Hi everyone,

I own a 2023 Mazda CX-5 Carbon Edition with about 24,500 miles, and I'm dealing with an ongoing issue where the car revs high before upshifting at lower speeds—feels like a hesitation or delay, I could be wrong but lower gears to 4th. It's annoying in daily driving and has me worried about bigger problems down the line. For context, here's a quick summary of my recent service experience at Empire Mazda in Green Brook, NJ:

I took it in for this shifting issue plus a burning oil smell in the cabin. They did a front timing cover reseal (covered under powertrain warranty for an oil leak) and a TCM reflash/relearn, but charged me $233.46 for the TCM despite TSB 05-006/24 saying it should be warranty-covered (car's well within 5yr/60k). Service advisor Janet Campora and the tech said their manager confirmed no coverage, no explanation given. They also didn't provide any details on software versions updated. Frustratingly, the shifting hesitation is still there after pickup (burning smell might be residual oil burning off). Pre-service multipoint inspection was all green, which doesn't add up with the oil leak. No post-repair test or follow-up to confirm fixes. Overall, disappointed—won't go back and suggest avoiding them for warranty work.

Has anyone else experienced this persistent hesitation post-TSB? What could be causing it if the TCM reflash didn't fix it—maybe transmission fluid, sensors, or something else? Any recommended diagnostics or fixes? Planning to check with another dealer soon, but appreciate any insights here!

Thanks!

 

wow to much conflicting information.

 

I have been posting reviews for this dealership everywhere, hope I can make them popular. Frankly, I would not have cared, for charging me $200 if my issue was fixed. But it wasn't, so that hurts and feels cheated.

Any suggestion or insight on how to fix the issue? I am going to see another Mazda dealer tomorrow AM..hope they can fix.

 

sure pm me all the service history I will read it over .

you can look around this forum to find my credentials…

 

I also have a 23 Carbon NA, I had the 2-3 flare then bang hard up-shift when cold. My dealer updated the tran per the TSB and problem solved. The only dif I see between you and me is that I changed the fluid and filter at 1000 miles. But 24K miles that you have should still be OK. Just some thoughts.

 

Thanks, Tom&Max, for sharing your experience.

I took the car to Open Road Mazda of East Brunswick the very next day after front trans cover reseal. They ran full diagnostics, found no codes or issues, said the car is driving normally, and recommended switching to premium fuel to see if that resolves it. That said, I’m still experiencing the problem: on cold starts and in low-speed, stop-and-go traffic, the transmission doesn’t shift properly. The engine revs up and there’s a noticeable 2–3 second delay before it upshifts. Once it reaches 4th gear, everything smooths out. Maybe that is how Mazda drives with 6 speed AT, compared to smooth shifts in a CVT trans.

I’m planning to record a video clearly showing the issue and then open a case directly with Mazda Corporate. I only bought the car on February 24th from a New York dealer, so I have very little service history, clean CarFax, 1 owner no accidents, lease vehicle. Now, considering having the MAF sensor or fuel injectors checked/replaced. Not sure if it is worth getting a third opinion at this point.
Thanks.

 

Did a tech invite you to take a drive with him so you could have them experience what you did? Not that computer readers would know but maybe they have an old timer there who can drive your car to see for himself.

 

nope, service advisor told me I am all set, as no codes were found and they did not notice any such issues when test driving.

 

Geez. those techs live for codes. A deer could be wrapped around your axle but if a code doesn't exist for that then it didn't happen. Short of having YOU in the car with a tech so YOU could signal when the problem was is insufficient. Now, the tech may disagree with your assessment and that's fine, but the tech should at least make sure he/she knows exactly what your concern is.

 

Not quoting any one member but like fishing you tend to catch something with the right bait...............

Where in the world did you come form again... rolmao. I respect at first what you said you did for a living now I am seeing something much different.
At this point we don't really know what was actually done.....or not done. While I do agree about taking a test drive and they do help when a customer is badly explaining issues......those are really more to appease a customer. You also have NO clue or information what the level of training and or experience any of the service people working on his Mazda is? NIONE. You all keep calling them TECHs but have no idea what one really is regarding the automotive service world. At most auto service related business and especially dealerships it is a title given to a an employee and not one earned or representative of any formal training let alone certification as one! ?
Sorry dude once again you have nor experience. I never TEST FLEW any customers planes I worked on and had no problem figuring out what they said was the problem and many time what actually was the problem.
And you have NO CLUE about diagnostic so unless you have information that the OP sent you personally please don't ASSume anything!

Basically the OP is now in the hands of the dealership and MAZDA corp there is nothing and no help any forum can do.

Besides there are so many discrepancies and inconsistency with what was supposed done and found or not found now I cant even suggest anything.
As for a formal complaint.... I can tell posting about it and from what I have read and not seen like the real service invoices it isn't going to go very well for the Mazda owner and the dealership has the right at this point to not service their Mazda any longer and Mazda corp can only recommend that the MAZDA owner with the complaint be redirected to another Mazda dealership or an qualified independent service shop with an approved and current ASE Certified Master Automotive Diagnostic Technician or another approved service shop that has some employee with equal certification and qualifications and only if they are withing 50-75 miles of the OP registered address on the DVM information for the MAZDA.

Forums are really not the best place to get negative about your service treatment unless that person is willing to post all the fact-based documentation and simply *redact (*love that word as BS politics now everyone uses it lol even me) personal information.

Somes thread OMFG what a fiasco and all fueled by a couple unquailed owner members that have all the bad advice relativity little to no real service experience as an employee or even a customer and even less experience working on their own vehicles as a DIY wow.