Earlier this week my wife was driving home in our 2008 Mazda 5 with 158k when the CEL and AT lights both came on. She said it was revving kind of higher going down 40 (about 4.5k) so she was worried about it. I asked her to pull over and shut it down and then restart. Lights were still on, but the car drove fine home. I drove it a little around here and it seemed to shift find, but after driving a little bit the lights came back on. I finally tested it this weekend and got P0573, which is Shift Solenoid A Malfunction. I have not had it serviced recently, so its nothing like that.

This is probably out of my ability to fix here. Any recommendations on a shop? Also anybody gone through similar work on a Mazda 3 or 5 and willing to ballpark the butcher's bill? Thanks for the help.

6/18/2017 12:03:36 AM

have you looked up how to do it? it's simple. if you can change your transmission fluid, you can do this job.

if you do hire it done, then it doesn't require a shop that specializes in transmissions.

6/18/2017 12:40:46 AM

^What I'm concerned about is that the error code could be electrical, and from what I'm reading online on Mazda 3/5 forums, it is most often not the shift solenoid at all. Several folks said they took it in and the dealership said they needed a tranny rebuild, only to discover that it messed up as soon as they drove it off the lot and it ended up being a TCM error. I could buy one of those and probably replace it myself, but any thoughts on should I get a shop to do that, or should I just buy that myself and put it in? Any suggestions on where to get a new TCM? Looks like I am going to be paying about $500 for one of those. If I swap it and it doesn't fix it, could I just swap the old one back in and return the new TCM?

Sorry, been forever since I've done work of this magnitude. Most of my shit is back east in Halifax County because I have little room in our tiny place in Carrboro for tools and auto repair equipment.

6/19/2017 9:15:32 AM

Have you personally felt it do a hard shift or not shift as expected?

My wife's car threw a similiar code like 4 years ago, except hers was some kind of "overdrive" solenoid that engages when the car is cruising at highway speeds to increase mpg. We never felt it shift poorly, hesitate, etc.
And believe me, I tried. The CEL would also throw the code on longish highway trips, then later after 50 or so miles would go back off (I would also clear it and it would stay off for 100s of miles).

I took it to AAMCO (chain transmission place) off 401/70 because we worried about it just dying some day and leaving her stranded. They also tried to get it to miss a shift, and apparently never could. Their recommendation was to just keep driving until it started to fuck up (lol). I couldn't tell if they didn't want to diagnose it (because I think it was likely electrical too), or if they were wary of opening up a beater Kia transmission with 150k on it and no maintenance (not my fault ).

In the end, she just kept driving it and we put another ~30k on it before trading it in with no problems except that occasional CEL.

6/19/2017 4:09:55 PM

i think i would try the solenoid before i loaded up a $500 round in the parts cannon and fired it off

or at least pull the solenoid out and test it (i'm assuming it can be tested, but may be hard to determine if it's an intermittent issue)

[Edited on June 19, 2017 at 8:12 PM. Reason : definitely don't take it to a dealership]

[Edited on June 19, 2017 at 8:13 PM. Reason : find a TCM and ask the seller about their return policy]

6/19/2017 8:11:08 PM

Hey sorry hadn't been online much. I have driven it a couple of times and never noticed a hard shift, but did pop the AT and CEL light. Now just the light is on, but I could clear that with the OBDII scanner.

Will this kill it being able to pass inspection? Of course its due this month.

Also any recommendations on a shop to do this in the western side of the Triangle?

6/22/2017 9:13:57 AM