AT on dash
 

Hi all,

I won an online auction for a Mazda 3 2004 sedan. Hooray :)
Finally I went to the auction place and drove the car home.
About 5mins of driving, I received an AT warning on the dash :(
And then I found the automatic transmission doing strange things.

Whilst driving, thankfully these Mazdas show you what gear you're in.
Gear 1 and 2 seemed to be working ok, but when it got to gear 3 (and 4 really) it either starting spinning/revving (like I was in neutral) or it would jump from 3 to 4 and then back again! VERY annoying!
Stopping for about 1/2hr. The AT light went off on next restart, but then about 3 to 5mins later, back to AT warning and stupid gears banging and reving without me moving much.
I noticed if I tried to ease off, this spinning in drive (ie gear 3 and 4) would allow the car to actually drive forward, slowly.

Ok, so after looking up a few forums online:
I found two main areas of concern: The solenoids in the transmission itself and that tiny VALUABLE management thingy that exists under the battery compartment, as the two (cheapest) 'possibilities'.
I eventually elected to put the car in for a 'diagnosis' at a Mazda service centre near me, on this Tuesday coming.

Now the question time :)

What the hell? Ok not a valid question.
Should I be dropping this (I say otherwise good looking) Mazda 3 sedan back at the auction so then 'I' can rid of the problem? (since I suspect that's what happened with previous owner).
Should I actually 'go ahead' with any FIX the Mazda service dealership eventually finds? (after the cost of the 'diagnosis' of course).
Should I just go track one of these management thingies (under the battery compartment) and just replace it myself, without diagnosis? (or with who knows).
What would you do?
Or maybe I should ask: What would Mazdaforum suggest? I'll nickname that WWM suggests? :)

There is some anger and depression and horror and disappointment and frustration noted here, I apologize for this, as I tend to feel money helps you stay alive, so this is a tad annoying for me.

Oh, 172,000 kms approx. To me that's not a lot. Obviously for 2.0 lt transmissions that must be a wow time. Oh my car I got rid of was a 4.0 lt Ford, they don't die just slowly fall apart :D But this Mazda.. Looks good, feels good, **** the transmission!

Book end.

What colour is the ATF? Does it smell burnt?
At that mileage I would say the trans is toast. I would be looking to price up a good 2nd hand trans, & weigh up if its worth the cost or repair.

Well its kilometers I was quoting.
So I hope ~172K kms, OR just over a 100,000 miles is not THAT bad?
Since I drive probably around 300kms a week (to and from work, not including weekend travels) It'll hit 200,000 KMS easy, this time next year.

Since I was thinking to buy another car until say 4 years (actually no idea, but isn't 4 years reasonable?) That would mean it would be on: 450,000 kms (adding in quite a few weekend drives which I do love).

So are we talking car dead by then?
Remembering I slowly killed my Ford 4 litre and THAT got me to about 450,000 kms. Actually the motor still runs on the beast, but lets just say NOT a safe car any more :)
Hence cute Mazda 3 (sedan though, since hatch looked a bit too squashed up, or as we said about 30 years ago (about small jap crap cars > NOW world leaders!) Roller Skate :D


I'll get back on the smell of the oil ;)