Are these PS units Mazda products on Mazda engines or Ford products on Ford engines or some combo? On the "other " forum, this problem is posted too much to my liking. I have a MZ3s Touring 2.3 engine, that my son drives. Just got new in April 2009. Now I have to warn him of this defect. What are the warning signals that this is about to happen, if any..... This is DANGEROUS. I mean WTF. Is this what Mazda means by "Zoom-Zoom" - right into a wall!!!!!

 

You still have control of your car when the pump goes out, it's just hard to turn at low speeds.

As far as signs, mine just wen't out with no warning.

 

I've experienced this problem as well, however it lasted for a few minutes. PS went out for about 5 minutes. Turned off car to check the fluid, saw it was full, tried turning the steering wheel, and it was all good. Haven't had the problem since. Took the car to the dealership yesterday, and told me its a bad pump & hoses, they have an order in, hopefully i don't loose the pump again between now & then...... At least they are aware of the problem, and luckly it happened now, instead another 4000+ miles....

 

The guy at the stealership told me the electric moter was binding on mine.
Even though I could still drive it they gave me a rental for the next month while I wait for the part that is on backorder.

 

looks like this is a 08 -09 phenomenon. Now I'm worried with my 08.5 MZ3 s with the 2.3 L engine...My son drives it exclusively... I will issue the warning to him to be on the lookout. At what mileage level have you guys experience this failure?

 

Maybe I missed it, but I don't believe there have been any reports of 2009 models having this problem. FWIW, my 2009 has nearly 17,000 miles on it and so far at least, no problems.

 

Mine is right around 27k.

 

Mines around 30k

 

Dear All,

Another sufferer joins the team, I purchased a brand new 08 Mazda3 last April with less than 20K miles on the speedo. A month back, after grabbing a coffee from Tim Hortons, while reversing my car, the steering lcoked with the yellow hazard sign on the dash, couldnt move it. Franatically I called the Mazda service and the guy over there told me to switch off the engine and wait a while and then restart again!!!! I was wondering if Mazda took a leaf out of Bill gates to reboot it after a failure. I "rebooted" the car and it worked. Now friends, yesterday it happened again, guess where and when? when I was taking my graduate driving test in Ontario with the examiner sitting next to me. The steering froze not once but 4-5 times ,while parallel and reverse parking. Imagine the horror and embarasemnet I faced in front of the examiner, I was so tense and flustered that as expected I flunked the test , and down the drain my 75$. Fuming I drove the vehicle to my Mazda dealer and imagine, I was told that it will take 2 hours to check the car??? was it some kind of a joke? looking at this forum, I am sure , every Mazda dealer knows the problem so why this farce? As a matter of fact, my car was serviced by the dealer less than 3 weeks back? Though I have been given a rent a car, a suzuki by the dealership but the onus of insurance is on me.So more losses. I wonder if there are so many complaints, why doesnet Mazda recall back the vehicles and replace them with a brand new car for us. Your feedback is important, please let me know. Same like all of you, the pump is on back order and no one at the dealership knows when it will come?

with regards

vidya dhar
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

 

they can't give everyone a new car who's had this problem, but they will replace the whole thing like in my case. They replaced the pump, the charger, and all the lines.