I purchased a used 1997 626 on Friday. While driving it home the O/D off started to flash and it was shifting hard, I thought I had done something, not to sure about O/D switches. After letting the car sit for a few mins turned off, the flashing light went off. The next morning while on the Hwy. the engine light and the O/D off light started flashing, shifting hard and smoke coming out from under the hood. I looked under the hood and something was leaking out of the motor on the side.
I took the car back to the dealership right away. He will take it to his mechanic on Monday to find out what is going on.
I am in Ontario, do I have a right to ask for a refund? I did get a warranty for engine/tranny unlimited kms. but it won't cover anything that happens 500 kms or 15 days within purchasing the car, states it is a pre-existing condition.
What legal rights do I have? I am not sure I want the car even if its fixed now, I don't know that I will trust it in the future.

I'm having the same problem with my 95. did you purchase yours from a mazda dealership? cuz their mechanics should know what the problem is, since this seems to be a common problem for 626's. One mechanic I know said that even if u replace the tranny, it might happen again, and the only way is to convert to standard transmission. So I don't know what to do either.... been stressing me out for months now :(


I purchased a used 1997 626 on Friday. While driving it home the O/D off started to flash and it was shifting hard, I thought I had done something, not to sure about O/D switches. After letting the car sit for a few mins turned off, the flashing light went off. The next morning while on the Hwy. the engine light and the O/D off light started flashing, shifting hard and smoke coming out from under the hood. I looked under the hood and something was leaking out of the motor on the side.
I took the car back to the dealership right away. He will take it to his mechanic on Monday to find out what is going on.
I am in Ontario, do I have a right to ask for a refund? I did get a warranty for engine/tranny unlimited kms. but it won't cover anything that happens 500 kms or 15 days within purchasing the car, states it is a pre-existing condition.
What legal rights do I have? I am not sure I want the car even if its fixed now, I don't know that I will trust it in the future.

I didn't buy it from a Mazda dealership. I am hoping to hear from the used car dealership sometime today.

The dealer called me back today, said he took the car to a Mazda Dealership, had it put on the computer and nothing showed up except that there was to much transmission fluid in the car. The Mazda Dealership is changing the fluid and supposedly the car is now fine.
Does this make sense to anyone? I am not Literate in the workings of a transmission.

The dealer called me back today, said he took the car to a Mazda Dealership, had it put on the computer and nothing showed up except that there was to much transmission fluid in the car. The Mazda Dealership is changing the fluid and supposedly the car is now fine.
Does this make sense to anyone? I am not Literate in the workings of a transmission.


well, mine usually acts up when I have driven it for a couple hours, and especially on the highway. sometimes it's fine for days, but the O/D light would flash once every week or two, and the tranny will start shifting hard. the smoke coming out from the hood results from a leak from the tranny, transmission fluid leaking and smoking upon contact with other hot engine parts (thats what my mech told me). and when the transmission fluid level is low due to the leaks, then the O/D light comes on quite often and the gears are pretty screwed up until I add more fluid. I've been driving like that for several months now, and its very frustrating. If someone knows what the problem is... please tell! :)

Update......the dealership called me to say they had the car back and it seemed fine. The Mazda dealership had done a flush and changed filters. I picked the car up to have the light come on 20 mins later on the Hwy. I turned around, worrying the entire time omg what do I do now? As soon as I pulled into the lot, showed the owner the light, he immediately told me to pick a new car of comparable price on his lot. I picked a VW Jetta, same kms, but MANUAL transmission LOL. It was $1000 more but the owner refused to take a penny from me. He really felt horrible. I told him what I had read here about the Transmissions of the 626, he was quite upset I had been so inconvenienced. I will refer anyone I know to this man. He was very nice and did everything he could to fix the problem. I will NEVER look at another Mazda vehicle again. I saw the invoice and computer print out the Mazda dealership had for this car, nothing on it suggested the Tranny was going, they must know the symptoms and reputation of this tranny, even more upsetting.

I will NEVER look at another Mazda vehicle again. I saw the invoice and computer print out the Mazda dealership had for this car, nothing on it suggested the Tranny was going, they must know the symptoms and reputation of this tranny, even more upsetting.


I don't know about that, I think you've just had bad luck. My '97 626 has gone to 160k miles with very few problems, my MX-6 has gone 300k miles with no problems. I am sold on Mazda reliability!