Hold Light -> Speed Sensor Replacement -> Still Flashing

[Atlas]

Ok to sum up the problem everyone else has had here I'll keep this brief. (94 V6 auto GS model w 166k)<p>-Hold light flashing for a week, car couldnt get into 4th gear, engine overheating since it was working much harder to keep the speed up in 3rd gear.
-Had codes lifted off computer at a tranny shop
-Indicated faulty vehicle speed sensor
-Replaced speed sensor, took car for test drive. All was good had forth gear back no problems.
-Few hours later took car out again. Hold light immediately blinking and water temp gauge going up to 95% of maximum. Swore on car repeatedly. Asked god why me.
-Took car for highway drive shortly thereafter. Ten minutes into drive light stopped flashing and temperature went back to normal. Was getting 3000 rpm at 120kph (normal). This meant I was obviously in 4th.
-Parked car for an hour, on drive home no hold light, no problems getting into 4th gear. All is well?<p>
So Im wondering if my problem is indeed fixed? The old VSS was gone(could turn the gear with nor esistance) so that was definately a problem. Should I put some extra tranny fluid into her since she was having this 3rd gear issue for about a week? <p>Im just dreading that a problem I think is fixed isnt actually solved since it just randomly started flashing the light at me again today and heating up.<p>Can anyone offer any suggestions?<p>Update: Took car for another drive at low speeds. Hold light blinking, car heating up as before. This time the light flicked off for a few minutes and 4th gear was available again then it came on again. Im really baffled by this <p>[ April 28, 2003: Message edited by: Atlas ]</p>

[Aston Wards]

Your car shouldn't be heating up like that, check your coolant levels and hoses. Is it still not going into 4th gear? maybe they didn't reset the ecu?

[neverenuff]

Ok well you can try reseting ecu.speed sensor always creats problems for our mx's the other problem we incure is tranny filter and fluid. Now that you have changed speed sensor and the light only flashes here and there I would change the filter and fluid that should solv all your problems. as far as the over heating not to sure after you change the filter and stuff if it still overheats i'd check the thermistat. here is how to change the filte and gaskit.
first you ned to buy a automatic trans filter and gasket kit it's about 15-20$. There is no drain plug for emptying the tranny fluid. What you have to do is unbolt the trans pan it's right under the trans. It has adout 20 bolts or so going all around it. there will be a few bolts that might be hard to get to. What you have to do is when under the car put a jack under the tranny and lift it up some, this will allow acces to the bolts and also able to pull pan out. As you loosen bolt's BE CAREFULL trans fluid will start to leak it can get messy so have something under to catch fluid. Then just pull pan out. clean pan well, there are two magnets that catch metal shavings clean them also. Finaly change the filter and gasket and put back together but also be carfull not to over tighten bolts as they can snap, it happened to me it was only one so I got lucky. Lastely add tranny fluid Make sure YOU DO NOT OVER FILL as this can result in burning out the coil packs in the tranny leaving you to buy a new tranny or rebuilding it so make sure to only add what oem says. This happened to me and my trans went south. So please for your own sake watch how much fluid you add!!!!hope this helps.

[Atlas]

Ok I did a reset of the ECU as suggested via disconnecting the neg battery terminal and holding the brake down for 15 seconds.<p>Thing is Ive run into a problem we had yesterday when we reconnected the battery. The thing doesnt get juice to start. Eventually we jiggled the wire going into the starter and it started fine (figured we'd knocked it a lil when plugging in the VSS).<p>So today I have the same problem, jiggle the connector going into the starter and no joy. Sometimes the car beeps normally (door open/key in ignition) other times nothing. Today I got no clicks from the starter, yesterday I did. A few times this morning the car didnt beep as normal but instead put out an intermittent beeping. I *think* the way this is going is with key in ignition in off position - beeping normally. With key in on position (with increased load on battery) the beeping gets interrupted as theres not enough juice to run the beeping. So Im gonna try getting a boost to see if that works but who knows.

[cap4004]

I know it has been a month, but just in case it isn't fixed, or if someone else has the problem...<p>Try cleaning the battery terminals and make sure the battery cables are in good condition. I had a car with the same problems, and after cleaning the terminals everything was okay. <p>(btw - my hold light is flashing, too. Anyone know how to check the codes? Last time this happened I had to rebuild - probably will again! )

[cap4004]

I just found a TSB released by Mazda in 1998 with info on a possible cause of the flashing hold light. I have included the summary below. Unfortunately, I do not have access to the complete bulletin. My hold light is also flashing, so if someone could post (or email) a scanned copy of the bulletin, that would be great! Otherwise, maybe someone with access to it could provide some details...<p>Summary of TSB 01098
SOME VEHICLES MAY EXHIBIT ERRATIC SHIFTING, O/D OFF INDICATOR LIGHT FLASHING WITH MALFUNCTION INDICATOR LAMP ON AS A RESULT OF THE VALVE BODY HARNESS (TRANSAXLE FLUID TEMPERATURE SENSOR CIRCUIT) BEING PINCHED BY A METAL CLIP WHICH IS ATTACHED TO THE TRANSMISSION CONTROL VALVE BODY, CAUSING A SHORT / OPEN CIRCUIT.

[cap4004]

Where is the VSS?
Hard to replace?