The vehicle was parked in our drive way, turned off, when we heard an explosion. Went outside to see massive plumes of smoke and flames coming from the engine bay. Total engine bay was destroyed and car was written off.
Ever since we bought the car it was a poor performer. Transmission never seemed to be in the right gear at the right time. Power delivery was very un-smooth and surgy.
These problems are totally unacceptable for a vehicle of such mileage. Vehicle has only one previous owner who is a close friends of ours.
Appeared to be a nice vehicle, but it turns out we were somewhat wrong. Had we been driving the vehicle when the fire occurred, there may have been a far more grave outcome.
What a totally bizarre incident, I have a Mazda 626 which I've had since new as a company car, then brought it privately off the company. it has done nearly 200,000km's now and is smooth and utterly reliable. Yours must certainly have been a lemon from new. P.S. you should never buy a car of friends or family for that exact reason, if it goes wrong it's very embarrassing!
I would get rid of your Mazda NOW!! I'm coming across more and more people who are having irreconcilable transmision problems, indicator lights, and just plain bad parts. I have a 2000 626 LX and have had to replace the fuel pump, overflow cap, battery and contacts, the lever to open the door to the gas tank broke, the door ITSELF broke, and the worst, the transmision melted in the middle of the desert. These cars are BAD NEWS... I think they're haunted or something. Mazda didn't put much into quality control with these cars. I just hope I can unload it for the parts.
Yes I agree, it is a problem with the 2000 Mazda 626, I am having to install a new Transmisson now, and it never changed gears right from day 1.
I have problems with my car (Mazda 626) model 2000...and it is the transmision, when I trying to put on reverse it didn't work inmmediately I have to wait like three seconds.. I took my car bo be fixed, but they are traying with out good results... if somebody knoew somethig about this or what to do please send to me an e-mail pvr80@hotmail.com.
I also have a 2000 Mazda 626 - but it is a 5 Speed Manual - I have had no problems at all -just keep away from Mazda and Mitsubishi Automatics.
Hello 626 owners.
It's very unfortunate that Mazda sold a vehicle that needed
extra parts before selling to consumers. I have a 2000
Mazda 626LX. I bought this car from the showroom lot in
2001. the car looked very sharp. It was a demo model. I
took the car out on a test drive and was very impressed
with it's handling. Brand new: $19,500. I got the car for
only $13,500. After 85,000 miles of smooth driving, my
OD light came on and started blinking. Then the car started
making weird noises from the front end. Yall know what
happened next... New tranny $2200. Eleven months later...
Another tranny... this time $2550.The first shop just
fixed the tranny without fixing the source. After many
long hours of research, I found out that my transmission
fluid has overheated and burned up the tranny. All cars
come with transmission coolers... except 98-02 Mazda 626s.
Mazda did not install coolers in these cars. So I had one
installed for $25 bucks. $25 could have saved me $4700.
I also have a 2000 mazda 626. It was really realiable until I took a trip out of town and the O/D light started blinking and would not turn off. When I pulled over transmission fluid was leaking out of the breather tube. I took it in to the mechanic and he said there was no fault code, so I had him do a transmission service and put in new transmission fluid. It has been about 600 miles and the transmission fluid is completely black. I took it to another mechanic and he told me the 626 transmission has a problem with overheating and venting. I am about to replace or rebuild the transmission. I wish I would have known that this car has problems with the transmission. It is most noticeable going from first to second gear and it takes a couple of seconds for it to go into gear.
I owned a 2000 Mazda 626. It was a great car at first, then everything went wrong. Oil filter that I got from the dealership had a hole in it, which caused oil to leak like crazy. But, they wouldn't pay to fix it, so I had to.
Not even an hour after I got it back, the starter went bad.
Then, the rods went. This happened not even half an hour after I got the Mazda back from the dealership. I decided at this point to just get rid of the 626. I can't afford to keep fixing it.
Come to think of it, the OD light in my car started flashing after a long trip as well. Then one day, it just went off and never happened again. I don't know what that was about.
And now that I really think about it, the transmission was starting to go, as well.
It's a good thing I got rid of this car when I did.
It seems that most users of these car review sites only take the time to leave a review when they have bad luck with their particular car. The rest of the consumers out there just drive their car without any problems. Consumer Reports collects informations from thousands of individuals on the Mazda 626 and it has excellent reviews. You folks are in the minority and the limited negative reviews here are misleading.
It is very unfortunate regarding the automatic transmission fluid overheating. However, there is an incredibly cost-effective preventative measure to have a transmission fluid cooler installed!!! If you have a Mazda V6 auto, you must do this! The problem lies in an oversight of Ford/Mazda sharing parts with each other. The 26 in North America uses a Ford radiator, which has an insufficient ATF cooling provision. You must acquire an easy-to-install auxiliary fluid cooler, and you will have NO MORE PROBLEMS with the ATX.
My Mazda 626 has had transmission problems from the start as well. I never really noticed it until my friends would drive my car. They pointed out how sloppy the car was shifting. And then the transmission went out $3000 bucks... Mazda did pay for half of the bill even though it was out of warranty so thank you Mazda, but now I am still having problems.
The car was turned off? Damn, that explosion was probably done by Osama bin Laden and nothing wrong with the Mazda at all. It's like a turned off TV showing a movie the RING.
I purchased a 2000 Mazda 626, V6 that looked sharp. I fought many problems with overheating. I tried radiator flushes, changing oil continuously. My temperature gauge would suddenly spike and the car would run roughly. On a trip out of town, I had the spiking of the temperature gauge again. I stopped 5 times along the way to have it checked and no one could find a problem. My car suddenly had the check engine light come on which had never happened before. I coasted off of the exit ramp and the engine was blown. I had to replace the engine at my expense ($4000). I was told that the radiator was not properly designed and also the oil pump was not pumping properly. I have heard many people having the same problem. I continued to have the problem. A guy told me that the radiator was designed to not work properly with this car and I had a larger one put in. I never had problems with it again. (After my second engine and this change). I would not recommend this car to anyone even though it looks nice.
My Mazda 626 LX v6 came with 95,000 km in April 2007 as a used car, but I clocked 100,000 today. I changed the radiator to a double cell because I live in Nigeria and its hot here. I love the shape and it has been OK for me. I think cars are to be taken care of generally. well, I get scared when I read the negative reviews, but I feel the car is OK. sometimes it stalls at top speed and jerks. I think that is the plug wires. but I am enjoying this car.
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