up and drove again. It almost never does it after a cold start, just after a warm start. *shrug*

Here's the collective knowledge of the internet that I've found, ranked roughly from easy/cheap to PITA.
1: Replace tranny fluid and filter, never hurts and has fixed the issue for some people.
2: Bad connection to/in the O/D button could be the cause.
3: There are two speed sensors on the tranny, the Throttle Speed Sensor (output, easy access under air intake) and the Pulse Generator (input, lower in the engine bay). Replacing/adjusting one or both of these has fixed this issue for some people.
4: Neutral safety switch could be the cause, relatively easy replace. Located under the battery. (Ensure accurate alignment on install, or you won't be able to start your car.)
5: EGR valve could be dirty, clean or replace it.

I'm going to try a couple of these this weekend, see if I can get this to go away.

:edit:
I've been having trouble with my cruise control lately too, so the speed sensors may be my best bet...

 

[megadon09]

klockwerk, can't help but notice you didn't mention solenoids... Did you get any error codes or just a flashing light? For what it's worth, I started to get a jerky shift into reverse, so we've called our trusty mechanic friend who is going to replace solenoid a (and B?) for us before holiday driving. I can update our results after the work is done.

 

[ToRcH]

Replacing the solenoids isn't hard, while your changing your filter the solenoids are right there. Probably not a bad idea to change if you have 100k miles on the tranny as a preventative measure.

 

[klocwerk]

I get an error code, it's a very generic one about "an electrical issue with the transaxle." Don't remember the exact code at the moment.
Honestly feels like a computer glitch to me, but then I'm an IT geek so...

I don't think it's a wear issue for me, it literally hasn't gotten any worse over the 50k miles I've owned the car. Seems to be completely an issue with warm-starting.

Haven't had a chance to get to any of this testing unfortunately, life and work have picked up of late.