"HOLD" light flashes
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Hi,
I just had a weird problem with my 1995 eunos presso automatic - 1490ccDriving home, I noticed that the "HOLD" light was flashing on the instrument panel.
It continued to flash regardless of speed, gear, or pressing the "hold" button on the shift.
This would normally come on as a steady "HOLD" indication once the 'hold' button had been pressed.
Has anyone any experience of this fault . . . possible reason/fix ???
Regards
Paul
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Hiya paul, will have to sort a meet in town soon as there seems to be a lot of MX's appearing in the southampton area recently and the few I have contacted have all been up for it.
Anyway here is the garb for gearbox problems in mazda's they had a lot of problems with auto gearboxes in the early 1990's and ended up doing a lot of recalls due to solenoid problems within the gear selectors.
Back to the fault, it means there is a fault within the transmission somewhere and below is the fault codes common to a blinking hold light. It could be just a bad connection to one of the sensors and your gearbox will run on fine but then it could be a fault within its very hard to tell, need to do a diagnostic codes test first to find out which one is playing up.
Another place to try is MX6.com as they have a full on section for automatics and there are a lot of experts in that area on there as its an american site where autos run king and they all need there right hand for holding drive through trays while driving not changing gear**
(**sorry for mild racism)
_What does it mean when the Hold (or O/D Off) light is blinking?
According to Mazda, it is an indication of an electrical problem in the transmission. Actually, it could also be an indication of bad sensor data reaching the transmission. This light and the Malfunction Indicator ("Check Engine") light are rather closely connected; since this transmission is computer-controlled, you could be getting signals from either. If this is happening to you and you're not up to reading codes, as I'm not, you should probably go to the dealership or to a garage that speaks fluent Mazda and get the codes pulled. The pertinent ones you're most likely to encounter, on a pre-OBD II vehicle(1996), are:
- 06 No signal from vehicle speed sensor
- 12 Throttle position sensor signal open or shorted
- 55 No signal from drum speed pulse generator on trans
- 60 "1-2" or "A" shift solenoid circuit open or shorted
- 61 "2-3" or "B" shift solenoid circuit open or shorted
- 62 "3-4" or overrun clutch solenoid circuit open or shorted
- 63 Lock-up solenoid circuit open or shorted_
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@8e4cf8741f=djmarcopolo:
Hiya paul, will have to sort a meet in town soon as there seems to be a lot of MX's appearing in the southampton area recently and the few I have contacted have all been up for it.
Anyway here is the garb for gearbox problems in mazda's they had a lot of problems with auto gearboxes in the early 1990's and ended up doing a lot of recalls due to solenoid problems within the gear selectors.
Back to the fault, it means there is a fault within the transmission somewhere and below is the fault codes common to a blinking hold light. It could be just a bad connection to one of the sensors and your gearbox will run on fine but then it could be a fault within its very hard to tell, need to do a diagnostic codes test first to find out which one is playing up.
Another place to try is MX6.com as they have a full on section for automatics and there are a lot of experts in that area on there as its an american site where autos run king and they all need there right hand for holding drive through trays while driving not changing gear**
(**sorry for mild racism)
_What does it mean when the Hold (or O/D Off) light is blinking?
According to Mazda, it is an indication of an electrical problem in the transmission. Actually, it could also be an indication of bad sensor data reaching the transmission. This light and the Malfunction Indicator ("Check Engine") light are rather closely connected; since this transmission is computer-controlled, you could be getting signals from either. If this is happening to you and you're not up to reading codes, as I'm not, you should probably go to the dealership or to a garage that speaks fluent Mazda and get the codes pulled. The pertinent ones you're most likely to encounter, on a pre-OBD II vehicle(1996), are:
- 06 No signal from vehicle speed sensor
- 12 Throttle position sensor signal open or shorted
- 55 No signal from drum speed pulse generator on trans
- 60 "1-2" or "A" shift solenoid circuit open or shorted
- 61 "2-3" or "B" shift solenoid circuit open or shorted
- 62 "3-4" or overrun clutch solenoid circuit open or shorted
- 63 Lock-up solenoid circuit open or shorted_
Hi djmarcopolo . . . thanks for the reply.
I'll give a bit more background.
The car drives perfect, not a single problem in four years and she starts first turn of the key every time, first time.
As I said, when I drove home the "HOLD" light flashed continuously. A bit later this evening, I had to go out again and everything was back to normal . . . the "HOLD" light was no longer flashing.
The only thing that had been different was the fact that I had turned the engine off with the shift in "D" instead of the usual "P". Just before I got out of the car I noticed what I had done and slipped it into "P".
Could this have caused the error?
Is there anywhere in Southampton where I can get a diagnostic done, just in case the problem returns with something more sinister (expensive) :(
Regards
Paul
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Here's a little extra info Paul about your type of transmission..obtained from mx3.com posted courtesy of Nd4SpdSe…
The Hold button is used to lock into a specific gear. Your automatic has 4 speeds. As well, your shifter has 3 options, D, S & L:
D - Hold locks tranny in 3rd, downshifts to 2nd from a dead stop.
S - Hold's tranny in 2nd
L - Hold's tranny in 1stEssentially you can engage HOLD and shift like a faux-manual, but the tranny doesn't like that.
Hold is good for forcing a downshift and locking it in that gear when going uphill, especially in scenarios where your at the point where it wants to constantly hunt for a gear (shift up and down), so it'll stop the tranny from hunting for gears. New cars can have an option like O/D Off, it disables the Overdrive gear (typically 4th). I used it in a rental v6 Mustang because it kept up and downshifting on some hills where the torque was high in 3rd, but because of the hi-revs, it shifted to 4th, but in 4th gear it's too low for enough power to get up the hill, so it shifted to 3rd again, and repeat the cycle
For those who drive in the snow, it's handy to downshift and using the compression of the motor to slow the car down rather than using the brakes (especially if you don't have ABS). As well, you can lock it in 2nd for starting in second gear so you don't spin the tires as much when starting off.
You can try to engage hold but if it will go out of the RPM range (beyond redline) if you engage it, it'll know and disengage it. You can force it, but catch it quick before you blow or break your motor.
Heres something else to have a look at i found in my mx3 data manual….couple of things you may want to check... the tps and the hold switch which maybe malfunctioning...
In addition to the above can i ask when the last tranmission fluid/filter.. change was done …check the fluid for the right color redish in nature if in doubt change the fluid ie brown..also this maybe a sign the torque converter is about to give up..something else that comes to mind is the speed sensor on the box check the connections on that also..have you noticed your speed reading at all is it at all reading wrong..
Rainy…
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Hiya, if its come on and now its not again either something is starting to go wrong or you just have a dodgy connection somewhere, try turning it off again in D position, it could be that the ECU is thinking its in drive when you turn it on again and doing its head in.
There are a couple of places to try to get the fault codes out
Mazda - in bitterne by the police station there is a dealer but it is expensive for a fault find and they will want the car all day.
Motortrix is a guy that is part mobile and part fixed, he works out of a garage behind the texaco/shell fuel station on portsmouth road, woolston.
He does a fault code check and ECU clean up for £35 (reset codes etc) but he may want the car all day or he may book it in for a time to meet him.
I have his number if you want itOption 3 is look at the HOW TO.. section on here and how to make a diagnostic tool and do it yourself, it would be a trip to maplins by the bargate and about £3 in parts to make it.
Alsoif you get stuck for a mechanic my father is a mobile mechanic in southampton, he was meant to retire a long time ago but he is still at it, he only charges £25 an hour for MX owners and will come to you and will work weekends if its booked in advance enough but he no longer does clutches or gearboxes anything else is fine :D
Just PM me if you want his number
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Hi Guys,
Thanks for all the help and advice from the forum.
I just thought I'd update everyone on what's going on.
I took the motor out for a spin last night and everything was fine. No sign of a flashing "HOLD" light. This morning I drove into work and things were once again OK. The same thing this evening when I drove home. So now I'm hoping that the problem has corrected itself. It looks as though turning the engine off while the shift was in "D" and then shoving the shift lever into into "P", may have caused the "HOLD" light to start flashing when I restarted.
I have since checked around for lose wires and cable connectors but couldn't find anything.
Let's hope that that was it.
I'll follow up on your 'diagnostics' advice if the problem returns.
Regards
Paul