[frkideaky]

the hydrolics are getting weak for my 5-door. when i open the trunk, it stops 3/4 of the way up because the air pressure in the hydrolics is low. can the dealer fix this under warranty?

 

[Toner44]

I am not sure about the warranty. But I have a 04' 5 door, and I also notice that my hydrolics are getting weak, I am going to ask my dealer about it next week, so i will let you know what they say ...

cheers

 

[Argento]

they should totally replace those gas struts under warranty. i've had light bulbs, windshield squirters and other little nonsense things replaced before. the gas struts are also what keep the hatch from becoming your own personal guillotine when you least expect it. i can't imagine how heavy the hatch is without the struts.

keep in mind that the struts may be 'weaker' due to colder weather. they may be fine once southern california begins to feel warm like itself again. but have them changed anyways.

 

[JDMAtenza21]

Yeah they can be replaced under warranty. Just make sure your dealer doesn't try to hand you some bullshit about your spoiler being aftermarket and too heavy, and that's why the shocks got weak. A few months ago my shocks got to the point where my hatch wouldn't even open anymore. So I took it to the dealer and they started giving me shit saying that the shocks blew because I have an aftermarket spoiler and it was too heavy. MY SPOILER HAS NEVER BEEN TOUCHED. So I got pissed and asked to speak to the guy who heads the Mazda department. The guy walks out to my car, and after looking at my spoiler FOR LITERALLY 2 SECONDS...I'M NOT KIDDING, says it's aftermarket. I ask him why, and he says quote "Because it is" and starts to walk away. The funny thing is, as he was walking away, he noticed the Mazdaspeed emblems I have on the doors and he says "Oh, maybe it was an option for the Speed6" I laughed and said it wasn't a Speed, I put those emblems on. He said nothing and walked away. The fucking HEAD of the Mazda department doesn't even know what a Speed6 looks like!!!!! What a fucking imbecile. Anyway, once they found out that my dad had bought two other cars from them they finally fixed the shocks under warranty.

 

[gamma72]

i think the gas struts just perform crappy in cold weather :drive:

 

[Kansasdog]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

+1

in the winter, the HB struts on my '94 Probe SE barely woked at all. Come spring, they worked again. Damn, that was a fun car.

 

[Argento]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

+1

in the winter, the HB struts on my '94 Probe SE barely woked at all. Come spring, they worked again. Damn, that was a fun car.[/b]

Word... :yesnod:

I loved my 626es with PGT springs. Those cars rocked the house. Honest, no non-sense cars. Too bad it was just too difficult to get power gains from ordinary bolt-on's that worked for everyone else's cars.

 

[jsherrill28]

i'm pretty sure the hatch struts, as they are called, are fluid not gas powered. i blew the seal in one of mine last winter; fluid leaked all in the inside rim of the hatch opening and my dealer replaced it for no charge (car is still under warranty). i can tell now with the colder weather, the hatch doesn't open to its full extent. probably has to do with the lower temps and increased viscosity of the fluid inside the strut.

warranty or not, iirc they are only like $15 each and are simple to replace. good luck!

 

[0xdeadbeef]

i'm pretty sure the hatch struts, as they are called, are fluid not gas powered.[/b]

Fluids are incompressible, so they can't store the energy required to lift the hatch. The fluid is used in a damper, which controls the rate at which the hatch opens to stop it from knocking out your teeth when you open it.

The reason the struts don't perform as well is because the pressure of the gas within the strut goes down as the temperture goes down, so the force the gas exerts in reduced. The struts aren't defective, it's just a fact of physics (the ideal gas law). The only solution to bad cold weather strut performace is to heat the strut somehow.

They do leak over time (no seal is perfect), or sometimes the seals fail, so eventually they have to be replaced.

 

[jsherrill28]

^^^ah. makes sense. so in my case, it was probably a cracked seal that caused the fluid in the damper to leak.

 

[kanuck14]

I have the same problem with my hatch in the cold weather, I barely ever open up the hatch and just have had the car for a year. i am going to have the dealer look at it just in case.

 

[f1drivr]

Same problem.

If it is parked outside while I'm at work (temp around 10-20 F), the hatch needs to be lifted up so I can throw my stuff.

Interesting, in the morning after the car has been in cold garage all night, the hatch opens on its own. Temps in the garage only get to 40-50 degrees.

I'm confident that it is a temp thing and nothing is wrong with my car.

 

[virtual]

I have the same thing, `04 hatch, with only 17k. But I am not convinced it is a temp thing as I am in S. Cal. The temp gets low in the 48, at nite. In the day, the temp can get up to 67, and the shocks react the same, sluggish and weak. Is there a better stronger shock as a replacement?

 

[timwoo]

Interesting, in the morning after the car has been in cold garage all night, the hatch opens on its own. Temps in the garage only get to 40-50 degrees.[/b]

wait... are you saying you just tug on the handle and the hatch springs open all by itself? I always thought those things were only for keeping the hatch open after you manually open it... mine even falls back down if i dont lift it open enough... maybe I need new ones too.

 

[f1drivr]

I grab the latch and have to lift up a bit, maybe 6 inches or so and then the hatch continues to open on its own till it is at its max height.

When the temps get real low, I have to lift it up almost all the way. But when it is warmer, I just pop it open, lift a bit and watch as it slowly opens up, giving me that "ssssssssssshshshshshhhhh, tump" sound.

Keep in mind, I have an 07 5door ATX that only has 1800 miles, sits in the garage most of the time when the winter weather is bad. I've only had it 3 months and it was built in Sept. 06. Don't know if newness or different parts were used in the manufacturing.

Also, I have an 04 Mazda MPV. I had the dealer replace the hatch struts right before warranty expired. I walked in an said, the hatch is harder to lift now than when it was new. I said I needed to use my whole hand instead of 2 fingers. No questions were asked. I didn't really have major problems, but only noticed it getting weaker in colder temps. Still, it was enough evidence for me to mention it to the dealer and hope for coverage.

Will have to wait for the summer and next winter to see if the new ones are any different. May have to monitor my 6 for this as it ages and gets near warranty expiration.

 

[f1drivr]

Correction. I have to lift it half way up and it finishes the rest on its own. Guess I was thinking about my van or some other car. I haven't owned it long enough.

I'm still not concerned with the strut operation.

 

[karlt10]

CRAPPY factory struts. 2 years old, 24k miles and these things are DEAD at less than 40/45 degrees. Unreal. (my Integra had the factory ones for 11 years before I replaced them and that was only because I was offered new ones for $10/pr) This thing won't do squat on it's own. It won't make it to half-way without assistance - and even with assistance it will then stop about 10" from full-open.

No reason on earth these things should be acting like this already. No, it is not 'physics'. Well, unless it's the physics of a shitty design and too-thick oil for this climate. It is about 35 degrees right now - we are not even close to being 'cold' yet.

 

[Ykobayashi]

Agreed, inexcusable. :irate: My warranty just died in October, we recently had a cold snap and now the damn thing won't stay open and has smacked me in the melon a few times already. Might be a Ford/Mazda supplier issues since my 94 Probe's puked out within 4 years.

Well regardless, now I have to change them. So I just spent the last several hours scouring the city for replacements at Autozone, Advance Auto Parts, a local store called Bumper to Bumper and NAPA. No one has them. The dealer wants $30 each for them....not terrible. I guess (average price on aftermarkets runs about $15). The guy at NAPA offered that if I bring them in, he will try to match them to something that is close. Doesn't sound half crazy. Any thoughts from anyone as far as something that they know works as a alternative? Otherwise I am going to be shelling out double the money at my friendly dealership.

Any input would be appreciated,

Yoshi

CRAPPY factory struts. 2 years old, 24k miles and these things are DEAD at less than 40/45 degrees. Unreal. (my Integra had the factory ones for 11 years before I replaced them and that was only because I was offered new ones for $10/pr) This thing won't do squat on it's own. It won't make it to half-way without assistance - and even with assistance it will then stop about 10" from full-open.

No reason on earth these things should be acting like this already. No, it is not 'physics'. Well, unless it's the physics of a shitty design and too-thick oil for this climate. It is about 35 degrees right now - we are not even close to being 'cold' yet.[/b]

 

[Skimoab]

Hey, at least Mazda made them easy to get to and replace. I had a '92 G1 Eclipse and had to remove the entire plastic lining from the rear of the car to even get to the bolts. Took me about 6 hours from start to finish and even then I had cracked pieces and the whole thing never fit back together like new.

 

[IslandBlue6i]

My hatch started bein sucky too i brought it to the dealer and he gave me sum bs about well the pistons are just to "assist" not lift the trunk so we can't do anything for you...Why isn't it legal to slap the fool around till he fixes it?