Automatic transmission sluggish 1st gear

[patrickb]

Hello all,

First post here. My sister has recently bought a Mazda Autozam Az3 1.5 engine. I am however worried by the fact that the 1st gear is rather sluggish. When driving from a complete stop, with the accelerator pressed to the floor, the car seems as almost it's starting from 2nd gear. It takes quite a long time for the first up-shift to happen. The shifts are smooth throughout. Is that normal or does the automatic transmission need attention? I'd appreciate if you could share your experience on this. Thanks!
Patrick
UK

[Newfie_dan]

see if it will start in any gears other than P or N. If it does then its your transmission range/neutral safety switch at fault. Other than that try a fluid and filter change, but don't backflush the transmission it will kill it.

[patrickb]

Hi and thanks for the answer.

I have tried all other gears and the car will start fine.
On the L and S setting the car also behaves as in the D mode (without going to the 3rd gear on L and 4th on S - which is correct). BUT when the HOLD button is pressed it definitely starts from 1st gear at the L setting (without going on two 2nd - corect again) and also stays on 2nd when set at S with the HOLD button but will not start from the first gear. So the first gear is there , which is comforting, but I can't understand why it's not used even when the pedal is pressed all the way down in D mode or without the HOLD button at L or S setting. The filter and oil change in the tranny is on our list of things to do, so we shall see. Thanks for the advice so far!
Patrick

[slimx]

I just bought the Mx3 as my first car mate and EXACT same problem as u.
What i did was got a mechanic to just to up the revs on 1st gear and lower a slight bit on 3rd so it evens out.

& now first gear it kicks off really fast but it changes to 2nd yr in lyk 3-4 seconds lol.

[patrickb]

Thanks for the replies so far.
I don't drive the vehicle on an everyday basis so it's hard to tell. I have just tried it and the first gear is there but it's still very short. We will wait and see.

One more thing, I have checked the AT fluid today (warm engine, shifted gears across the range beforehand) and it is not terribly discoloured (slightly brownish but still clear), nor does it smell burnt, the only thing I can't figure out is the actual level of the fluid. The dip stick is smeared with an even film of oil right from the very bottom up to the part where it's shaped into a kind of a spiral and I can't see any clear indication of the level. I am not expecting a cut off point where the dip stick would be completely clean from oil, similarly to when you check engine oil - the dip stick is sometimes covered with a thin film of oil above the F level but you can clearly see a thicker film below which is the actual level. Am I doing something wrong or is there too much oil? Any thoughts? Thanks again!

[Ryan]

let the fluid sit, with the car off, for a few minutes. Pull out the stick, wipe it with a clean rag, reinsert, pull out, and check. That should eliminate the film, and provide a clear reading...

The reason for leting it sit for a few minutes is to let all of the fluid settle. It can still be operating temperature. If there's oil all chucked up the dipstick it will be all filmy no matter how you check.

[patrickb]

I will do that, although the idea everyone stressed was to check it at working temperature. The problem is (I should have mentioned that) the dip stick looked the same before I warmed up the engine.
I have just double checked again (cold engine) and it looks the same. A thin film of oil as described earlier. I am confused. Unless it actually indicates the level which is about 2cm above the hot range.
I guess the only thing left to do now is to check the oil level again when changing the oil filter, some of it will have to be drained.
Thanks for the suggestions.

[patrickb]

Right... the gearbox is slowly dying - or so it seems. At times, it feels as if the clutch is slipping so you can feel vibrations all over the front dashboard. It will probably needs replacing. The worst thing is that I am not sure which automatic gearboxes are interchangeable with AZ3 (B5 ZE engine). I have read posts on automatic gearboxes with 1.6 and 1.8 engines but there is no consensus on the 1.5 engine. Any ideas guys?
thanks

[Ryan]

the 1.5 fits.


http://www.mx-3.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.ph ... yan+tranny" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[_-Night-Shade-_]

Right... the gearbox is slowly dying - or so it seems. At times, it feels as if the clutch is slipping so you can feel vibrations all over the front dashboard. It will probably needs replacing.

There is no clutch in ATX...

[Ryan]

Right... the gearbox is slowly dying - or so it seems. At times, it feels as if the clutch is slipping so you can feel vibrations all over the front dashboard. It will probably needs replacing.

There is no clutch in ATX...

Actually, there are 4.

[_-Night-Shade-_]

I don't consider a torque converter as a clutch

[Ryan]

no, thats different too... each seperate gear has a clutch. How do you think they engage?

[_-Night-Shade-_]

to be honest with you I thought it was all the same after the TC...

[patrickb]

Hello
Sorry about the wording. I know there is no clutch proper (as we know it in a manual gearbox) but it does feel as if a clutch was slipping and gears not changing (the vibrations and revving without acceleration - at times at least). The clutch in ATX is nowhere near the simplicity of a manual gearbox one so I don't think I'd wish to pay anyone to fix it... not to mention finding somebody competent enough locally so I'd rather look for a used one.

Ryan, I have seen the topic before but I am still in the dark about it. So no ATX from 1.6 or 1.8 will fit the 1.5 engine? IS the F-4EAT the one I should be looking or are there others? Are the gearboxes from B family of engines compatible and interchangeable?

Speaking of torque converter, I know with some ATXs these can be tricky to remove as it can be easily damaged and leak in effect, is there something I should ask the seller before I actually buy it? Also, Mazda gearboxes I have seen on ebay are being sold without (or at least they're not pictured) but they SHOULD come with the gearboxes as it is an integral part, isn't it?

I have found a used ATX from MX5 with six months guarantee from a 1.6 engine for 325 GBP, should I keep looking? It's a lottery getting a used one so I'd rather get one with a guarantee then keep changing faulty ones and multiply labor costs. A mere statement in the vein of "the engine started and was running fine before braking for parts" is not enough with ATXs.

I appreciate your input. Many thanks!