Transmission Fluid Leaking problems of the 1996 Mazda 626

My 1996 Mazda 626 lx has 86k miles on it. I noticed a couple of months ago, it was leaking fluid (I thought it was oil), but it turned out to be transmission fluid, so I made an appointment to have it fixed. My car was finally fixed after almost 2-weeks in the shop and without a vehicle to drive. A couple weeks after having it repaired, and costing me $2,000 - I noticed that it is still leaking transmission fluid. My car gave me no warning (no lights ever came on saying there was a problem). Now, I am reading about thousands of other Mazda 626 owners having the same problem.

Transmission has now went out twice in my 1996 Mazda 626 within a year. There were no warnings. It just happened! came to a light, stopped, light turned green started to accelerate and it acted like it was in neutral. Engine just revved up not going anywhere. In a panic, I pushed the o/d button off and it finally went into gear. The only time I could drive it with o/d on was if I was going over 50 mph. In the meantime. Driving with it off around town. When you started slow down almost before you came to a complete stop the car would jump like it was down shifting really hard. When driving it on the highway with o/d on. . . It was fine until you tried to pass someone or tried getting on the highway. The passing gear wouldn't work and acted as if it was in neutral again. Scared me to death! I was afraid to drive it. Afraid someone would hit me. Husband checked the trans. Fluid,,looked fine. . So we took it in, to cottmans, btw. . Don't ever use them. Ended up costing us $2800 for a rebuilt tranny. Now its a year later, spring break, me and my family out shopping and went to pass a car on the highway and it started doing the same thing again!! needless to say, we cut our outing short and went home. Called cottmans of course wouldn't hold up to the warranty. It went out a month to the day!!! we are not going to shell out money on the car again! I have done research, and it looks like there are millions of people having similar problems and have had them rebuilt several times only for it to fail over and over. Also, I have read other things about them. Which I thought was minor on my car. But after reading about the same problems others have I am going to list those as well. The accelerator pedal sticks, oil leak rear main seal, oxygen sensor doesn't work, cv joints bad. With all this said even though I loved my paid off Mazda, I wouldn't recommend buying a mazada. Now we are stuck going out doing the dreadful car shopping in which another mazada will be out of the question.

Less than a year a 3rd automatic transmission had to be replaced. The 2nd one failed while driving back from repair shop, car was leaking fluid. Repair shop diagnosed leaking transmission fluid, and recommended dealer replacement. Dealer service dept advised front pump failed, and replaced. This was now the 4th transmission on a car with exactly 60,000 miles. Front pump failed on this transmission after only 6,000 miles in one year.

While driving the car on the expressway or anywhere for that matter the car engine light comes on and the "over drive off" light begins to blink and my overdrive turn off. I usually have to pull over to the shoulder or at a red light and turn the car off and back on to fix it. This is very unsafe and annoying because it happens almost everyday. I have to do this during rush hour on I-294 in chicago. I am reluctant to take it to Mazda repair because they charge $100 just to take the car in the shop and they try to find little ways to slap on a bigger bill. I had them change my transmission fluid and a week later it leaked and they told me there was a hole in the transmission. Apparently it was not there before the transmission fluid change and they did not notice it during. So I had them just refill it and I added sealant from auto zone. I checked my transmission fluid weekly and its just fine. Engine light comes and goes at will. There seems to be a problem with the computer chip or something which is Mazda's fault and I should not have to pay to replace or fix. Everything on the car is stocked and I maintain the car better than Mazda suggests. I check all fluids, oil change every 2000 miles, etc. . . I know that many people (thousands of them) that have the same problems with the engine lights and the "over drive off" light blinking.