Well, my 2002 MP5 goes in for surgery this Friday to have that tumor of a clutch assembly removed. It was shaking so bad this past week that I still haven't found all my fillings...

For those who aren't familiar with this defect, see this technical service bulletin (look in "3rd Generations" under #3848):

http://web2.airmail.net/theman/protegefaq/tsb/

The shitty part is that I had heard of this problem before I bought the car, but didn't really pay attention to it. The warranty WILL cover this, but I was wondering if anyone here has had this upgrade performed only to have the problem return?

Thanks in advance.

 

Got the car back just now. $1000 bucks of work, all under warranty. They've done 162 of the same repairs to Proteges and Miatas in the past two years in that one dealership alone. My bro-in-law (2002 Miata owner in the U.S.), my best friend (2002 P5 owner back east) and his sister (2002 P5 owner) have all had the same problems, and all had the repair done.

You'd think that Mazda would recall these cars. I had to find out on my own.

 

Thanks for the good info. I just bought a 2002 Protege5 yesterday. It has 38k on the clock. This morning when I started out while it was cold I got a bad chatter from the clutch if I didn't rev it hard while starting off in 1st. I had a chance to stop by a dealer and asked about it and the woman said clutches weren't covered by warranty. I guess I will stop back by and mention TB# 3848 and see if that helps. I thought 38k was not alot of miles on a stock clutch. I was hoping to get about 60k out of it. Guess a new clutch will be going in soon.

 

Does this clutch shudder possibly feel like wheel hop in first gear? I am asking becasue when it is cold out I get a weird sort of wheel hop in first gear. To fix this I have to compress the clutch again. Thanks

 

That woman isn't informed. They have no choice but to honor it. If they don't, a call to Mazda USA (or Canada in my case) will get things right. Clutches aren't under warranty due to wear, but they are under warranty due to manufacturer's defects.

As for the "wheel hop", no, I don't think that's it, unless it's hopping ten to twelve times in about half a second.

 

Well, I went back and had no luck. We looked on Mazda's info system and didn't find anything about a TSB on clutch chatter. Granted the tech was not the sharpest tool in the shed when it came to computers so I don't think he did the search right. I will try another dealer tomorrow. I hope I find someone who knows about this. It is certainly annoying in the morning...

 

Well, I went back and had no luck. We looked on Mazda's info system and didn't find anything about a TSB on clutch chatter. Granted the tech was not the sharpest tool in the shed when it came to computers so I don't think he did the search right. I will try another dealer tomorrow. I hope I find someone who knows about this. It is certainly annoying in the morning...

 

Check the link in the first post again. Do they disagree with this? It's a copyrighted TSB directly from Mazda North America.

If you're still having a tough time after showing them this, come on up to Canada...we'll treat you right.

What a bunch of boneheads.

 

I went back with a copy of the Tech Tip. They said they would have to talk to the distric service rep before they could cover the repair under warranty. They rep was just there last week so I needed to wait til around the first of April and then come back. This was at Town North Mazda in Richardson, TX.

So I decided to take a 15 minute drive north to Eldorado Mazda in McKinney, TX. I drove on the service drive, got out of the car, showed the rep the paper and asked if he had ever heard of this? He said "Is it doing it?" I said "yes, occasionally". He said if I left it with him now he could have it back to me by Wednesday. I said so you know about this and he replied "yup, got a Miata in right now for the same thing". Well, I couldn't leave it there yesterday cause I need a car for my job so he made arrangement for there to be a MP5 loaner car there on Monday afternoon when I drop mine off.

Its amazing how one place never heard of it and 20 miles up the road its a known issue. Anyhow, it will be nice to have it fixed and a new clutch to boot at 40K miles. Thanks for all the info and help with this!

 

Well, gopt bad news. the tech that looked at my car said there was no problem. Also the clutch has only a 12/12 warranty so any clutch problems would not be covered since my car did not fall in the VIN range for the TSB. I told him it was not a TSB but a Mazda Tech Tip and it covered all MP5's. After going back and forth I finally got him to agree to keep it over night one more day and the service manager is going to drive it in the AM. I actually had it do it for me with the advisor in the car but he said it seem normal. BS! Is there anyone in the Dallas area who has had this fixed by a local dealer? If so please tell me where and who to talk to. Thanks!

 

I gave my mom all the info (including the TSB print-out) and she got it done under warranty. And she had 40k kms on it (2001 Protegé LX-GT). In Montreal area.

They weren't gonna change the flywheel at first, but then she showed them the TSB w/ part numbers, and they started to believe she was serious...

It feels much better, and she is now readapting her driving.

Many thanks to Mikishots for the link !

Whatever they tell you don't give up the fight ! You ARE right. They will cave in. Or else you go up the food chain and call Mazda USA and so forth.

Next up, the rear brakes seizing, and the overall ridiculous brake wear... And my bro's 2003 MP5.

Again thanks a lot !