Electric Blue CX-7 Problems

[cshirley]

I've had mine since December and since then, my thoughts have been that, I like the power, style, bose system, and definitely the electric blue. I haven't seen another electric blue one around yet!

The problems:

- check engine light - P2006 Code @ around 2500 miles
- They cleared the code and said they could not recreate it.
- Check engine light was on 2 days later.
- They then performed the "fix" by elongating something.
- Check engine like back on a week or so later
- They then said it need a valve actuator. I am assuming this is still related to the p2006 code.

Other issues:

Sometimes it won't shift into 6th. Anyone else experienced this? It happens a lot when it is cold, but I assumed that was normal to help the engine heat up faster. Other times the engine is already warm and I can be running 65mph and it won't shift into 6th. I can manually shift it into 6th but when I put it back into auto it will downshift to 5th. Then magically after 5-10 minutes it goes into 6th like it never had a problem.

Am I being picky or is the driver's side headlight supposed to be lower than the passengers? The HID lights form a pretty solid line and its annoying when there is a jagged edge right in the middle and a dip to the drivers side light range.

It has a pretty horrible delay on takeoff, but I hear this is fixed with an ECM flash. I will be contacting the madza place about this soon.

Gas Mileage sucks. I am a pretty agressive driver, came from a trans am, but I have calmed down a lot! I even spent one whole tank driving the speed limits, taking off extremely slow, and never getting the rpms of 2500!! DO YOU KNOW HOW BORING THAT IS!! And I still got 17.5mpg at the end of it all with about 50/50 highway/city driving. Needless to say, this is a disappointment.

I know this is not Mazda's fault, but is electric blue a car door and shopping cart magnet or what?? I have about 5 car door dings and a nice ding from a shopping cart on the fender, all of them scratching the paint and all since I bought it in December. I really hate to see what this thing looks like in a year! People just don't care anymore!!

If my financial situation allowed, I would probably be trading for something else, I honestly thought my gas mileage would be better than this. I might as well get a crew cab truck! That is the main reason I bought this CX-7, room for 4 comfortably, decent mileage, and AWD for the snow. So far, it has lived up to 2 of those, but so would the crew cab!

I'm gladded I found this forum because I needed to vent to some people sharing similar problems.

Curtis

[Raider]

Curtis, we feel your pain. At least my wife and I do. We have had bad luck, not all Mazda's. 8 basketball sized dents and a crease in the roof along a roof support, as well as a softball sized dent, when 4 kids climbed up onto our car 3 weeks after we got it. bad dent removal caused the rear hatch to be repainted. Good dent removal on the roof saved that. the rear view cam toasted after 2 weeks, took a month to get. Ran over rebar, requiring the driver's door to be repainted, door dings taken out of rear passenger door. Passenger tail light cracked due to factory over-torquing, so we needed new ones, and just yesterday, found scratches on the front bumper to the plastic where someone hit it.

So I know it can b e upsetting that our cars attract attention we don't want. As far as mileage, we are in FL, so it is warm. We also have a cold air intake and bigger top mount intercooler, and my wife drag races every green light, but we get 22-24 mpg. Not sure if there is a connection, someone said it is because we have nicer weather.

Don't worry. It will work out.
Eric

[nmk]

B]All of your complaints are standard issues that most of us have complained about.[/B]
The solutions are Get a Flash/reprogram for the ECU.
Your dealer should place and order for the replacement part of the valve actuator. It may be on back order because many people need it.

As for the headlights, this is a safety feature where the right light is a bit higher than the left one. It permits on coming drivers from being blinded and yet gives you greater vision on the right.

Regarding mileage, there are number of variables, do you live in a cold climate, can you train yourself not to use a heavy foot in city traffic? These all have a bearing on your mileage.

Good luck on having your ECU updated. I did last week and it does make a differeince.

[Shaz]

I had my first CEL around 1500 miles. Bought my Electric Blue last Dec 28. Dealer fixed the CEL due to Shutter Valve/Actuator VSC. It never reappeared so I'm glad.

The PCM flash corrected the hesitation. At first, the gears stayed on 5th even if I am cruising around 65mph and eventually will upshift to 6th. After about a week, the shifting is smooth and the car is still fast and gear shifting is on beat. No more hesitation. LOVE IT.

Fuel Economy will improve as mine does. The weather is nicer these days in IL so I haven't used AC/heat so I'm expecting MPG to climb up.

Yup, scratches appear miraculously. Got no dings so far and the scratches are superficial scratches so I'm not freaking out yet. I guess we'll just have to live with this.

And yes, the Electric Blue is HOTTT

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/chiefhalo/IMG_0251.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/chiefhalo/IMG_0245.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/chiefhalo/IMG_0250.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/chiefhalo/IMG_0241.jpg

[Leeep]

Wow, I thought it was just me.
We've been collecting dings, dents, scuffs and scratches almost since day one. The worst happened last week. Came out of Lowes to see an industrial size shopping cart resting against the passenger side of my car. It created a huge waffle patterned dent in the rear passenger side door.
I've probably gotten more dings on this car than all my previous cars combined and I only have 6,000 miles on the clock.
what's up with that? Thin sheet metal?

[cshirley]

Thanks for the responses.

First off, I called Mazda this morning to schedule an appt. to have the ECM updated. He looked up the history and said he didn't see where it had ever been done so I made the appointment. Then he just called me back and told me that the guy who flashed my Bose system for the latest update back in January or February, one of the times it was in for the P2006 code had flashed all of the computer stuff to the lastest firmware. Is there a way to prove this? Its not on any of my invoices that he flashed the ECM, it just says he flashed the radio. And I don't want to accuse someone of lying about it, but if I'm paying 30 grand for a vehicle, I want it to be functioning like its meant to be.

I know that going from a Trans Am with 300hp to this 4 cyl is quite a drop as far as low end torque, but I feel like I have to really watch that I don't pull out in front of someone because it takes 2-3 seconds at least from punching the gas to feeling the pull. Should you feel a pull almost instantaneously or am I suffering from a lack of 4 cylinders... ;)

[Raider]

If you want power, the CPE cold air intake cave us a big power boost, as well as the bigger intercooler. We really feel the power in adding these items. Butt dyno results for now, a dynojet 224 possibly in a month or two when I dyno mine.

On the Speed3, which is essentially the same motor, the intake along was a +23whp increase, on a friend's car.

[BaconNeggs]

Hey Raider, have you thought about getting one of those dash mounted accelerometers? I know they're not as accurate as a dyno, but there any other drawbacks?

[Raider]

I know someone who has an ODBII connector to his laptop with a dyno function, but he needs to get it programmed. I prefer the real thing tho, as as soon as I post 40+whp possible gains with 22-24 mpg average, people will ask for a real dyno....