Problems with 2002 Mazda Tribute ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING

I pulled onto a dirt road because there was smoke coming from the front of my car and when i stopped i opened the hood and there was like a small fire coming from under the hood i got scared called my mother and 2 seconds later the whole front of the car was on fire. *tr

While braking for a stop light, the engine suddenly revved up and the vehicle began to accelerate, even though i was applying maximum force to the brake. i quickly shifted into neutral and brought the vehicle to a stop, fortunately without crashing into stopped vehicle ahead of me. my right foot was being used for braking and was no where near the accelerator pedal. i turned off the ignition, restarted the car, and drove slowly home without further incident. i have not driven since, and had made arrangements to bring the vehicle into a garage for service monday morning (tomorrow.) *tr

I started my car and the 'check engine' light flashed on-and-off. thinking it would go away, i drove to route 3 in south shore, ma. once on the highway, the light did not stop flashing, so i pulled over. thirty seconds after pulling over in a rest area, white smoke appeared from under the hood. 10 seconds later, black smoke came from the hood which was accompanied with a burning smell. luckily, someone from massdot was in the rest area and we determined that it was a car fire. we proceeded to step back and call 911 from a safe distance. the engine area of the car was on fire until the fire department was able to put it out. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 mazda tribute. the contact stated that the engine and the abs warning lights remained illuminated, and the engine released a burning odor. in addition, the contact stated that there was an increase in braking distance. the contact had the radiator, heater coil and the brake pads replaced but the failure was not corrected. the engine continued to release a burning odor and there was a continual increase in braking distance. the vehicle was not further repaired. the failure mileage was 80,000 and the current mileage was 115,000.

The spark plug in my mazda tribute 2002 blew out of the socket causing me to hunt down a valve cover. the mechanic said i didn't tighten it enough which is false i believe there is a equipment defect with the compressing somehow. i purposefully retightinened the remaining two that i could get at and the mechanic said the very next day that they where loose. i used a torque specified wrench to the manuals description is there a problem with that years ford made mazdas. a fire could break out or an explosion. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 mazda tribute. the contact stated that when the brake pedal was depressed, the vehicle failed to stop and continued to move forward. the contact had to forcefully depress the brake pedal to stop the vehicle. there were no warning indicators illuminated. in addition, none of the locks functioned and the body frame was rusted. the contact also stated that the rear hatch window detached from the vehicle. the vin was included in nhtsa campaign numbers: 04v583000 (vehicle speed control), 12v357000 (engine and engine cooling, vehicle speed control), and 14v174000 (structure). the vehicle was unable to be driven and was towed to an independent mechanic. the contact called preston mazda (located at 260 boardman poland rd, boardman, oh 44512, (844) 835-0773) and was informed to tow the vehicle to their facility. the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. the manufacturer was not notified. the failure mileage was 150,000.

Tl*the contact owns a 2002 mazda tribute. when the contact started the vehicle, she smelled burning plastic inside the passenger compartment. after driving a short distance and stopping, she noticed smoke underneath the hood. the contact opened the hood and saw flames. nhtsa campaign id number 07v157000 (service brakes, hydraulic:antilock:control unit/module) was referenced. the fire department extinguished the fire and filed a report. there were no injuries. the vehicle was towed to the towing company's parking lot and has not been diagnosed by the dealer. the current and failure mileages were 68,214.

Dt*: the contact stated while traveling in hot weather, the check engine light illuminated and the vehicle stopped. the vehicle restarted after the transmission was shifted into park, and the ignition was turned off, then turned on. the dealership was unable to determine the problem. the fuel pump and crank shaft position sensor was replaced. updated 10/30/06. *jb

While driving our 2002 mazda tribute on the highway, a fire started under the car - we suddenly noticed engine started to stutter and then saw smoke coming out of the back of the car and then the exhaust pipe fell out of the rear. within a minute or so as we were trying to pull over, both the steering wheel and the brake failed. we finally brought the car to stop on the shoulder of the exit ramp close by, by decelerating and using the parking brake. when we got out, we saw active fire under the car toward the back. the fire was put out almost immediately by a person who stopped to help us with a fire extinguisher. all of this took less than 5 minutes. the fire men who arrived at the scene within minutes opened up the hood and said there was no engine oil. the police was present at the scene. the car was purchased new 4 years ago and we've had no major problems for the last 55,000 miles. the engine oil was filled 5 days before that and the car ran fine for the 450 mile trip right up to that point. the low engine oil warning light did not come on until after the vehicle came to a stop. aaa adjuster suspected an engine problem and his theory was that engine shaft broke and punctured the oil pan from inside but no forensic inspection was carried out by the insurance company. the car was towed to a mazda dealer shop for inspection at our request but the dealership refused to offer a conclusive explanation or carry out a forensic inspection. the car is currently parked there and it has not been fixed (and the old parts are still in the car). both the insurance company and the mazda are refusing to pay for the engine repair and we're considering our options. we have filed a claim to mazda to no avail. *jb

Egr valve blew out, replaced, replacement valve blew out within 24 hours of repair and within 30 total minutes of vehicle operation from repair. *nm

dt: contact states the motor mount needs to be replaced. in addition,, having problems with the sway bar on the driver's side. also, the front lower control arm bushing needs to be replaced.*ak

2002 madza tribute with 68,000 needs a new transmission. just had a value job done on the engine approx. 4 months ago. madza warranty- including drive train - up at 50,000 miles. *jb

I've owned this vehicle for a little over 2 years and it has been to the dealer for repairs 7 times now. no one can seem to find the reason why the check engine light stays on, why the fuel consumption is so poor, why the vehicle shifts constantly and for no reason at all, or why the vehicle "shudders" when the engine is on. the check fuel cap light has come on twice and the same part replaced twice. the canister close valve and idle air control valve have both failed. i have spent money on a fuel induction service because it was recommended by the service dealer. i had the transmission flushed because of a technical service bulletin for the torque converter - a problem that had to be identified by aamco and told to mazda before they would try to fix the problem. i have called mazda customer service and got anything but customer service. my problems began long before the warranty had expired; however, mazda could care less about their lack of ability to fix ongoing problems. this vehicle is a life-safety hazard and needs to be recalled completely, not part by part. i will never buy a mazda again. this is my third and last. the tribute is by far the worst thing ever manufactured by mazda. they should be embarassed to have this model on the road!*ak

Approximately a week and a half after having the throttle cable serviced on a recall, was travel at 75 mph when the vehciles rpms started to revving at a high rpm, but no increase in speed. vehciles engine shut off and i managed to pull the side of the road. after having the wehcile towed to the dealer, i was told the entire engine needed to be replaced, they could not tell me what caused the problem, vehcile was 4 months out of warrenty, with 34,700 miles. mazda only helping with a small percentage of the repair bill of approx. $ 5,500.00. have had no luck in contacting anyone at mazda who can help. i'm convinced that the replaced throttle cable failed or become stuck, but the dealer claims that it had nothing to do with what happened. until this had no problems with vehicle. *ak

Nhtsa recall campaign 04v175000; mazda issued an engine stalling recall. this vehicle was included in the recall, but engine would not startr aftere recall repairs. *ak

The vehicle shutdown suddenly while driving 50 mph. there was no warning and no indicator lights illuminated to indicate a problem. as a result the vehicle had no power steering or no brakes. the driver had to use both feet to apply the brakes so that the vehicle would come to a stop. *ak

2002 mazda tribute lx 4wd suv, 3.0 l engine: my wife's car stalls for no apparent reason periodically while in drive. returned vehicle to local mazda dealer service shop twice over past two months, and am told that car checks out and is fine. latest incident happened yesterday.*ak

While driving 60 mph vehicle stalled. consumer managed to pull over and restart the vehicle. dealership was notified, but did not resolve the problem. *ak

While driving at 25 mph the vehicle stalled with no warning which caused the lost of the power steering and braking. rolled off side of the road. passengers shaken but not injured. vehicle was able to be restarted. dealer notified. *jb

Vehicle cuts off at low speed (<35) mph, no engine light. also vehicle hesitates when accelerator pushed.*ak

Mazda tribute 2002, had lower engine replaced after 4000 as it totally died on the highway. 20 months later i am having the engine replaced, this time it is out of warranty. the cams weren't getting an oil for some reason and they are shot, the lifters were also broken and the head is warped. service rep said the engine is in good shape and can see that there is little wear on the engine.*ak

Engine stalls while driving at various speeds. loss of steering and braking. very serious and scary situation. *la

The car is stalling while in motion. this is my second incident in 3 weeks. this almost caused a head on accident in the second incident, because power steering is lost when the car stolls, and i was going around a corner. it was a good thing i drive with 2 hands on the wheel.*ak

Vehicle has suddenly stalled in traffic several times. was travelling at approx 35-45mph. this happened twice. veh was taken to dealer, who re-programmed the computer. several months have passed without incident, problem has occurred again. very concerned that when engine stalls, i lose power steering and may not be able to turn off the road before being struck from the rear. each time this has occurred i have been able to pull into the median or a side street. but i wonder what will happen if i am in the middle lane???*ak

When driving at an undetermined speed vehicle stalled. this caused consumer to drift to the side of the road. consumer had the vehicle towed to the dealership on three separate occasions. however, the mechanic was unable to duplicate the problem. *ak

While driving approximately 35 mph, the engine stopped without warning causing a suddent loss of power steering. i pulled over to the side of the road and restarted the engine. this is the second time this has happened.

The vehicle stalled while decelerating. dealer informed. the dealer reflashed pcm and replaced the following components: air control valve, throttle body and engine sensor. *jb

While driving at any speed and with no warning the vehicle stalled and caused the consumer to pull off the road. the dealer inspected the vehicle and was unable to duplicate the problem. *ak *scc *jb

While driving approximately 35-40 mph the engine stalled, the panel lights to include the check engine light came on and i had difficulty braking and steering my vehicle. after much difficulty i was able to stop the vehicle off the road. i then was unable to turn the vehicle off in order to restart it again. i called the dealer and sent mazda an email and both organizations said they were not aware of anyone else having this problem and if i took it in the dealer might be able to find out what happened but there is no guarantee. this is the 2nd time this has happened. i am afraid to drive the vehicle because it happens without notice and i am afraid of someone hitting me from behind when it stalls.

Then engine on my 2002 mazda tribute died while i was driving downhill at 35 mph. my steering wheel locked and braking was difficult. *ph

Consumer states that while driving at any speed and with no warning , the vehicle shut off, which caused the consumer to pull over. it was hard to hard to get the vehicle started again. dealer notified. *ak when the engine stalled, the vehicle lost power steering and brakes. the consumer used the hand brake along with both feet on the pedal to stop the vehicle. the second incident occurred during city driving. *scc *jb

While driving down the grape vine on i-5 my husband herd an engine noise. we pulled over and my husband checked under the hood. it appeared to be a noise coming from the fan belt. he shut off the engine and checked the oil and it was fine. we tried to make it to our destination of monrovia,ca. the engine noise got louder so we had to stop at the nearest exit and luckily there was a gas station at the corner. my husband checked under the hood again and this time he thought it might be coming from the engine. he rechecked the oil and it was fine. we called mazda and they towed the vehicle at the nearest mazda dealership. the following day, a person from mazda called my husband and said we had engine problems. mazda wanted oil change receipts from us. we told them that we are not from the area and we were on vacation and have to go back home and look for receipts. the person from mazda stated that the car was not maintained therefore, mazda will not cover the warranty. he also said that the engine was a quart low on oil and the oil was black. my husband checked the oil at a gas station before we went up the grape vine. he checked it again twice when we pulled over each time and it was fine and the color of the oil was brown not black. we bought the car new and changed the oil every 5000 miles. the car has about 35,700 miles and the engine should not break down like that. we had no type of warning and the engine oil light should go on if the oil was low and it did not go on because the oil was not low. when we returned home from our vacation, i faxed the receipts to mazda and mazda declined the repairs. the car has been to the dealership before and mazda claims that it was electrical problems. after this repair, the alarm would sound while driving. it has stalled on my husband while going down a hill at about 35 mph but luckily, he was able to put it in neutral and restart the car and stop the vehicle. what can we do because we feel we have a lemon.

We recently had a second harrowing experience in our 2002 mazda tribute es-v6. we were so taken aback by the audacity of mazda having knowledge of the stalling issue in the tribute and not taking into their best interest to recall the vehicle that we traded the vehicle in for a different make. in forward motion, at approximately 35mph+, the vehicle stalled. in the process of stalling, all power to the power assisted steering and brakes were lost. my wife had extreme difficulty in stopping the vehicle. it happens at such a range of speed (~40mph) that restarting the car is not an immediate option. the problem is intermittent, yes, and mazda claims to have adjusted their flash bios to adjust for the fault. they also state that the 2003 does not have this reported stalling while in forward motion issue. thats fine, but what about the 1000's of people out on the road that have not received a recall notice of any sort for this vehicles problem with stalling. i even talked to the dealer i bought my mpv from, and he stated that a tribute 2002 had stalled for him while in forward motion while showing it to a prospective new owner! i find it appalling that a company knows about a fault of this nature and has not for the best interest of those that have bought their vehicle, and those that drive on the highways alongside said vehicle have not recalled and fixed the architecture of the equipment involved : not just a flash bios update, that in reading many many cases online in tribute/escpae message boards did not fully fix the fault.something must be done about this make/model/year vehicle before people start submitting these complaints with injury listings.*ak

Engine stalls while driving with no warning. we have taken the car into the dealer twice before for the same thing, each time they said it was fixed. *ak

Since i purchased the auto in april 2002, there has been a burning smell coming from the engine. every time i took the auto in for an oil change (every 3000 miles) i asked them to take a look at the engine because of the smell and every time they said they couldn't find anything except excess oil on the engine. if it is a brand new auto why is there oil on the engine?? no answer from the service dept. finally after a year of complaining they actually looked at the engine and found a cracked block. the service dept said it must of happened when the engine was factory installed. i was told it was still ok to drive. they would get back to me when the "part" was in. also they didn't believe me that something was wrong with the brakes. once again everytime i took it in for an oil change i told them the brakes didn't feel right. i would have to pump the brakes to stop sometimes and other times sitting a light they would depress to the floor. surprising nothing was found until the service dept actually drive the auto around (for the above problem) did they discover that i needed a new master cylinder!!! this is unbelievable, i have had both problems since the auto was purchased. luckily it never stalled on me. what the heck it up with this model year??? *ak

within months of buying the suv we had it back to crystal auto mall, green brook, nj the problem...the steering wheel came loose, it would shift around as you drove down the road! this was a quick repair. starting on sept 18,2002 we took it in to the dealer for the oil pressure light coming on, they replaced the oil sender unit, total $69.52, which was covered by warranty. on oct 14 back for the same problem, they kept it until oct 17, replacing all kinds of parts, oil pump, oil gasket for a total of $924.65, again covered by warranty. my husband was driving it home from this round of repairs and the same problem lit itself up again! he was almost home appox.30 miles from the dealer, he called on his cell phone said he was coming right back, this time they had it from oct 18 to oct 31, 2002. what a surprise when i heard they replaced the entire motor for a total of $4,511.17, again under warranty. strange thing was that they would not extend the warranty on the new motor beyond the original guarantee for the truck. now you tell me is this right? that's not the end of it, on june 21, 2003, we brought it in for a noise coming from the front end they kept it over the weekend until june 23 and told us it needs breaks and rotors and wheel alignment which of course is not under warranty!!! only 24000 miles on this suv and nothing but headaches

While driving the vehicle at any speed and without any prior warning vehicle will stall. consumer made contact with the dealer on four separate occasions, but problem still occurs.*ak

2002 mazda tribute v6 stalling while driving. *nlm

The vehicle caught on fire while parked. *jb

While driving 40 mph the vehicle stalled which made it difficult for the consumer to control the vehicle. *nlm

Engine stopped while driving about 35 mph. this is the second time. loss of all power steering and power brakes. took car into the dealer and supplied the dealer with 34 pages of identical nhtsa complaints filed by other owners of 2002 mazda tributes. *nlm

On 7/31/02 my tribute died while going down hill to a 4 way stop. at first i wasn't sure what to do, then i put my vehicle in park and tried to restart it. this was successful and i drove immediately to the dealer. i was given a rental for 2 days and when i went to pick it up was told that it could have been spider webs or something in the computer system area, so they cleaned out the vapor vent tubes. i was very nervous to be driving a car that could die in the middle of the road, i was just glad there was no accident. i thought that the problem was resolved until 4/01/03 when tribute died while driving again. this time i was going uphill to a 4 way stop and was able to steer into a driving using all my force b/c the steering once again went out. both times there was no warning, the dash lights were all on after it stalled. once again i restarted my vehicle and drove immediately to the dealership where they reflashed pcm to latest calibrations, replaced the dpfe sensor, the mass air flow sensor and the idle air control valve. i am wondering if someone has to die before mazda or the government will call a recall. if this is the case, both should be very ashamed for their lack of concern about the consumers.

I have a 2002 mazda tribute and the car stalls for no reason while driving at about 40 m.p.h. engine just quits and lose power steering. have to pull over and restart car. this is a very dangerous situation. i have been lucky the 5 times this has happened. dealer has been unable to fix. *jb

My 2002 mazda tribute stalled on me today while drive 40 mph. i have 14,890 miles and just had mazda perform my 15000 mile service this past weekend. this is my second incident of this complaint. i filed an earlier complaint from a 09/30/2002 incident with an odi # 767970. at that time mazda performed service bulletin 01-014/2r. *jb

While driving, the check engine light illuminated on the dash board. *jb. the dealer replaced a faulty coil, spark plug, and upper intake manifold gaskets. ph *jb

While driving @ 50 mph on interstate @ rush hour traffic my madza tribute 2002 stalled without warning! caused loss of steering and brakes. put on emergency flashers and was able to restart engine not before vehicles behind me were hitting brakes and trying to avoid hitting me. one vehicle had to go into median to avoid hitting me. taken to dealer and he placed what was stated in tech bulletin 01-04-02r, but can't assure me this will resolve problem. why has not this problem been a recall!!! according to this website this seems to be a major and dangerous problem with the tributes. i have only 26,000 miles on tribute but after reading all the complaints my husband has suggested we trade it in. we have enjoyed our previously mazda's (3) but my next vehicle will not be a mazda due to the fact mazda seems to be indifferent to this defect and recalling all vehicles involved. will take numerous deaths and lawsuits before mazda fixes this problem?*ak

This is the second time vehicle has stalled. it was almost impossible to get pulled over because lack of power assistance! was travelling along a flat road at about 40 mph when it stalled. took nearly 10 minutes for it to start again. i have taken it to the dealer the first time it stalled and they replaced the throttle body and a few sensors related to air intake. i will be taking it in again on monday for this stall. i have not seen a solid fix for this yet and cannot believe how slow the nhtsa is taking to investigate this dangerous problem! it is strike two on ford motor company one more and i am taking them to court!

2002 mazda tribute shuts off automatically while driving. locking the steering wheel and giving you no control of the vehicle. it has been in for repair several times. i am working on a lemon law package now. major safety issue. this has happened over 10 times in 10 months of leasing this vehicle .

This is the 5th time that the car has shut off while driving various speeds, it has also been fixed by the dealership once already. problem is the vehicle shuts off at any speed and steering wheel locks. luckily no accidents to date. my pregnant wife and my 3yr old girl went off of the road yesterday. i want this vehicle gone now. it is not safe for my family nor yours. dt

Consumer called complaining about having problems with the engine. vehicle completely stopped on the highway while driving at 35 mph. dealer was contacted, and stated that vehicle was tested and some wiring had to be replaced. also stated that she was having problems with the brake rotors. while driving she heard a real loud noise metal to metal noise, and when she took the vehicle to the shop the rotors were completely woren out. dealer had no explanation as why it happened.*ak *cb