*OFFICIAL* Mazdaspeed 3 trans mount tracking thread *OFFICIAL*

[mellman]

Due to the fact that we seem to have no less than 5 other posts here about the motor mount thread I thought that since i'm on here all day at work anyways, I could start the OFFICIAL motor mount thread. I'm going to keep 3 posts at the top reserved just for information to help track this issue in case it becomes more serious (hoping it won't)

[size=12pt]IF YOU HAVE AN ISSUE PLEASE FILL OUT THE FOLLOWING FORM, AND REPLY TO THIS POST SO I CAN ADD IT TO OUR LIST HERE[/size]
[hr]
Forum Username:
Car build date:
Car delivery/title date:
Your location
Mileage when problem occurred:
Did YOU check your bolt previously:
If yes - How many miles before the problem:
Did your DEALER check the bolt previously
How was the car being driven? (Track, aggressive, casual):
What did you do to Fix it?


[hr]
If you have had this happen to you please forward to me the following information, so that we can have it all in ONE thread to look through, rather than having to search through 5-15 threads.

[size=12pt]WHO CAN I COMPLAIN TO?[/size]
If YOUR car had a problem with the mount, please goto www.safercar.gov and fill out the form to file a complaint, it will take you 5-10 minutes.


I'll continue to update this thread throughout the day/weeks/months ahead. Please try to keep all posts in here that are relevant to this topic.

[mellman]

This post will contain links & information to track those who have had issues so far. If you have any information to update with please let me know.

The members below have had their mount/bolt BREAK and their threads are posted below
1
MEMBER: SachielDesign
Posted December 1, 2006
http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=63851.0

2
MEMBER: Dantheman1998
Posted January 1, 2007
http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=65861.0

3
MEMBER: killacam08
Posted January 31, 2007
http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=68354.0

4
MEMBER: PEFX-Speed3
Posted: ??
Forum Username: PEFX-Speed3
Car build date: 10/06
Car delivery/title date: ?
Your location: Winston Salem, NC
Mileage when problem occurred: 7800
Did you check your bolt previously: asked dealer to check
If yes - How many miles before the problem:
How was the car being driven? (Track, casual): spirited at times, Mostly Casual

The motor fell out 5-17-07 as i was going to work a pop and then a awful noise from the front of the car i was undescible what it sounded like but i was running about 60mph when it happend. So i got it towed to the dealer and when i got there they was calling me a liar and saying that they never knew anything about this happening and they could get on the internet and find anything they wanted to and one of the ladys in service dept is on the head mazda board and she knew nothing about it so idk if they are lieing or what... So i came home printed this crap off took it there and threw it on there desk. I had the car taken in about 1 1/2 months ago for oiol change and asked them to check it and i dont know if they did or not i know how dealers work! if its not broke they dont look. But anyways im 19 still live at home with my parents and they are very concerned for me getting back into one of these cars i dont want it back because if they replace it. the same problem will happen again right??? They are trying to work me out a deal right now but idk my build date is 10/06 and i have 7800 miles when it happend


The members below have checked their bolt and found it to be loose

1
MEMBER: MazdaSteve3
Posted February 4, 2007
http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=68660.0

2
Forum Username: CosmicBlueMS3
Car build date: 9/28/2006
Car delivery/title date: 11/11/2006
Your location: Portsmouth, RI
Mileage when problem occurred: discovered at 1800mi
Did you check your bolt previously: no
If yes - How many miles before the problem:
How was the car being driven? (Track, aggressive, casual): spirited at times, but never stupid

Originally Posted by CosmicBlueMS3

It pains me to reply to this thread, but yesterday I checked my bolt and hooked up a torque wrench to see how tight it was. I started at 10lbs and went up in 2lb increments. I was able to tighten the bolt beginning at 26 ft/lbs ! I got almost a full turn before it bottomed out and then I set a final torque at 75 ft/lb. I then removed the bolt, covered it in red thread locker and reinstalled it again to 75 ft/lbs.

3
Forum Username: dbuenger
Car build date:09/06
Car delivery/title date:10/20
Your location: Roswell, GA
Mileage when problem occurred:7700
Did YOU check your bolt previously:yes,but with a non torque wrench. it seemed fine...
If yes - How many miles before the problem:everything looked the same this time, until I put a T wrench to it
Did your DEALER check the bolt previously: YES. a week ago I took it in and asked them to check this bolt specifically. when I got the car back my radio station presets were still there so I checked it again.
How was the car being driven? (Track, aggressive, casual): Aggressive, but overall smoothly with rev matching, roll on accelerations, NEVER clutch dumping, etc.
What did you do to Fix it? Red lock tight and torqued to 75lbs.

Originally Posted by dbuenger

The car was doing the "clunck" thing when shifting to 3rd under power so I was pretty sure things were working loose. So far (it's been 2 days) things seem much more stable and no cluncking noises. seems to shift a little cleaner too.

4
Forum Username:dp3
Car build date: 12/06
Car delivery/title date: 1/20/07
Your location Ventura
Mileage when problem occurred: 3500
Did YOU check your bolt previously: Yes
If yes - How many miles before the problem:approx 1800
Did your DEALER check the bolt previously Nope
How was the car being driven? (Track, aggressive, casual): Casual and on occasion aggressively
What did you do to Fix it? Jacked up trans. Bolt backed out under approx 25 pounds torque. Applied red lockite. Retorqued to 80 Ft LBS

5
3/17/2007
Checked drivers side engine mount bolt and found it to be at 25 ft-lbs.
Removed the bolt from the engine mount, applied medium strength (blue) loctite, installed bolt and tighted to 80 ft-lbs.

Forum Username: aviateur
Car build date: 8/06
Car delivery/title date: 1/5/2007
Your location: Minneapolis, MN
Mileage when problem occurred: 2800
Did YOU check your bolt previously: No
If yes - How many miles before the problem:
Did your DEALER check the bolt previously: No
How was the car being driven? (Track, aggressive, casual): Mostly conservative, some spirited runs
What did you do to Fix it? Removed the bolt from the engine mount, applied medium strength (blue) loctite, installed bolt and tighted to 80 ft-lbs.

6
Forum Username: PaleRider
Car build date: 01/07
Car delivery/title date: 3/22
Your location Wilkes-Barre, PA
Mileage when problem occurred: 650
Did YOU check your bolt previously: no
If yes - How many miles before the problem:
Did your DEALER check the bolt previously No
How was the car being driven? (Track, aggressive, casual): Casual/sprited
What did you do to Fix it?

I wouldn't say it was a problem per say. I put the car on ramps and jacked up the engine by the transmission housing. The bolt was tight all the way up to 70ft/lbs. At 70 it moved a tiny bit before the torque wrench clicked. I went up to 75ft/lbs and got a tiny bit more. Total less then 1/4 turn. I was satisfied.

I also noticed that there were two washers under the bolt.... Does everyone have two washers?

7


Forum Username: Noclaf
Car build date: 02/07
Car delivery/title date: 03/31/07
Your location: Charlotte, NC
Mileage when problem occurred: 1750
Did YOU check your bolt previously: No
If yes - How many miles before the problem: n/a
Did your DEALER check the bolt previously: No
How was the car being driven? (Track, aggressive, casual): Casual/Spirited
What did you do to Fix it?:
I took the bolt out and applied blue locktight and tightened to 75 ft-lbs.

Detail:

I have been reading quite a bit in this thread (and others) and I want to really express my thanks to all those who took time to document this VERY serious issue. The transmission mount bolt on my Cosmic Blue Speed 3 backed out @ 18-20 ft-lbs !! I followed directions from various threads and jacked up the transmission about 1 inch before checking the torque. I applied blue locktight and re-torqued to 75 ft-lbs. The bolt also had two washers on it. There were no metal shavings on the bolt and it looked fine. The threads inside the mount also appeared fine.

8
This made me check my trans mount on my MS3 glad I did I found my to be loose approx 20lps. so I removed the bolt from the trans mount, applied loctite, installed the bolt and tighted to 80lbs.
Forum Username: Kralok
Car build date:10/06
Your location: Ridgefield PK, NJ
Mileage when problem occurred:2984
Did YOU check your bolt previously: yes it was loose approx 20lbs.
Did your DEALER check the bolt previously: YES.
What did you do to Fix it? removed the bolt applied loctite and torqued to 80lbs.

9
Forum Username: Lockheed
Your location: Tallahassee/Tampa, FL
Mileage when problem occurred:6700
Did YOU check your bolt previously: no
Did your DEALER check the bolt previously: no
What did you do to Fix it? Took it to the dealer and told them to make sure that it tight. They told me the "tech re-torqued all the bolts to factory specs." My butt dyno tells me that the car is tighter; not as much movement when changing gears. I figure that will last me until a TSB is officially released. I would have checked it myself, but I don't have a torque wrench.

10

Forum Username: P5_2_MS3
Car build date: 02/2007
Car delivery/title date: 03/23/2007
Your location: Vancouver, BC (Canada)
Mileage when problem occurred: approx. 1600 miles, 2550 kms
Did YOU check your bolt previously: No
If yes - How many miles before the problem: N/A
Did your DEALER check the bolt previously: No
How was the car being driven? (Track, aggressive, casual): Casual, occasionally spirited
What did you do to Fix it?: Supported transmission, checked existing bolt torque, removed bolt, applied locktite, re-torqued bolt to 80 ft-lbs, marked top of bolt for future reference.

Details:

After following this thread for some time, I decided to check the bolt as a precaution. I drove the front wheels on ramps, then supported the tranny with two jacks. I checked the torque on the bolt by setting torque wrench starting at 25 ft-lbs and attempting to loosen the bolt. I was able to loosen the bolt at that setting, which likely indicates that the bolt was torqued to (or had loosened to) < 25 ft-lbs. The bolt was removed, red locktite liberally applied, then tightened back down.

Before I applied the new locktite, I did notice the two washers (instead of one) some old locktite, but only near the top of the bolt. Somebody at the assembly line must have messed up, because the top threads of the bolt don't even touch the threads on the transmission! I don't see how a dab of locktite on the top few threads would do much of anything. Anyways, I tightened the bolt down and torqued it to 80 ft-lbs and marked the top of the bolt for future reference. Hopefully I can just remove the battery box and check the bolt visually in a few weeks.

Driving impressions after fix:

The transmission was noticeably smoother-shifting after the fix. Apparently, the tranny must have been just loose enough to cause a bit of rough shifting from 1-2 and 2-3. I didn't really make much of it before, but now that it's fixed it's really noticeable.

11
Forum Username: Plucky
Car build date: Think it is 12/06
Car delivery/title date: 1/07
Your location SoCal
Mileage when problem occurred: n/a, did visual inspection at 1500 miles
Did YOU check your bolt previously:yes
If yes - How many miles before the problem:no problem, did inspection from under, looked tight.
Did your DEALER check the bolt previously n/a
How was the car being driven? (Track, aggressive, casual): Casual as I am still new to stick.
What did you do to Fix it? After reading the forums some more, I took it out at 2400 miles and it looked tight. Lifted the tranny a little, and tried to retorque it at 80lb and it barely moved. I did take the bolt out, noticed there was already red stuff on it (thinking it's loctite), applied more red loctite and retorqued it at 80lbs. Seemed fine the first time, but feel a little safer now that I did it myself.

12

Forum Username: ChimChim
Car build date: Feb/07
Car delivery/title date: Mar 29/07
Your location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Mileage when problem occurred: 1200 KM
Did YOU check your bolt previously: NODealer was asked to check the bolt and salesmen said it was checked and was fine. No records were given to me. I should have asked...
If yes - How many miles before the problem:
Did your DEALER check the bolt previously: Dealer was asked to check the bolt prior to delivery and salesmen said it was checked and was fine. No records were given to me. I should have asked.
How was the car being driven? (Track, aggressive, casual): Casual with spirited moments.
What did you do to Fix it? Supported the transmission and was able to loosen the bolt with 35 ft. lbs. on the torque wrench. Applied locktite and torqued to 80 ft. lbs.

Shifting through gears 1 and 2 has definitely improved. Shifts prior to change has been clunky and clumsy and is much more direct since the bolt has been tightened.


13
Forum Username: ERIC-TC
Car build date: 12/06
Car delivery/title date: 3/07
Your location Texas
Mileage when problem occurred: after 2000 miles shifting 1-2 not as smooth as when car was new. Shifting a little rough sometimes like the shifter was not in the right spot on 2nd gear. When you down shift hard it was smooth like butter for a while. Then gradually it would shift rough sometimes. Most of the time it was smooth -but not all the time.
Did YOU check your bolt previously: No
If yes - How many miles before the problem:n/a.
Did your DEALER check the bolt previously: Have it on paper they checked the torque on the bolt 9-days ago. They did not check it -just said they did Mad Mad Mad
How was the car being driven? (Track, aggressive, casual): Normal, easy most of the time.
What did you do to Fix it? Torued bolt to 75 ft-lb. w/ jack on the tranny.

Car has close to 3000 miles. The bolt backed off between 20-30 ft-lb. At 20 I got a click, at 30 I got no click the bolt just turned.

I called the dealership. Service, sales, managers everybody! I'm very upset that they said they checked it and did not do the work!!!! I have no faith in them anymore.

14
Forum Username: oatmealboy
Car build date: 11/06
Car delivery/title date: 1/07
Your location: San Jose, CA
Mileage when problem occurred: 3240
Did YOU check your bolt previously: Yes, See here.
If yes - How many miles before the problem: 1740
Did your DEALER check the bolt previously: No.
How was the car being driven? (Track, aggressive, casual): Was leaving an autocross event when I heard clunking. Otherwise, mostly casual driving.
What did you do to Fix it? Torqued somewhere above 85ft/lbs. Not sure how loose it was.

As I was leaving the autocross event I attended, I heard a clunk sound when shifting into 2nd gear; a sound I had never heard before, and definitely not normal sounding. I continued to drive around the premises to listen for more unusual noises. I drove over some botts' dots, and heard the clunks again. Didn't want to take the chance of driving home, so I went back to the event and borrowed some tools and a floor jack from another autocrosser. Went ahead and tightened her up above 85ft/lbs. Seemed like it went almost a 1/4 turn before it was torqued down. I didn't drive over the botts' dots again to see if the sound came back, but I made it home safely. Slight chance it could be loose suspension bolt of some kind, but the car drives just fine.

15
Forum Username: destrux
Car build date: 11/06
Car delivery/title date: 3/07
Your location: PA
Mileage when problem occurred: 2690
Did YOU check your bolt previously: No
If yes - How many miles before the problem: ---
Did your DEALER check the bolt previously: No
How was the car being driven? (Track, aggressive, casual): Casual mostly (fuel prices kill me), sometimes aggressive.


16

Forum Username: Mellman
Car build date: 1/25/2007
Car delivery/title date: 03/12/2007
Your location: Oakton VA
Mileage when problem occurred: 3169
Did YOU check your bolt previously: NO
If yes - How many miles before the problem: N/A
Did your DEALER check the bolt previously: NO
How was the car being driven? (Track, aggressive, casual): Casual
What did you do to Fix it?

I checked my bolt today, found it to turn at around 35 ft lbs. supported the tranny, removed the bolt, had two washers, small flakes of loc-tite. I have no more loc-tite, so i need to buy more. I reinstalled the bolt and torqued to 20 minutes. i was expecting this to be a 2 hour job for some reason, when i was done in 20 minutes I was pleasantly surprised.

I checked it because I felt it was about time I did, and I had been hearing an increasingly louder clunk when shifting into 2nd. Plus i could play with the shifter, and feel it being a bit harder to pull into 2nd or push into 1st. Its better now, not a ton, but noticable.

[mellman]

To find out how to check your tranny bolt use this how-to here:

http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=70973.0


http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=75531.0

If you'd like the link to check your rear sway bar bolts, go here:

http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=75183.0;all


[quote author=shark77 link=topic=79741.msg1467954#msg1467954 date=1181213473]
I know that we have a list going on in the "stock issues" board, but I figured I would waste a couple hours scouring the internet for as many independant documentations of this issue as I could. I think that as of June 7, 2007, this is all the postings of mount failures.

So based on the information I found, we have 13 documented cases of this failure.

U.S.

SachielDesign
December 01, 2006
http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=63851.0

Dantheman1998
January 01, 2007
http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=65861.0

killacam08
January 31, 2007
http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=68354.0

nondual
February 20, 2007
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showt...ighlight=mount

qwerty4550
~March 15, 2007
http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=74995.0

zoom-zoomhatch
April 9, 2007
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showt...hp?t=123666792

fourthmeal
April 28, 2007
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showt...ighlight=mount

justa4banger
May 5, 2007
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showt...hp?t=123670474

PEFX-Speed3
May 17, 2007
http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=68975.150

Black07MS3
May 28, 2007
http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=78776.0

mafanchai
June 3, 2007
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showt...ighlight=mount

Austrailia

lbermmann
January 1, 2007
http://www.ozmazdaclub.com/forums/sh...ighlight=mount

Chamonixxx
April 17, 2007
http://www.ozmazdaclub.com/forums/sh...ighlight=mount

[/quote]

[jasno999]

You can delete this post after you read it if you don't want it here - but I thought of some stuff to add.

1) I think it might be good for you to add the mailing address and phone numbers to the Mazda Headquarters or issue centers in the US and in Canada so that people here can start making calls to find out what Mazda is going about this issue. I think if we all start calling and asking then it will force them to at the minimum acknowledge the problem.

2) I think it would also be a good idea to add a section where people can share information they have received from a dealer or from Mazda headquarters. If you talk to your dealership and they tell you Mazda knows about the problem and is planning to do X, Y & Z then I would like to hear that from people. On the other side of the coin I would like to hear if people are being told that Mazda does not even know there is a problem or is not acknowledging it.

Thanks

[sgon]

+1 on name and phone number included

I'm not allowed to post it, let just say someone else is intrested to talk to people who have this issue, NO I'm not referring to Mazda headquarters

[CosmicBlueMS3]

It pains me to reply to this thread, but yesterday I checked my bolt and hooked up a torque wrench to see how tight it was. I started at 10lbs and went up in 2lb increments. I was able to tighten the bolt beginning at 26 ft/lbs ! I got almost a full turn before it bottomed out and then I set a final torque at 75 ft/lb. I then removed the bolt, covered it in red thread locker and reinstalled it again to 75 ft/lbs.

Forum Username: CosmicBlueMS3
Car build date: 9/28/2006
Car delivery/title date: 11/11/2006
Your location: Portsmouth, RI
Mileage when problem occurred: discovered at 1800mi
Did you check your bolt previously: no
If yes - How many miles before the problem:
How was the car being driven? (Track, aggressive, casual): spirited at times, but never stupid

My car was an early build, so keep that in mind before you start freaking out.

[mellman]

[quote author=CosmicBlueMS3 link=topic=68975.msg1216443#msg1216443 date=1171896499]
It pains me to reply to this thread, but yesterday I checked my bolt and hooked up a torque wrench to see how tight it was. I started at 10lbs and went up in 2lb increments. I was able to tighten the bolt beginning at 26 ft/lbs ! I got almost a full turn before it bottomed out and then I set a final torque at 75 ft/lb. I then removed the bolt, covered it in red thread locker and reinstalled it again to 75 ft/lbs.

Forum Username: CosmicBlueMS3
Car build date: 9/28/2006
Car delivery/title date: 11/11/2006
Your location: Portsmouth, RI
Mileage when problem occurred: discovered at 1800mi
Did you check your bolt previously: no
If yes - How many miles before the problem:
How was the car being driven? (Track, aggressive, casual): spirited at times, but never stupid

My car was an early build, so keep that in mind before you start freaking out.
[/quote]

Thanks for the thorough writeup Scott...sorry to hear you had the issue

[noobinacan]

Checked my driver side motor mount today, it was loose.
Applied loctite and screwed it back hard.

[dp3]

[quote author=NoobInACan link=topic=68975.msg1228402#msg1228402 date=1172279315]
Checked my driver side motor mount today, it was loose.
Applied loctite and screwed it back hard.

[/quote]

Checked mine on 2-22. It was perfectly snug. Build date 12-06

[Boother]

No issue here.

Checked at 8000km
Bought Oct 10, 2006
Build date 8/06

I drive the car will routine 100% throttle, but nothing abusive.