So, my wife's car -- a 2008 Mazda 3 2.3 with 105K miles -- has developed a transmission issue that's apparently fairly common on these cars once they reach 100K+ miles: you'll be driving along and you'll feel a hard shift and then suddenly the "AT" and "Check Engine" lights come on, and the automatic transmission won't shift any higher than 3rd gear. It will downshift when you come to a stoplight, but won't upshift past third.
If you put it in "Manual" mode (the transmission is like a crappier version of Tiptronic), the problem doesn't arise as frequently, but it will happen if you drive long/far enough.
If you pull over and turn the engine off, the problem "resets" (although the CEL stays on) and the car will drive normally for a little while until it happens again. Sometimes this takes 15 minutes, sometimes it happens right away.
Common experiences suggest the culprit is either (in order of severity): 1) dirty transmission fluid; 2) a malfunctioning transmission solenoid that's stuck open; or 3) the transmission control module.
After bringing it to the local Mazda dealership, the service department determined that the problem is almost definitely the control module unit. With parts and labor, this would be a $1700+ repair. I was less than thrilled to hear this.
The kicker is that my wife and I have recently discussed selling/trading-in her car to get something a little larger (we have a four-month-old). So: we're not thrilled with the prospect of possibly spending upwards of nearly $2K to repair a car that we'd be lucky to get $4K on in a trade-in. If this was an old Porsche, I would just buy the parts and do the repair myself, but apparently, based on what I've read online and what a friend who runs an independent shop has told me, the dealership needs to program the control module for it to work correctly (???).
Anyhow, just wondering what sort of insight the Pelican BrainTrust might have about this. Should we just bite the bullet and shell out to the dealership? Sell the car as as-is? Drive it off a cliff and claim it was stolen? (<--- joke); something else?
Any insights would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
