Couple of questions I have so far (I have had the car for 9 days now...)

The previous owner told me NOT to replace the hatch strut that has the wires for the wiper in it. The strut is of no use as it, nor the other strut, will keep the glass up. What have others done for this? I did not see anything on Mazdatrix.

Is the auto antenna supposed to go up/down when you turn the car on/off or just when you turn the radio on/off? Mine goes up and down only when the car is turned on/off.

Mark
Atlanta, GA

 

1) You can replace BOTH struts. A litttle manipulation and the right strut can still work your wiper/defroster.

2) The antenna goes down/up ONLY with the radio on/off. If it does otherwise, it has been changed to an aftermarket unit and not fully wired. My aftermarket unit goes up/down with the radio on/off OR the ignition key. The way it should have worked in the first place.

jeryj

 

Your in luck.

Here is the replacement strut that mazdatrix sells: its a strongarm brand # 4709. You can probably get it at a local auto store for half the MT price.

I was able to retrofit the strut for both of my struts. Had to cut the one strut in half to remove the wired connections (for the rear wiper). The replacement strut end will come off so no problem on reassembly. It's pretty simple, just do it.

As for the antenna, mine only goes up or down based upon the tuner being on or off. If the radio is on and I turn the car off, the antenna stays up.

Lucky guy to get an SE.

Scott

 

A cheap fix that have used on 2 SEs is to go to Advance Auto and find a part hiding in the wiper section which is a strut brace that costs about $7 and takes 10 minutes to install. It is a cut to fit size and all tools are provided. It works because there is never a time I need my hatch any less than fully opened. It functions by having a spring loaded piece of composite plastic slide into place to lock on your existing strut when you open the hatch. I taped some bright yellow tape onto it also to make it more visible in case someone else were using my car and forgot about the hatch support.

The previous antenae info. is correct. It goes up and down with the on/off button. I long ago replace the bent antenae with a non electric manual one. It takes forever to get the broken antenae motor out. It is a large motor and hidden deep in the metal openings. Not much room to maneuver.

 

I had two bad struts - I found that just replacing the non-wired strut with a new one works just swimmingly...