Transmission fluid change leads to bigger issues

[Mazda__3]

Hey guys.

Last night me and a buddy worked on changing out my rear motor mount and my transmission fluid at the same time. In total it took us about 11 hours of trying to undo the rusted motor mount bolts, and taking off the air box to reach the fill plug for the tranny. This is where the issue begins. I've never done maintenance on my car, i've always taken it to the dealer. I read up all over the forums and people said doing the rear motor mount and transmission fluid change were quite easy on the maintenance spectrum. Well we took the air box off, undid all the little plugs/maf and put in the new fluid. We put the air box back together as tight as it was before we took it off, put the plugs/maf back into place and we were done. Fast forward to me dropping my friend off at his house. I turned off the car, helped carry all his tooks into his garage, went to start my car and 3-4 seconds after it was turned on the rpms dropped between 550-650 and the whole car shuddered. (Note: this only happened when the car was up to operating temps.) All the way driving back home, whenever i had to come to a complete stop, yet again the rpms would drop and the car would shudder like it wanted to stall. It never did stall, only because once i noticed i either gave it gas so the rpms would stay around 900-1000 or one time i shut off the car completely.

Any ideas where the issue might be? I undid the battery air duct and looked at the wires leading to the maf, everything was still attached.. maybe my next job is to clean the maf although we put the maf in a zip-loc bag while we took off the rest of the air box, so i doubt its that dirty..

Any help would be appreciated! Sorry for the long story

[Kiyomi]

may have damaged the maf, or stretched wires.

[Mazda__3]

may have damaged the maf, or stretched wires.


I just unscrewed the maf and i looked at it... wow. once side is red/orange and the other side is black. Maybe thats the issue? I just don't see how it could be the issue if i wasn't having this issue before we took the whole air box apart.

For the wires part, any way i would be able to tell if i stretched them??

[Mazda__3]

Alright so i guess what i was looking at was the intake air pressure sensor..

[Mazda__3]

So today i went to canadian tire and bought some MAF cleaner. Disconnected the MAF wiring clip and unscrewed the sensor itself, took it out and sprayed it. When i put it back in, went for a drive and got the car up to temp. and yet again the RPMs just kept dropping making the car shudder.

I have an appointment at a mechanic place on monday... i just wish i could fix it myself

[Zuluwun]

Check the MAF wires at the plug for fraying/breaking. Did you try resetting the ECU (disconnect battery for 15 min)?

I had a similar-ish symptom when my battery terminals corroded and weren't making good contact with the leads. I doubt it's that but I'd say it's worth a shot to check the easy stuff.

[kickz]

maybe try idle relearn procedure

[Lmmorden]

Sounds like one of center wires loose in the maf connector.. Seen this before, easy to test for with 2 people not too hard to fix

[Mazda__3]

Thanks for the response guys. My appointment was at 1:00pm today at a mechanic shop recommended to me by the friend that had been helping me. Will never-****ing-ever go back to that establishment. They charged me 100$ to change the transmission drain plug that was apparently leaking. They couldn't find out what was causing my low idle issue, running it after cold start and at temp. --- using 1/4 a tank of gas --- and they said it never happened for them. However, they did say they could look further into the issue for 125$ an hour. Ha. I can't believe i let these morons handle my car.

So now i go back to the drawing board. Going to have to see if there are any vacuum leaks in the system, maybe when we moved it around we weren't careful enough and popped a hole. If that doesn't work i guess i'll do the idle relearn, but i'll be damned if i go back to a mechanic shop to charge me for such shit services.

[Lmmorden]

Thanks for the response guys. My appointment was at 1:00pm today at a mechanic shop recommended to me by the friend that had been helping me. Will never-****ing-ever go back to that establishment. They charged me 100$ to change the transmission drain plug that was apparently leaking. They couldn't find out what was causing my low idle issue, running it after cold start and at temp. --- using 1/4 a tank of gas --- and they said it never happened for them. However, they did say they could look further into the issue for 125$ an hour. Ha. I can't believe i let these morons handle my car.

So now i go back to the drawing board. Going to have to see if there are any vacuum leaks in the system, maybe when we moved it around we weren't careful enough and popped a hole. If that doesn't work i guess i'll do the idle relearn, but i'll be damned if i go back to a mechanic shop to charge me for such shit services.

It's your maf, where are you located? I can test it for you.. Lol
Why did you pay for a $100 drain plug?

[Mazda__3]

I appreciate your help, but i actually live in Calgary so... haha

And to be honest, they had my car for 4 hours, i just wanted it back so they wouldn't **** it up further than it already was.
Apparently the plug was 10$, the "shop materials" were 15$ and the rest was labour.

[Lmmorden]

Dealership then?

[Mazda__3]

Meh, the dealership wants 130 just to "diagnose" then ___$ to fix

I'd rather try it myself before shelling out more cash

[TheMAN]

should've gone to the dealer to begin with

[stock3]

Did you disconnect the battery? If so, you need to clean the throttle body and the stumbling should stop.

[cwp_sedan]

should've gone to the dealer to begin with

I'm sure when he has access to a time machine he will take your suggestion.

[Mazda__3]

We did not disconnect the battery, and i don't think we bumped anything around the battery terminals so right now cleaning the throttle body and doing an ecu relearn is the final solution before getting reamed by the dealer.

[Mazda__3]

I'm sure when he has access to a time machine he will take your suggestion.

lol

[Flagrum_3]

We did not disconnect the battery, and i don't think we bumped anything around the battery terminals so right now cleaning the throttle body and doing an ecu relearn is the final solution before getting reamed by the dealer.

I'd suggest you just try the reset first before touching anything else. Just disconnect the battery for 20-30 minutes, connect it up and go for a 'normal' drive for about the same time and see what happens. No need to be taking stuff apart again.

_3

[Mazda__3]

The only reason i was leaving it to last was so i could go through it again to make sure everything is on snug, AND to check to make sure there isn't a hole in the tubing to create a leak.

Even if it did relearn and drive normal, if there was a vacuum leak that wouldn't be a good thing.. at least that's the way that i understand it, maybe someone could tell me if i'm wrong or not

[Flagrum_3]

The only reason i was leaving it to last was so i could go through it again to make sure everything is on snug, AND to check to make sure there isn't a hole in the tubing to create a leak.

Even if it did relearn and drive normal, if there was a vacuum leak that wouldn't be a good thing.. at least that's the way that i understand it, maybe someone could tell me if i'm wrong or not

Well there's nothing wrong in checking for leaks and everything is snug, all I meant was before you take things apart to clean the TB...If there is a leak, relearning would not make it drive normal, atleast in theory lol.

_3

[Mazda__3]

Thanks for the clear up.

Living in Calgary all the nice cars are coming out now that we're getting 18 degree days.. and i'm stuck at home with a car that needs some tlc

:(

[Mazda__3]

Anyone have tips on getting the little beige tabs detached from the battery box to give some wiggle room for the MAF wiring?

[Mazda__3]

Alright, its been a bit since i updated.

Since last post, i've given the MAF wiring some slack by disconnecting the little tabs from the batter box. Took it for a drive - no change.


Today i went for a drive to warm up the car, came home and started the ECU relearn. Disconnected the battery, pumped the brakes, waited about 10 minutes then reconnected the battery and started it up. I let it idle for about 10-12 minutes, turned on the AC full blast, then turned it off and went for a drive. Went about 30km and when i come to a stop, yet again, its still idling low.

At this point i really have 0 idea as to whats wrong with it. Maybe i need to go more than 30km?

Any input would help greatly.

[Mazda__3]

And on top of all that, my shifting is still pretty poor :(

[WTKAOS]

Did you ever get it fixed?

[Mazda__3]

It did get a little better, oddly enough when i got my oil changed. I don't know why that would have any correlation with it.
The rpms sometimes still go pretty low but never low enough to shake the whole car like it was before.