Mazda 6 MPS Differential problems and/or solutions

[DARKLORD]

Mazda Called today they have confirmed what you have stated "My Beast being towed due to diff mounting bolts" Here is the twist, Mazda Paradise S.A. want to wait 2 weeks to ship the 2 bolts from Japan. The service guy said they have to be Mazda bolts. I quickly advised him about the fact that other dealers know of this problem and the resolution they came to. He said he would call me back... Well he did not call me back and he said he wants his crappy 121 back on wednesday. I think I may have a bit of S£%T to dish out if he calls back tomorrow without news of the car being fixed. Come on non mazda bolts may void warranty. This guy is spoon fed by his Mum still I think.

---------- Post added at 05:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:33 PM ----------

Thanks for all of your help here, it makes a really good support group. I have to say I have always found great advise for the MPS6 here. Keep up the good work, Cheers

[Jmac]

I would be insisting on keeping the loaner until its fixed, not your problem the bolts are not in stock. I think you should be entitled to a loan car as its covered by warranty.

[shakespeare]

Hi all,

Seeing as we're having some reports of diff mounting bolts, I thought it would be a good idea to start a new thread for reports on the matter and what solutions have been administered.

My latest is after having the forward mounting bolts replaced I experienced some drive train knock yesterday and today, so had a look under and found I could tighten by hand the new bolts Mazda installed, so after 10 painful minutes with a socket that wouldn't fit correctly due to the heat shield I managed to tighten them, though minus the torque wrench as I lent this to my mate. Have advised Mazda I'll be bringing her in for them to fix, hopefully they came loose due to some sloppy tightening last time and there are no other issues!
Cheers
Chris

[kmh001]

Make sure they Loctite 272 them Chris. It's kind of scary they backed out so quickly.

[shakespeare]

Well I am at Mazda having the bolts checked and the workshop guys have put loctite on them so hopefully they don't come loose again. However this is against the service managers advice, as he quoted "it's not Mazda spec and we'll have a hell of time getting them out if they snap again!" Apparently he thinks they are working loose due to diff wind-up from having tyre sizes which are smaller in diameter than standard! I still don't believe it. Though if diff wind-up is the cause, something else is causing this, maybe the electomagnetic clutch for the rwd has a problem? Anyway I should have it back in a minute, so we shall see what transpires...

[shakespeare]

Got home and having had some spirited driving all seems to be ok

I'll check the torque again in a couple of weeks and see...

[shakespeare]

Mazda Called today they have confirmed what you have stated "My Beast being towed due to diff mounting bolts" Here is the twist, Mazda Paradise S.A. want to wait 2 weeks to ship the 2 bolts from Japan. The service guy said they have to be Mazda bolts. I quickly advised him about the fact that other dealers know of this problem and the resolution they came to. He said he would call me back... Well he did not call me back and he said he wants his crappy 121 back on wednesday. I think I may have a bit of S£%T to dish out if he calls back tomorrow without news of the car being fixed. Come on non mazda bolts may void warranty. This guy is spoon fed by his Mum still I think.

---------- Post added at 05:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:33 PM ----------

Thanks for all of your help here, it makes a really good support group. I have to say I have always found great advise for the MPS6 here. Keep up the good work, Cheers

Hey Darklord, wondered how you got on with your diff bolts?

FYI It's been 3 weeks since Mazda applied Loctite and torqued mine and no problems to date The diff feels solid and the bolts haven't moved so I'm thinking that it's now all fixed.

[shakespeare]

*** Update ***

I've had some seriously bad vibrations in the last few days under light acceleration in 4wd mode only, so after checking under the car (again) found that the diff moved 2-3mm left to right, couldn't see the rear mounting bracket but figured this had come loose, as the front mounting bracket was secure.

Had the beast serviced today (50,000km) and the techs found that the rear diff bracket had cracked! They are waiting on confirmation from Mazda as to what they should be doing, so will hopefully know the outcome tomorrow, they advised to keep driving but gently, thank goodness for the 2wd switch! Am now considering the CPe bracket.

[nissanman]

Mazda Called today they have confirmed what you have stated "My Beast being towed due to diff mounting bolts" Here is the twist, Mazda Paradise S.A. want to wait 2 weeks to ship the 2 bolts from Japan. The service guy said they have to be Mazda bolts. I quickly advised him about the fact that other dealers know of this problem and the resolution they came to. He said he would call me back... Well he did not call me back and he said he wants his crappy 121 back on wednesday. I think I may have a bit of S£%T to dish out if he calls back tomorrow without news of the car being fixed. Come on non mazda bolts may void warranty. This guy is spoon fed by his Mum still I think.

---------- Post added at 05:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:33 PM ----------

Thanks for all of your help here, it makes a really good support group. I have to say I have always found great advise for the MPS6 here. Keep up the good work, Cheers

Yea im not going to PARADISE MAZDA. I rang a guy there and said ive got a 6 MPS and have a few problems.
He said " oh thats odd we never get those things back with warranty issues, what do you think the problem is?"
I metioned the cruising vibration\ shudder and noises.
He says "oh yea we have had a few with that, but its normal, there is no problem with it, they do it from factory"

So i say " Um ok, i thought you never see the MPS back? and i dont think so, ive driven a few MPS's and not all of them do it, pretty sure a shudder, clunk, vibrations and whine are not 'standard' with a $55,000 car"

He just told me to bring it in and they will look at it and determine wether its a warranty issue. I told him ill be going else where.

So... Went to JARRET Nissan\Mazda about 2 streets away from my house () they were VERY nice, booked the car in friday as he said they need to look at it as it sounds bad.

See how i go....

Sorry for the long post

[shakespeare]

Update on my diff mounts.

At 50,000kms I felt some bad diff vibrations under acceleration which Mazda identified as a broken rear mount on the diff, they were waiting Mazda to advise before proceeding with warranty replacement.

Spoke to the service manager who advised they can replace it under warranty and this was completed yesterday.

Upon driving home (after finding a clear road with no traffic) I proceeded to test the new mount and found it still gave some minor vibrations under hard acceleration, though similar it was nothing like the vibrations when the mount was broken.

So back into Mazda this morning, they raised it on the hoist to check and everything was intact however the new mounts rubber bushes flexed more than the old mount (there was another MPS6 there we could compare it too) After some discussion it appears the new mounts have been upgraded over the original's to offer more flex? The service manager was not sure why but thought it may have something to do with the amount of reports Mazda are receiving on broken mounts??

Anyway the service dept are still convinced larger than stock tryes are causing diff windup on my car which may be the cause of my broken mounts etc. So given that I've decided to paint my stock rims black, I'm going back to stock tryes to see if there is anything to this theory, as at the moment I'm still reluctant to drive it "extremely spiritedly" until I am sure nothing else is going to break!

Apologies for the long windedness