DK

iTrader: (5)

Here's the deal ... I have an auto tranny. My car has been on the disabled list for 2.5 years, but last time it went anywhere, the tranny was fine.

Here's what's happening ... The car won't start by key ignition. I'll turn it to start, but nothing happens. So I start it by hand with a jumper wire on the starter.

Next thing that's happening, which may or may not be part of the same problem -- the tranny won't engage. When I put it into gear, the idle does drop a couple hundred RPM as it should normally, but there's no go. The fluid level should be OK, the book says it holds 8.6 litres and I drained it and added around that. The problem is that when my car was stripped, the tranny fluid dipstick and neck were removed and I've ordered and received the neck, but the dipstick isn't in any Mazda warehouses last time I heard about a week and a half ago. I put the neck on last night.

I do know that the torque convertor didn't have the 2 litres that it holds when I put it on. I'm not sure how much is in it, but the pump should have filled it, I hope.

Here's another symptom, which may or may not be related. When it was running yesterday it suddenly started to make this very loud wirrrrling sound coming from the back of the motor or the torque convertor area, I believe. It's not a grinding of any sort, it's a somewhat high-pitched rotation sound. When I put the car in gear and throttle it, it changes a bit with the throttle and is slightly slightly quieter.

So there are a couple of things going on here ... (1) maybe the torque convertor doesn't have enough fluid and is making noise (could be?) and that's why it's not going ... or (2) something electronic is keeping it from both starting by key and going.

Someone help!! Thanks!

Daniel

DK

iTrader: (5)

I'm not one to bump messages because it's annoying and I'd just assume create a new username to falsely bump it, but damnit this is pretty important!!!

Viper jr

I think your suspicions about whats wrong are correct.

Since you have to use a jumper wire, it sounds like the car thinks that you are trying to start the car while its in gear. I would pull the codes on the tranny (pretty sure you still ground TEN and GND, but you watch the hold light flash) and see if it points you in the right direction. If you get none related, I'd check the adjustment of the shift unit.

And for the engagement/whirring problem, it sounds like you should perform the Mechanical System Test in the service manual.

For both problems, the manual gives procedures and explanations of what to check out based on the symptoms - its actually the largest section in the book. Since the transmission doesn't give trouble very often, finding people who know about it isn't easy.

There's also a Yahoo group for the AT @ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ATFD and if you don't get anywhere, might want to give the folks there a shot.

DK

iTrader: (5)

Hey thanks a lot! I looked in the service manual and saw the section describing what was going on and the first thing that it said was fluid. I just wanted to post about it before I did anything more, but I'll do everything that you said. (My car is going to throw so many codes it's not even funny!) Thanks a lot again!

DK

iTrader: (5)

OK, I've found the place in the manual about the self-diagnosis, but it says to jump the GND and the TAT terminals. The only problem is I don't see a diagram showing where the TAT terminal is! I looked in the auto tranny section for it and also in other sections. I have the manual that I actually printed out off of your site, except the tranny file is on my PC. Am I overlooking it or something? Can someone please tell me where the TAT terminal is in the Diagnosis box? I guess describe it as they show the diagnosis terminal diagrams in the manual.

I'm going to make a new thread about this.

Viper jr

Where did you find what pin to jump? I totally couldn't find it when I was looking.

Haven't had a chance yet to test out my new toy yet - let's see if it's up for the task:

Yup looks like it works

DK

iTrader: (5)

Oh man, is that on the lid or something? Did I just play total moron?! Hahahaha ... damnit! Thanks.

I found the info on page K-214.

DK

iTrader: (5)

Hahahaha ... I just went out to my car in hopes to find that I wasn't a total moron and hoped to see that my sticker had fallen out of the lid or something. NOPE! It's right there! So let me make up a lame excuse ... I uhhh ... I'm so tall that I never got a good angle on the lid to see the labels. Yeah that's it! No really, thankfully I haven't really had to use it over the years.